Science Grade 6

EAST LONGMEADOW PUBLIC SCHOOLS
2006 - 2007 DISTRICT CURRICULUM GUIDES

Science - Grade 6

Science

The Massachusetts Science and Technology/Engineering Curriculum Framework, December 2000 provides the following preface:

Knowledge, Inquiry, and Experimentation in Science and Technology/Engineering

This framework emphasizes that students learn best when they are directly engaged with thoughtfully selected scientific phenomena and design problems. Through this engagement, students come to understand the integral relationship of scientific inquiry and experimentation to scientific knowledge. The development of scientific knowledge is rooted in theory, investigation, and experimentation; the goal is to extend existing scientific knowledge. A brief look at the purpose of science and technology/engineering education, the nature of these disciplines, and their relationship to learning and curriculum will help illustrate this view.

The purpose of science and technology/engineering education
Investigations in science and technology/engineering involve a range of skills, habits of mind, and subject matter knowledge. The purpose of science and technology/engineering education in Massachusetts is to enable students to draw on these skills, habits, and subject matter knowledge for informed participation in the intellectual and civic life of American society, and for further education in these areas if they seek it.

The nature of science
Science may be described as attempts to give good accounts of the patterns in nature. The result of scientific investigation is an understanding of natural processes. Scientific explanations are always subject to change in the face of new evidence. Ideas with the most durable explanatory power become established theories or are codified as laws of nature. Overall, the key criterion of science is that it is a clear, rational, and succinct account of a pattern in nature. This account must be based on evidence, reflect inferences that are broadly shared and communicated, and be accompanied by a model that offers a naturalistic explanation expressed in conceptual, mathematical, and/or mechanical terms. Here are some everyday examples of patterns seen in nature:
- The sun appears to move each day from the eastern horizon to the western horizon.
- Virtually all objects released near the surface of the earth sooner or later fall to the ground.
- Parents and their offspring are similar, e.g., lobsters produce lobsters, not cats.
- Green is the predominant color of most plants.
- Some objects float while others sink.
- Fire yields heat.
- Weather in North America generally moves from west to east.
- Many organisms that once inhabited the earth no longer do so.

It is beyond the scope of this document to examine the scientific accounts of these patterns. Some are well known, such as that the rotation of the earth on its axis gives rise to the apparent travel of the sun across the sky, or that fire is a transfer of energy from one form to another. Others, like buoyancy or the cause of extinction, require subtle and sometimes complex accounts. These patterns, and many others, are the puzzles that scientists attempt to explain.

The nature of technology/engineering
Technology/engineering seeks different ends from those of science. Engineering strives to design and manufacture useful devices or materials, defined as technologies, whose purpose is to increase our efficacy in the world and/or our enjoyment of it. Can openers are technology, as are the microwave, microchip, steam engine, camcorder, safety glass, zippers, polyurethane, the Golden Gate Bridge, much of Disney World, and the Big Dig. Each of these, and innumerable other examples of technology/engineering, emerges from the scientific knowledge, imagination, persistence, talent, and ingenuity of its practitioners. Each technology represents a designed solution, usually created in response to a specific practical problem. As with science, direct engagement with the phenomena in question is central to the definition of these problems and their successful solution.

The relationship between science and technology/engineering
In spite of their different ends, science and technology have become closely, even inextricably, related in many fields. The instruments that scientists use, such as the microscope, balance, and chronometer, result from technology/engineering. In return, scientific ideas, such as the laws of motion, the relationship between electricity and magnetism, the atomic model, and the model of DNA, have contributed to improvement of the internal combustion engine, power transformers, nuclear power, and human gene therapy. In some of the most sophisticated efforts of scientists and engineers, the boundaries are so blurred that the designed device allows us to discern heretofore unnoticed natural patterns while the accounting for those patterns makes it possible to continue to develop the device. In these instances, scientists and engineers are engaged together in extending knowledge.

Knowledge, inquiry, experimentation, and learning
Asking questions is a key to learning in all academic disciplines. There are multiple ways that students can pursue questions in the science class. One way is to explore scientific phenomena in the laboratory or the field. Classroom investigation and experimentation can build essential scientific skills such as observing, measuring, replicating experiments, manipulating equipment, and collecting and reporting data. They can show that the practice of science is tentative, interactive, and surprising. Students may sometimes choose what phenomenon to study, e.g., science fair projects. More often, they conduct investigations and experiments that are selected and guided by the teacher.

Students can also explore the questions pursued by scientists in their investigations of natural phenomena and processes as reported or shown in texts, papers, videos, the internet, and other media. These sources are valuable because they efficiently organize and highlight the key concepts and supporting evidence that characterize the most important work in science. Such study can then be supported in the classroom by demonstrations, experiments, or simulations that deliberately manage features of a natural object or process. Whatever the instructional approach, science instruction should include both concrete and manipulable materials and exploratory diagrams and texts.

