Grade 6 Science 

Course Description

The Rivendell 6th Grade science program is built around the idea that anyone, no matter who you are or where you come from, has the capacity to be a scientific thinker and can take part in deep scientific inquiry. All students will experience being in the roles of both teacher and learner - in an inquiry-based environment where students' questions and explorations frequently become the source for collective classroom investigations. All ideas will be taken seriously as we explore the depths of our curiosity and rich scientific phenomena.  

Three major phases make up the scientific curriculum at Rivendell centered around the three major fields of experimental design, programming and robotics, and field ecology. This full range of content areas will give the students foundations in three of the major fields of science practiced in the world today. Phase 1 will be centered around the Scientific Method, physics, basic chemistry, and experimentation. The trimester ends in a challenge where students will step into the role of a teacher, as we invite Rivendell faculty into our classroom to become the students. In Phase 2 we will keep ourselves warm in the winter months with Robotics, coding, and writing of Astronomy-based graphic novels. Each unit in Phase 2 ends in day-long celebrations and festivities respectively. Phase 3: As spring returns to us so does the migration of birds and the re-emergence of life. Nature becomes our classroom, and our studies are solely based in field ecology excursions and deep research on the life we find in the local forest and river ecosystems.

Enduring Understandings

• The structure of objects affects their function. The function of objects affects their structure.  

• We use models to simplify, clarify, and  analyze complex systems. 

• How various species interact with boundaries to survival; sources and sinks, seasonality, migration, and change.

• The methodology of science gives us objective answers to challenging questions.  What we do with our scientific knowledge can and does impact humanity. 

• Systems operate by transferring and transforming matter and energy. 

• The macroscopic behaviors of systems depend on their microscopic properties (the way the world works depends on things we can’t see). 

• Coding and programing effects on robotics and machines. 

Essential Questions

• What are the components of a healthy functioning ecosystem? 

• How does energy flow through an ecosystem? 

• How do human activities impact the proper functioning of a natural ecosystem? 

• What are are all the ways water moves through systems, and how do humans impact water's flow?

• What does it mean to be a scientist, and what do scientists actually do?

• What are all the ways we can explore the phenomena of the world through experimentation and direct experience in the classroom?

• How can we explore the scientific laws and theories in the classroom through student-generated ideas of experimentation?

• How can we put our ideas about motion in robotics into action through the language of coding?

Phase 1: Becoming Scientists 

Students will deeply explore phenomena in physics and chemistry through self-generated experimentation and class-wide investigations. Special attention will be given to exploring the laws of thermodynamics and gravity in the beginning of the unit to get the students engaged and excited with the possibilities of exploring scientific phenomena through the lens of the scientific method. Scientific concepts will be taught but specific scientific words will be essentially banned from the classroom unless the class can effectively explain what they mean, allowing the teacher and students to actively assess where the class understanding is at any given moment. 

Students' projects will begin after a deep dive in a teacher-guided and modeled explorations. The students' projects will be guided by the essential question "What are all the ways you can show the scientific phenomena or principle represented in your experiment without using any scientific words or by telling the person you are teaching what is happening?" The stages of this project will be assessed through multiple different lenses; project work, presentations, exhibitions, and final infographics that will be published in a book with all students' work. 

Student outcomes:

• Each student will develop a science experiment that will be conducted in front of the entire class. 

• Students will be challenged to write specific directions that participants must follow in order to complete their experiments.

• Students will take on the role of the teacher, leading their peers and Academy staff members in their experimentation.

• Students will learn to generate questions from their observations.

• Students will come out of Phase 1 with a confident and blossoming curiosity for exploring scientific phenomena 

• Students will 

Phase 2:  Programming The Universe 

Coding and Robotics are quickly taking center stage in the STEM community and throughout the workforce in the United states. Robotics is a spectacular source for directly exploring programming, offering direct feedback through trial and error. Students will move through a stage of increasing complex programming challenges to get their robots to do various tasks. Each step of the way their work will be assessed before moving on to the next task. All of their hard work will be put to the test in the day-long Robot Olympics where students will put their programming skills to the test as teams challenge each other to win the day! 

Student outcomes:

• Students will work in both individual and group settings to complete challenging tasks in both programming and engineering. 

• Students will experience direct feedback from their programming, learning through trial and error.

• Students will practice overcoming challenges as a group, and will learn to hear each other's ideas and to take them seriously. 

• Students will learn to take their own ideas seriously and to think for themselves rather than rely on classroom instruction or teachers giving them easy answers.

Phase 3: Foundations of Field Ecology and Advanced Nature Studies

In Phase 3 we will take advantage of the long transition to springtime from the winter months, taking up the role as researcher. Students will develop independent projects in connection to the forested and riparian ecosystems found in the Upper Valley. Pond and stream studies will open the door to the micro-invertebrate world, while the emergent flora will guide our interests and curiosities. Birds and their incredible migration will be a centerpiece to the last trimester of the year, as students will go on two field trips to important stops on the migratory flyways in the area.