GLEN RIDGE PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Curriculum Guide
Course Title: Grade
Six Science
Subject: Science
Grade Level: 6
Department/School: Science/
Duration: Full
Year
Number of Credits: N/A
Prerequisite: N/A
Elective or Required: N/A
Author: Deidre Smith
Date Submitted: Summer 2004
Course Description
Sixth grade science students are exposed to all of the major areas of science and how they relate to one another. At this level, the students learn that science is found in everything and it can be applied and discussed in all of their academic subjects. The course begins with a discussion of what role our earth plays in the universe and in our own solar system. They identify what other celestial bodies exist and how they affect our existence.
Since the universe holds the answer to our existence, the students learn about the characteristics of life at the cellular level. From the cell they learn that organisms are created and become diverse to create the various plants and animals that inhabit the earth. The biological aspect of science is discussed and then explained that it would not be able to survive without the chemical properties and reactions that are vital for its existence.
All life needs water to survive and this compound can be discussed biologically as well as chemically. The students will learn that water makes up the majority of our planet and controls our existence. They will study the oceans of the earth and the resources that they provide.
At the completion of this course in sixth grade science, all
students will take with them a little more knowledge of biology, chemistry,
earth science and physics.
GLEN RIDGE PUBLIC SCHOOLS
SCIENCE
The
Our students will use the scientific method to understand
and respond to questions about science, technology, and societal and world
problems. Students will be challenged
and encouraged to take risks and to develop critical thinking skills as they
apply to real-world experiences.
Science
STANDARD
5.1 (SCIENTIFIC PROCESSES): ALL STUDENTS
WILL DEVELOP PROBLEM-SOLVING, DECISION-MAKING AND INQUIRY SKILLS, REFLECTED BY
FORMULATING USABLE QUESTIONS AND HYPOTHESES, PLANNING EXPERIMENTS, CONDUCTING
SYSTEMATIC OBSERVATIONS, INTERPRETING AND ANALYZING DATA, DRAWING CONCLUSIONS,
AND COMMUNICATING RESULTS.
STANDARD
5.2 (SCIENCE AND SOCIETY): ALL STUDENTS
WILL DEVELOP AN UNDERSTANDING OF HOW PEOPLE OF VARIOUS CULTURES HAVE
CONTRIBUTED TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, AND HOW MAJOR
DISCOVERIES AND EVENTS HAVE ADVANCED SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY.
STANDARD
5.3 (MATHEMATICAL APPLICATIONS): ALL
STUDENTS WILL INTEGRATE MATHEMATICS AS A TOOL FOR PROBLEM-SOLVING IN SCIENCE,
AND AS A MEANS OF EXPRESSING AND/OR MODELING SCIENTIFIC THEORIES.
STANDARD
5.4 (NATURE AND PROCESS OF TECHNOLOGY): ALL STUDENTS WILL UNDERSTAND THE
INTERRELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND DEVELOP A CONCEPTUAL
UNDERSTANDING OF THE NATURE AND PROCESS OF TECHNOLOGY.
STANDARD
5.5 (CHARACTERISTICS OF LIFE): ALL
STUDENTS WILL GAIN AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE STRUCTURE, CHARACTERISTICS, AND BASIC
NEEDS OF ORGANISMS AND WILL INVESTIGATE THE DIVERSITY OF LIFE.
STANDARD
5.6 (CHEMISTRY): ALL STUDENTS WILL GAIN
AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE STRUCTURE AND BEHAVIOR OF MATTER.
STANDARD
5.7 (PHYSICS): ALL STUDENTS WILL GAIN AN
UNDERSTANDING OF NATURAL LAWS AS THEY APPLY TO MOTION, FORCES, AND ENERGY
TRANSFORMATIONS.
STANDARD
5.8 (EARTH SCIENCE): ALL STUDENTS WILL
GAIN AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE STRUCTURE, DYNAMICS, AND GEOPHYSICAL SYSTEMS OF
THE EARTH.
