Grade 6, Semester 2:
Overview
This is the first year of a standards-based, coordinated, three-year
integrated middle school science program. This course emphasizes concept and
skill development and contains a balance of physical, biological,
earth/space, and environmental science topics. Each unit focuses on one
major scientific concept, which is developed through a thematic approach.
The major concepts include: Science and Technology; Microorganisms;
Investigating Matter; Chemical Changes; Energy and You; Temperature and
Heat; Our Changing Earth; and Human Body and Health Topics, including the
Endocrine, Skeletal, and Muscular Systems, Diseases, and Health-related
Careers. Students construct their own understanding through an inquiry-based
approach. Activities include open-ended investigations, small-group
discussions, exploratory writing and reflective reading tasks, and
long-range projects. Assessment activities are varied and teach as well as
evaluate comprehension and performance. |
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Enduring Understandings
- important ideas that students should carry with them years beyond the
instruction received this year.
- Scientists investigate the world around them and
communicate to others through the scientific process.
- The scientific process is the basis of an integrated
approach to understanding our world. (topic/problem, testable question,
hypothesis, procedure)
- Scientists use a plan to carry out an investigation
(variables, control, data, observations, investigations).
- Scientists select, appropriate tools to collect,
organize, and record data using the metric system in tables, charts, and
graphs.
- Scientists analyze data for reliability, validity to
form conclusions.
- Scientists analyze data to infer past and predict
future events.
- Scientists ask questions based on their
investigations and these questions can lead to new investigations.
- Scientists communicate the results of their
investigations in many formats and appropriate ways.
- Identification of various organisms is based on
specific criteria.
- Plant and animal cells have some common structures,
with similarities and differences in basic life processes
- Matter can move into or out of a cell under specific
conditions.
- Osmosis and diffusion are necessary processes of cell
function.
- Plant and animal cells are composed of organelles.
- The human body is made up of systems which have
specialized functions and work together for the survival of the
organism.
- There are specific stages of plant and animal life
cycles.
- Cells make up living organisms and carry out the
functions needed to sustain life. The stages of cell division are:
interphase, mitosis, cytokinesis
- Cells make up living organisms and carry out the
functions needed to sustain life. Cells are the basic building blocks of
life.
- The world population uses both renewable and
nonrenewable resources.
- The world is affected by the interrelationship of
science and technology. New technology continually impacts human
activity.
- New technology continually impacts human activity.
- Experiments must be controlled and have reproducible
results.
- Scientists identify, determine, compare, and control
variables.
- Scientists must be objective and bias free when
examining their work.
- Scientists communicate their results using various
methods.
- Scientists use models to predict change.
- Safety is a primary concern with all laboratory
techniques.
Essential Questions
- most important “big picture” questions students should be able to answer
after completing learning activities.
- What is a testable question that leads to a
proposed hypothesis? How is a testable question developed
- How do scientists design a plan for investigating
a testable questions? How is an investigation organized?
- How do scientists develop and perform a
scientific investigation? What are the independent/manipulated and
dependent/responding variables? What is the standard of control?
- What are the appropriate tools, technologies, and
measurement systems used by scientists?
- How do scientists interpret and evaluate data?
- How do scientists infer/predict past and future events?
- What new questions have arisen based on
unexpected results of the investigation?
- How is scientific
information effectively communicated to specific audiences?
- How and why are classification systems based on
the structure of organisms? How has the advent of DNA analysis
impacted the classification of organisms?
- How are photosynthesis and respiration important
to life?
- How do nutrients and energy transfer into and out
of cells in a multicellular organism
- How are diffusion and osmosis important to life?
- What are the roles of various organelles and how
does structure impact function?
- How do all the systems of an organism
interconnect and what are their structures and functions?
- What happens during the life cycle of an
organism?
- Why is cell division essential to an organism's
life? How do cells divide and increase?
- How does the structure of a plant or animal cell
affect the function of those cells?
- What are the differences between and uses of
renewable and nonrenewable resources?
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of
using technology to solve problems?
- How has technology influenced the way people
work? What are advantages/disadvantages created by new technology?
- How do people use science and technology in their
professional lives?
- How do controlled/uncontrolled variables affect
the outcomes of experiment
- How do you identify, compare, and control
variables in an investigation?
- How does bias, opinion, and evidence affect the
way science is communicated in various media?
- What are some different sources and methods a
scientist uses to collect and record data?
- How can models help us predict future outcomes?
- What are safe laboratory practices?
Standards
 Highest
Frequency Standards
 High
Frequency Standards,
 Other
Standards & E-skills
Standard 1: Students understand the processes of
scientific investigations and design, conduct, communicate about, and
evaluate such investigation.
Standard 3: Life Science Students know and understand the
characteristics and structures of living things, the processes of life and
how living things interact with each other and their environment. Students
know and understand the characteristics of living things, the diversity of
life, and how living things interact with each other and with their
environment. Students know and understand interrelationships of matter and
energy in living systems. Students know and understand how the human body
functions, factors that influence its structures and functions compared with
those of other organisms. Students know and understand how organisms change
over time in terms of biological evolution and genetics.
Standard 5: Students know and understand
interrelationships among science, technology, and human activity and how
they affect the world.
Standard 6: Students understand that science involves a
particular way of knowing and they understand common connections among
scientific disciplines.
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