Grade 6 Curriculum 

Human habitation and settlement has caused significant impacts on the natural environment.  With increased population and continual development, ecosystems around the world have been changing at an alarming rate.  Many of these impacts can be seen throughout Maryland and Montgomery County including our local watersheds.  In this unit, students will learn that by studying their school communities, we can assess the environmental impact our development patterns have had on our local ecosystem and aquatic habitats.  Students learn techniques to assess the areas around their school to see what specific impacts their communities have on Montgomery County, the state of Maryland, and the Chesapeake Bay.

The atmosphere is a complex system of variables that are ever changing both daily (weather) and long-term (climate).  Students will learn about the different variables responsible for the weather and climate of our planet and the factors that lead to changes both short term and long term. 

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 Earth’s hot interior. The energy that flows and matter that cycles produce chemical and physical changes in Earth’s materials and living organisms. 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. From earthquakes and volcanoes to weathering and erosion, These interactions have shaped Earth’s history and will determine its future.  Students will learn concepts that enable them to evaluate the potential causes and effects of geologic hazards, mitigate their effects on the human population, and their potential effect on the Earth or on the natural cycle of climate change seen throughout Earth's history.

The Earth's Geologic Past unit, students will examine how people figure out that the Earth and life on Earth have changed over time.  Students will learn how geologists divide Earth’s long history and use geologic principles to interpret relative age in layered rocks.  Students will also learn about the techniques used to determine the absolute ages of rocks and fossils.  Important concepts in this topic are “Scale, Proportion, and Quantity” and “Stability and Change,” in relation to the different ways geologic processes operate over the long expanse of geologic time. An important aspect of the Earth's Geologic Past unit is that geologic events and conditions have affected the evolution of life, but different life forms have also played important roles in altering Earth’s systems, evidenced in the fossil record. The performance expectations covered in this unit seek to demonstrate proficiency in analyzing and interpreting data, and constructing explanations; and to use these practices to demonstrate understanding of the core ideas.

Students will discover that natural resources are used by living things in a variety of ways, but how much and in what ways we use those resources affects the footprint of our planet.  Students will learn that our use of fossil fuels has consequences on the environment.  Students will investigate how human activity and use of resources impacts the geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere and consider alternative solutions for the products we make and the resources we use.  They will model a solution to a variety of environmental problems created from natural resource use. Students can use many different practices to understand the significant and complex issues surrounding human uses of land, energy, mineral, and water resources and the resulting impacts of their development. The crosscutting concepts of patterns; cause and effect; and interdependence of science, engineering, and technology are called out as organizing concepts for these disciplinary core ideas.