6th - Science

Science Unit 3 - What are we learning?

SEP (Science Engineering Processes)

Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions - Construct a scientific explanation based on valid and reliable evidence obtained from sources and the assumption that theories and laws that describe the natural world operate today as they did in the past and will continue to do so in the future. (MS-ESS3-1)

DCI (Disciplinary Core Ideas)

ESS3.A Natural Resources - Humans depend on Earth's land, ocean, atmosphere, and biosphere for many different resources. Minerals, fresh water, and biosphere resources are limited, and many are not renewable or replaceable over human lifetimes. These resources are distributed unevenly around the planet as a result of past geologic processes. (MS-ESS3-1)

CCC (Crosscutting Concepts)

Cause and Effect - Cause and effect relationships may be used to predict phenomena in natural or designed systems. (MS-ESS3-1)

Influence of Science, Engineering, and Technology on Society and the Natural World - All human activity draws on natural resources and has both short and long term consequences, positive as well as negative, for the health of people and the natural environment. (MS-ESS3-1)

Science Unit 3 Activities

Science Unit 2 - What are we learning?

SEP (Science Engineering Processes)

Analyzing and Interpreting Data - Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for phenomena. (MS-ESS2-3)

Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions - Construct a scientific explanation based on valid and reliable evidence obtained from sources and the assumption that theories and laws that describe nature operate today as they did in the past and will continue to do so in the future. (MS-ESS2-3)

Scientific Knowledge is Open to Revision in Light of New Evidence - Science findings are frequently revised and/or reinterpreted based on new evidence. (MS-ESS2-3)

DCI (Disciplinary Core Ideas)

ESS1.C The History of Planet Earth - Tectonic processes continually generate new ocean sea floor at ridges and destroy old sea floor at trenches. (MS-ESS2-3)

ESS2.A Earth's Materials and Systems - All Earth processes are the result of energy flowing and matter cycling within and among the planet's systems. This energy is derived from the sun and Earth's hot interior. The energy that flows and matter that cycles produce chemical and physical changes in Earth's materials and living organisms. (MS-ESS2-1). The planet's systems interact over scales that range from microscopic to global in size, and they operate over fractions of a second to billions of years. These interactions have shaped Earth's history and will determine its future. (MS-ESS2-2)

ESS2.B Plate Tectonics and Large-Scale System Interactions - Maps of ancient land and water patterns, based on investigations of rocks and fossils, make clear how Earth's plates have moved great distances, collided, and spread apart. (MS-ESS2-3)

CCC (Crosscutting Concepts)

Patterns - Patterns in rate of change and other numerical relationships can provide information about natural and human designed systems. (MS-ESS2-3)

Scale, Proportion, and Quantity - Time, space, and energy phenomena can be observed at various scales using models to study systems that are too large or too small. (MS-ESS-2)

Science Unit 2 Activities

Analyze visual evidence - Students colored maps of the area around Mt. St. Helens and Spirit Lake before and after the eruption of 1980 to compare how the area changed. This was a fast change that had a medium impact on Earth's surface.

Pangaea project - Students created a puzzle of Pangaea and then completed a slide show presentation about Pangaea and Alfred Wegener to go along with the puzzle.

Science Unit 1 - What are we learning?

SEP (Science Engineering Processes)

Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions - Construct a scientific explanation based on valid and reliable evidence obtained from sources (including the students' own experiments) and the assumption that theories and laws that describe the natural world operate today as they did in the past and will continue to do so in the future (MS-ESS1-4).

Developing and Using Models - Develop and use a model to describe phenomena.

DCI (Disciplinary Core Ideas)

ESS1.C The History of Planet Earth - The geologic time scale interpreted from rock strata provides a way to organize Earth's history. Analyses of rock strata and the fossil record provide only relative dates, not an absolute scale (MS-ESS1-4).

CCC (Crosscutting Concepts)

Scale, Proportion, and Quantity - Time, space, and energy phenomena can be observed at various scales using models to study systems that are too large or too small (MS-ESS1-4).

Stability and Change - Explanations of stability and change in natural or designed systems can be constructed by examining the changes over time and processes at different scales, including the atomic scale.

Science Unit 1 Activities

Model Rock Layers to Determine Relative Age Lab

Students built a model to help them determine the order in which rocks form and their relative age. They then chose an event (igneous intrusion, lava flow, fault) to see how the event changed the rock layers.