6th Grade Honors Science

This unit addressees how the physical properties of matter that can be used for classification and identification. Students use scientific practices and a variety of tools to investigate the physical properties of matter. They use physical properties to compare metals, nonmetals, and metalloids. Students use the Periodic Table to identify the locations of metals, nonmetals, and metalloids with the purpose of seeing how substances with like properties are classified. Additionally, students calculate density to identify an unknown substance, and test the physical properties of minerals. Additionally, students communicate and discuss their observations, and record and organize data in their notebooks. Furthermore, students analyze and interpret information to construct reasonable explanations based on evidence from their investigations and communicate valid conclusions (supported by collected data). Students continue to demonstrate safe practices as outlined in Texas Education Agency-approved safety standards and consider environmentally appropriate and ethical practices with resources during investigations. This unit bundles student expectations that address the differences between elements and compounds, and the evidence of chemical change. This is students’ first experience with the concepts of elements, compounds, and chemical changes. Students learn that an element is the simplest pure substance made up of one kind of matter that are represented by a chemical symbol on the Periodic Table, and a compound is a pure substance composed of two or more elements and represented by a chemical formula. Students use scientific practices and a variety of tools to investigate elements, compounds, and the formation of new substances by using the evidence of a possible chemical change. Additionally, students communicate and discuss their observations, and record and organize data in their notebooks. Furthermore, students analyze and interpret information to construct reasonable explanations based on evidence from their investigations and communicate valid conclusions (supported by collected data). Students continue to demonstrate safe practices as outlined in Texas Education Agency-approved safety standards and consider environmentally appropriate and ethical practices with resources during investigations.

This unit bundles student expectations that address the transfer of energy from one system to another. Students use scientific practices and a variety of tools to investigate and demonstrate energy transformations and identify examples of potential and kinetic energy. Students use scientific practices and a variety of tools to investigate methods of thermal energy transfer in a system, including conduction, convection, and radiation. They also investigate predictable patterns in the movement of thermal energy, such as an ice cube melting. Students describe how the transfer of thermal energy is related to the law of conservation of energy. This unit bundles student expectations that address the advantages and disadvantages of using differing energy resources and the law of conservation of energy as related to transformations of energy. Students research the advantages and disadvantages of using coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear power, biomass, wind, hydropower, geothermal, and solar resources. Students also illustrate the transformation of energy within an organism, such as the transfer from chemical energy to thermal energy.

This unit bundles student expectations is investigating the effects of unbalanced forces, calculating average speed, changes in motion; and inclined plane and how they can impact the amount of force used to move an object. Students use scientific practices and a variety of tools to investigate concepts of force and motion. Students identify and describe the effects of unbalanced forces on an object’s position, direction, and speed; calculate average speed; and measure and graph changes in motion including distance over time and speed over time. Students also investigate how inclined planes can be used to change the amount of force used to move an object. Students compare the forces needed to move objects with and without inclined planes. In addition, students will describe how forces cause changes in motion that occur within organisms.

This unit bundles student expectations that address the structure of the Earth and the classification of rocks by the process of their formation. Students construct a model to illustrate the structural layers of the Earth and identify the advantages and limitations of their models. Students use scientific practices and a variety of tools to investigate and classify rocks as metamorphic, igneous, or sedimentary by the processes of their formation within the rock cycle. In addition, this unit covers student expectations that address the identification of major tectonic plates and geologic events caused by plate movement. Students use scientific practices and a variety of tools to investigate and describe how plate tectonics causes major geologic events. They build on the prior knowledge of convection, the asthenosphere, and the lithosphere to gain an understanding of plate movement. Students also identify major tectonic plates. Students use scientific practices and a variety of tools to investigate and analyze the effects of weathering, erosion, and deposition on the environment in ecoregions of Texas.

This unit bundles student expectations that address the organization of our solar system, the gravitational relationship among the various bodies that comprise it, and space exploration. Students use scientific practices and a variety of tools to investigate and describe the physical properties, locations, and movements of the Sun, planets, moons, meteors, asteroids, and comets. They also demonstrate an understanding of the role gravity plays in governing the motion of our solar system and explore the relationship between mass and gravitational attraction. Moreover, students study the history of space exploration and discuss the future of space exploration, including the types of equipment and transportation needed for space travel. This unit bundles student expectations that address the characteristics of our solar system that support life and accommodations humans need for space travel. Students use scientific practices and a variety of tools to investigate and analyze the characteristics of the objects in our solar system that allow life to exist such as the proximity of the Sun, presence of water, and composition of the atmosphere. They also consider the characteristics of our solar system in order to identify accommodations that enabled manned space exploration.

This unit bundles student expectations that address the interdependence between organisms and their environments and the levels of organization within an ecosystem. Students use scientific practices and a variety of tools to investigate and describe biotic and abiotic factors of an ecosystem in which organisms interact. They must be able to identify which components of an ecosystem are biotic or abiotic. Students also study and diagram the levels of organization within an ecosystem, including organism, population, community, and ecosystem. When presented with a scenario or diagram, students must be able to identify which level of organization is represented. Students use scientific practices and tools to investigate and explain how internal structures of organisms have adaptations that allow specific functions to occur. They explain variation within a population or species by comparing external features, behaviors, or physiology of organisms that enhance their survival. In addition, this unit explores how functions of cells compare to the functions of body systems; how living organisms must be able to maintain balance of stable, internal conditions in response to external and internal stimuli; the effects of force on motion in living organisms. Students use scientific practices and tools to investigate how organisms respond to external stimuli found in the environment such as phototropism. Students apply their knowledge of plant cells’ structures and functions, homeostasis, and organisms’ responses to internal stimuli to plant systems in order to describe and relate responses in organisms that may result from internal stimuli such as wilting in plants that allow them to maintain balance. Additionally, students apply their prior knowledge of how forces affect organisms to the context of plant systems by demonstrating that forces affect motion in everyday life such as the emergence of seedlings, turgor pressure, and geotropism.