STANDARD
5.9 (ASTRONOMY and SPACE SCIENCE): ALL
STUDENTS WILL GAIN AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE ORIGIN, EVOLUTION, AND STRUCTURE OF
THE UNIVERSE.
STANDARD
5.10 (ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES): ALL
STUDENTS WILL DEVELOP AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE ENVIRONMENT AS A SYSTEM OF
INTERDEPENDENT COMPONENTS AFFECTED BY HUMAN ACTIVITY AND NATURAL PHENOMENA.
Curriculum Description
UNIT 1: CHARACTERISTICS OF LIFE
Standard 5.1
Goal: All students will gain an understanding of the structure, characteristics and basic needs of organisms and will investigate the diversity of life.
Objectives:
Each student will be able to:
1. Identify and describe the structure and function of cells and cell parts. (5.5 A.2)
2. Describe
and give examples of the major categories of organisms and of the
characteristics shared by organisms.
(5.5 B.1)
3. Compare
and contrast acquired and inherited characteristics in human and other
species. (5.5 B.2, 5.5 C.1)
4. Describe life cycles of humans and other organisms. (5.5 C.1)
Activities:
- View Bill Nye the Science Guy video on cells as an introduction to give an overview of cells as basic units of life.
- Use a microscope to examine plant cells and to infer the functions of the main parts of the cells.
- Examine animal cells and contrast them with plant cells to find that cells have many similar structures.
- Create a model of an animal cell or a plant cell in class with supplied materials to be used to represent the function of each of the cell organelles.
- Make a working model of a cell membrane to learn that only some materials can pass through these membranes.
- Identify regions where rain forests still exist. Discuss how these areas release oxygen into the air and take in carbon dioxide. Include how photosynthesis plays a major role in this exchange.
- View pond water or a culture of protists under the microscope to see various examples of the kingdom Protista.
- Predict and observe which conditions are best for growing mold. Conduct an experiment where students grow bread mold and examine specimens that illustrate members of the kingdom Fungi.
- Observe the growth of bacteria by comparing refrigerated and warm milk for two days and discover that milk sours when left at room temperature.
- View prepared slides of coccus, bacillus, and spirillum bacteria as examples of the kingdom Monera.
- Compare inherited traits through the physical characteristics of classmates. Collect and analyze the data they collect.
- Focus on the ways that genes combine and recognize the vast number of possible gene combinations through simulated trials and Punnett squares.
- Identify several examples of acquired traits. Discuss how these traits compare to inherited traits.
THEME 2 – CHEMISTRY
Standard 5.6
Goal: All students will gain an understanding of the structure and behavior of matter.
Objectives:
Each student will be able to:
1. Recognize that about 100 different elements have been identified and most materials on earth are made of a few of them. (5.6 A.1)
2. Show that equal amounts of different substances usually have different masses. (5.6 A.2)
3. Describe the properties of mixtures and solutions, including concentration and saturation. (5.6 A.3)
4. Describe characteristic physical properties such as boiling point, melting point, and solubility, and recognize that the property is independent of the amount of sample. (5.6 A.4)
5. Recognize evidence of a chemical change. (5.6 B.1)
6. Understand and practice safety procedures for conducting science investigations. (5.1 C.2)
7. Know when and how to use appropriate safety equipment with all classroom materials. (5.1 C.1)
Activities:
- Choose two elements to investigate and write a brief history of each element, including the origin of its name.
- Compare the mass and volume of identical containers by sight and heft and then measure the mass of each container.
- Place a hard-boiled egg in fresh water and then salt water. Determine the effects of density on why the egg floats in one and sinks in the other.
- Focus on the factors that affect melting and find that the faster ice melts, the faster the temperature of an ice-water mixture drops. Observe this by completing a lab that compares the speed at which crushed ice melts compared to ice cubes.
- Observe a demonstration of sugar being heated. Watch the heated sugar melt to a liquid and then bubble to give off a gas and leave carbon residue behind.
- Balance simple chemical equations and explain that the products are different than the reactants. A chemical change has occurred and if physical properties have changed, then the reaction is irreversible.
- Observe several demonstrations provided by the teacher that exhibit chemical reactions. (Copper sulfate and glow in the dark slime)
- Create messages out of lemon juice (invisible ink) and develop the message using heat. (They will observe a chemical reaction of their own.)
- Focus on characteristics of mixtures to find that they can still identify the separate components. They also predict methods of separation that might be effective and experiment to see if their methods work. Mix several common materials together in a lab setting and apply the concept listed above.
- Investigate some factors that affect the rate at which sugar dissolves in water. Students will complete a lab that combines water, sugar and heat in different combinations.
- Provide students with several different recipes for Kool-Aid solutions. After the students have created these solutions, they must taste them and determine which solution represents one that is saturated, one that is dilute, and what concentration means.
UNIT 3 – PHYSICS
Standard 5.7
Goal: All students will gain an understanding of natural laws as they apply to motion, forces, and energy transformations.
Objectives:
Each student will be able to:
1. Recognize that an object at rest will remain at rest and an object moving in a straight line at a steady speed will continue to move in a straight line at a steady speed unless a net (unbalanced) force acts on it. (5.7 A.1)
Students will complete activities in fifth grade with pendulums. This standard will be reinforced in sixth
grade during their Buehler training.
2. Recognize that motion can be retarded by forces such as friction and air resistance. (5.7 A.2)
3. Recognize that everything on or near the earth is pulled toward the earth’s center by gravitational force. (5.7 A.3)
4. Recognize that heat flows through materials or across space from warmer objects to cooler ones. (5.7 B.1)
5. Show that vibrations in materials can generate waves that can transfer energy from one place to another. (5.7 B.2)
6. Design an electric circuit to investigate the behavior of a system. (5.7 B.3)
7. Understand and practice safety procedures for conducting science investigations. (5.1 C.2)
8. Know when and how to use appropriate safety equipment with all classroom materials. (5.1 C.1)
Activities:
- Focus on gravity as a pulling force and find that the force of gravity on an object depends on the object’s mass by measuring gravity’s pull.
- Use figures from the ‘measuring gravity’s pull’ lab to calculate how much they would weigh on the moon.
- Focus on how parachutes affect the rate at which an object falls and find that objects with a larger parachute fall more slowly than those with a smaller parachute due to the affects of air resistance.
- Focus on how friction affects movement and find that objects roll a greater distance over smooth surfaces than rough ones by testing toy cars over smooth board and sandpaper.
- Discuss solar energy with the students and have them create solar cookers. Use the solar cookers to prepare cocktail hotdogs for consumption.
- During the discussion of the stars in our galaxy, study the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram that describes the energy given off by each type of star.
- Compare sound waves to the wave motion of a spring toy to model sonar and use the travel time of the wave to calculate distance.
-
Within the training for Buehler, create an electrical
circuit using copper wire, a D battery, and a small light bulb.
UNIT 4 – EARTH
SCIENCE AND ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES
Standards 5.8, 5.10
Goal: All students will gain an understanding of
the structure, dynamics, and geophysical systems of the earth. Students will also develop an understanding
of the environment as a system of interdependent components affected by human
activity and natural phenomena.
Objectives:
Each student will be able to:
1. Describe
the composition, circulation and distribution of the world’s oceans, estuaries,
and marine environments. (5.8 B.1)
2. Describe
and give examples of the major categories of organisms and of the
characteristics shared by the organism.
(5.5 B.1)
3. Describe and illustrate the water cycle. (5.8 B.2)
4. Utilize various tools such as map projections and topographical maps to interpret features of the Earth’s surface. (5.8 D.1)
5. Explain how organisms interact with other components of an ecosystem. (5.10 A.1)
6. Describe the natural processes that occur over time in places where direct human impact is minimal. (5.10 A.2)
7. Describe the effect of human activities on various ecosystems. (5.10 B.1)
8. Evaluate the impact of personal activities on the local environment. (5.10 B.2)
9. Understand and practice safety procedures for conducting science investigations. (5.1 C.2)
10. Know when and how to use appropriate safety equipment with all classroom materials. (5.1 C.1)
Activities:
- Watch the video Oceanography by Bill Nye. Bill will discuss why rivers and lakes are not salty, introduce salinity, and a scientist that studies plankton.
- Examine ocean water and determine that it contains a variety of materials, including dissolved salts and other minerals, dissolved gases, living things such as plankton, and sediments.
- Focus on the factors that change the density of water by completing a lab which compares the physical properties of temperature, pressure and salinity.
- Complete the activity “Old Water” which discusses the water cycle from the very beginning of time. The students will learn that the water they drink today is the same water that existed millions of years ago.
- Have students learn about the effects of acid rain and how it fits into the water cycle.
- Investigate the different areas of the ocean including: the shoreline and tide pools, the coastal oceans, coral reefs, and the deep ocean. Learn through research and class activities about these areas and the creatures that inhabit them.
- Dissect a squid.
- Design a food chain/web using animals from the marine environment.
- Discuss how well organized nature is with it food chains and compare it to how humans over-fish.
- Work in small groups to make a world map on poster board. Each member cuts out a continent and they paste it in the correct position. Research the names and locations of ocean currents and draw and label them on their maps.
- Blow air over the surface of a pan of water and observe how the movement of the water depends on the “intensity” of the wind.
- Create currents by combining different concentrations of salt water.
- Correlate distance and depth reading to graph an underwater mountain.
- Study the geography of the ocean floor and then create a clay model.
- Find out that oil and water do not mix and oil affects the physical properties of feathers. Tie this to a discussion on oil spills in our oceans, especially the Exxon Valdez.
- Drop hard boiled eggs into oil. See that since the shell is porous, the oil will seep through. Oil spills affect bird’s eggs too.
- Construct a diagram that shows how a pollutant can pass from one organism to another in an ocean.
- Work in groups to see if students can discover ways that they can help with oil spills. Encourage them to call local companies or organizations.
UNIT 5: ASTRONOMY AND SPACE SCIENCE
Standard 5.9
Goal: All students will gain an understanding of the origin, evolution, and structure of the universe.
Objectives:
Each student will be able to:
1. Explain how the motions of the earth, sun and moon define units of time including: days, months, year. (5.9 A.1)
2. Recognize that changes in the earth’s position relative to the sun produces differing amounts of daylight seasonally. (5.9 A.2)
3. Using models, demonstrate an understanding of the scale of the solar system that shows distance and size relationships among the sun and planets. (5.9 B.1)
4. Recognize that the sun’s gravitational pull holds the planets in their obits and that the planet’s gravitational pull holds their moons in their orbits. (5.9 B.2)
5. Observe and record short-term and long-term changes in the positions of the constellations in the night sky. (5.9 C.1)
6. Observe that the planets appear to change their position against the background of the stars. (5.9 C.2)
7. Reinforce Standard D.1: Recognize that images of celestial objects can be magnified and seen in greater detail when observed using binoculars and light telescopes. (5.9 D.1)
Activities:
- Learn the lunar cycle and demonstrate the phases of the moon in class using models.
- Record the lunar cycle from new moon to full moon. Explain that this used to be used as a calendar in the early history of civilization. Many holidays still revolve around the lunar cycle (models about one month).
- Demonstrate that the earth rotates on its axis which is tilted. Its rotation takes 24 hours which makes up a full day. Have them compare this rotation to the other planets in our solar system.
- Explain that the sun is a star and does not move. Its position is stationary and directly in the center of our solar system. All of the planets are held in their orbits by its gravitational pull. The sun is a star and its energy provides the Earth with the energy to sustain life.
- Model the rotation and tilt of the Earth. Students should have access to a light source to represent the sun. The tilt and rotation of the Earth causes the seasons. Demonstrate this through a simulation (one complete revolution around the sun represents one full earth year).
- Make a model of the solar system. Group them so that all of the planets are represented. Research their planet, create a scale model of the planet out of clay and then meet with the rest of the class to place all of the planets in a full-scale model of the entire solar system.
- Use a model to experiment with planetary movements. Discover how the planet Mars really moves in space. See how that motion affects the way Mars looks in Earth’s night sky.
- Make a model of a constellation and observe how turning the model changes the constellation’s appearance.
- Make a star wheel to help predict the location and model the movement of constellations.
-
Use star wheels to determine how the Big Dipper and
Little Dipper look at
- Assign the students a constellation that they must research. The research project will include the stars in the constellation, the type of stars, the distance from earth and a myth to go with the constellation.
- Experience Starlab and see that the rotation of the Earth causes the illusion of the stars moving across the sky.
- Make a simple telescopic camera and use it to magnify and project an image. Follow up this activity with a discussion on reflecting telescopes vs. refracting telescopes.
- Research the world’s largest telescopes. On a world map, let each group mark the locations of the telescopes they researched. (Make sure that the Hubble Space Telescope is discussed.)
UNIT 6 – SCIENTIFIC
PROCESSES
Standard 5.1
Goal: All students will develop problem-solving, decision making and inquiry skills, reflected by formulating usable questions and hypotheses, planning experiments, conducting systemic observations, interpreting and analyzing data, drawing conclusions, and communicating results.
Objectives:
Each student will be able to:
1. Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of data, claims, and arguments. (5.1 A.1)
2. Communicate experimental findings to others. (5.1 A.2)
3. Recognize that the results of scientific investigations are seldom exactly the same and that replication is often necessary. (5.1 A.3)
4. Recognize that curiosity, skepticism, open-mindedness, and honesty are attributes of scientists. (5.1 A.4)
5. Identify questions and make predictions that can be addressed by conducting investigations. (5.1 B.1)
6. Design and conduct investigations incorporating the use of a control. (5.1 B.2)
7. Collect, organize, and interpret the data that result from experiments. (5.1 B.3)
Activities:
- Complete lab activities for each major unit of study. Have students write lab reports that document their findings. Each lab will have material that is to be tested as well as a control present.
- Learn the scientific method and apply it to various lab activities.
- Gather data at the Buehler mission and then report the findings to the class in a debriefing.
- Complete lab activities that require repeat steps over at least three times and then calculate the average.
- Read and learn about the history of science and that theories of some of the most famous scientists were not accepted at first because it took time for the human race to open their minds to the proof provided for them.
UNIT 7: SCIENCE AND SOCIETY
Standard 5.2
Goal: All students will develop an understanding of how people of various cultures have contributed to the advancement of science and technology, and how major discoveries and events have advanced science and technology.
Objectives:
Each student will be able to:
1. Recognize that scientific theories develop over time, depend on the contributions of many people, and reflect the social and political climate of their time. (5.2 A.1)
2. Know that scientists are men and women of many cultures who often work together to solve scientific and technological problems. (5.2 A.2)
3. Describe how different people in different cultures have made and continue to make contributions to science and technology. (5.2 A.3)
4. Describe the impact of major events and people in the history of science and technology, in conjunction with other world events. (5.2 B.1)
5. Describe the development and exponential growth of scientific knowledge and technological innovations. (5.2 B.2)
Activities:
- Read and discuss the “People Using Science” section of each chapter in their science text.
- Discuss the “resource” section in their text that discusses people and the history of science.
- Research the seven astronauts that lost their lives in the “Challe