This document is designed to provide guidance as to what science content should be learned at each grade span. Therefore, schools and teachers must thoughtfully scope, sequence, and coordinate school and district curricula.

Earth and Space Science

Heat Transfer
The learner will be able to differentiate among radiation, conduction, and convection, the three mechanisms by which heat is transferred through the earth's system. Give examples of each. - Explain the relationship among the energy provided by the sun; the global patterns of atmospheric movement; and the temperature differences among water, land, and atmosphere. .

Strand	Scope	Source
Earth: Energy	Introduce	Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks

The Earth in the solar system
The learner will be able to recognize that gravity is a force that pulls all things on and near the earth toward the center of the earth. Gravity plays a major role in the formation of the planets, stars, and solar system and in determining their motions. - Describe lunar and solar eclipses, the observed moon phases, and tides. Relate them to the relative positions of the earth, moon, and sun. - Compare and contrast properties and conditions of objects in the solar system (i.e., sun, planets, and moons) to those on earth (i.e., gravitational force, distance from the sun, speed, movement, temperature, and atmospheric conditions). - Explain how the tilt of the earth and its revolution around the sun result in an uneven heating of the earth, which in turn causes the seasons. - Recognize that the universe contains many billions of galaxies, and that each galaxy contains many billions of stars. .

Strand	Scope	Source
Earth/Space Science	Introduce	Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks

Cells
The learner will be able to recognize that all organisms are composed of cells, and that most organisms are single-celled. In these single-celled organisms, one cell must carry out all of the basic functions of life. - Compare and contrast plant and animal cells, including major organelles (cell membrane, cell wall, nucleus, cytoplasm, chloroplasts, mitochondria, vacuoles). - Recognize that within cells, many of the basic functions of organisms (e.g., extracting energy from food and getting rid of waste) are carried out. The way in which cells function is similar in all living organisms. .

Strand	Scope	Source
Cells	Introduce	Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks

Reproduction and Heredity
The learner will be able to recognize that every organism requires a set of instructions for specifying its traits. Heredity is the passage of these instructions from one generation to another. - Recognize that hereditary information is contained in genes located in the chromosomes of each cell. A human cell contains many thousands of different genes. - Differentiate between sexual reproduction (offspring inherit half of their genes from each parent) and asexual reproduction (offspring is an identical copy of the parent's cell). .

Strand	Scope	Source
Heredity: Traits	Introduce	Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks

Energy in Living Things
The learner will be able to recognize that producers (plants that contain chlorophyll) use the energy from sunlight to make sugars from carbon dioxide and water through a process called photosynthesis. This food can be used immediately, stored for later use, or used by other organisms.

Strand	Scope	Source
Plants: Photosynthesis	Master	Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks

Properties of Matter
The learner will be able to differentiate between weight and mass, recognizing that weight is the amount of gravitational pull on an object. - Differentiate between volume and mass. - Recognize that the measurement of volume and mass requires understanding of the sensitivity of measurement tools (e.g., rulers, graduated cylinders, balances) and knowledge and appropriate use of significant digits. - Explain and give examples of how mass is conserved in a closed system. .

Strand	Scope	Source
Matter: Properties	Introduce	Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks

Elements, Compounds and Mixtures
The learner will be able to recognize that there are more than 100 elements that combine in a multitude of ways to produce compounds that make up all of the living and nonliving things that we encounter. - Differentiate between an atom (the smallest unit of an element that maintains the characteristics of that element) and a molecule (the smallest unit of a compound that maintains the characteristics of that compound). - Give basic examples of elements and compounds. - Differentiate between mixtures and pure substances. - Recognize that a substance (element or compound) has a melting point and a boiling point, both of which are independent of the amount of the sample. - Differentiate between physical changes and chemical changes. .

Strand	Scope	Source
Chemical Compounds	Introduce	Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks

Motion of Objects
The learner will be able to explain and give examples of how the motion of an object can be described by its position, direction of motion, and speed. - Graph and interpret distance vs. time graphs for constant speed. .

Strand	Scope	Source
Motion	Introduce	Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks

Forms of Energy
The learner will be able to differentiate between potential and kinetic energy. Identify situations where kinetic energy is transformed into potential energy and vice versa.

Strand	Scope	Source
Energy	Introduce	Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks

Heat Energy
The learner will be able to recognize that heat is a form of energy and that temperature change results from adding or taking away heat from a system. - Explain the effect of heat on particle motion through a description of what happens to particles during a change in phase. - Give examples of how heat moves in predictable ways, moving from warmer objects to cooler ones until they reach equilibrium. .

Strand	Scope	Source
Heat	Introduce	Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks