Course Description

Sixth grade science is an inquiry-based program supplemented with computer technology where the student learns basic scientific principles and the skills to properly conduct experiments.  The sixth grade science curriculum incorporates an exploration into a variety of science disciplines and allows flexibility between the disciplines to cover the study of matter, waves, sound, light, microbiology, plants, Earth processes and ecology.  This flexibility allows the students to be exposed to biology, chemistry, physics, and geology in a collaborative manner that will be expanded and explored in greater depth in the seventh and eighth grade levels of the program.

Topics (Outline) 

I.                     Learning to be a Scientist

a.         Lab Safety & Equipment

b.         Scientific Method

c.         Experimental Design

d.         Measurement

                                                               i.      Length

                                                             ii.      Area

                                                            iii.      Volume

                                                           iv.      Mass

                                                             v.      Time

                                                           vi.      Temperature

                                                          vii.      Force

e.         Metric System

                                                               i.      Units

                                                             ii.      Conversions

f.           Incorporating Technology

                                                               i.      Tables and Graphs

                                                             ii.      Scientific Reports and Abstracts

                                                            iii.      Research Questions

g.         History of Science

II.                   The Nature of Matter

a.         Inside the Atom

b.         States of Matter

c.         Properties & Changes of Matter

d.         The Periodic Table

III.                  Waves, Sound and Light

a.         Waves

b.         Sound

c.         Electromagnetic Waves

d.         Lights, Mirrors, Lenses

IV.                From Bacteria to Plants

a.         Bacteria

b.         Protists and Fungi

c.         Plants

d.         Plant Reproduction

e.         Plant Processes

V.                  Ecology

a.         Interactions of Life

b.         The Nonliving Environment

c.         Ecosystems

d.         Conserving Resources

e.         Conserving Life

VI.                Earth Materials & Processes

a.         Minerals

b.         Rocks

c.         Earth’s Energy and Mineral Resources

d.         Plate Tectonics

e.         Earthquakes

f.           Volcanoes