Objective – Communicate Effectively Using Science Language and Reasoning
6th Grade Science Vocabulary
Absorption – Retaining heat.
Algae – Plant-like protists that live in water and contain chlorophyll. They produce
oxygen and their own food.
Analyze - Review the data from an experiment to find out what they mean.
Angle of incidence – The angle that the light ray hits an object.
Angle of reflection - The angle that the light-ray reflects off the object.
Assumption - Something that is believed to be true without proof.
Asteroids - Irregular pieces of rock moving through space in an area between the
planets Mars and Jupiter.
Axis – An imaginary line going from the North Pole to the South Pole. The Earth
spins on this line.
Axis of Rotation - An imaginary line going from the North Pole to the South Pole.
The Earth spins on this line.
Bacteria – Microscopic single-celled organisms that exist everywhere.
Celestial Object - Any natural object found in space.
Coma - The cloud of gas and dust that forms around a comet's nucleus.
Comet - A "dirty snowball" consisting of ices, rocks, and dirt.
Compare - Look at to find similarities and differences.
Conclusion - The summary of an experiment, based on data.
Conduction - Movement of heat through an object.
Conductor – An object that will allow heat to travel through it.
Constellation – A group of stars forming a fixed pattern in the sky.
Control - A part of the experiment that is different from the experiment. For example,
if you’re testing the effects of hot water on yeast, your control would be either room
temperature water or cold water.
Convection - Rising of hot air and falling of cold air.
Culture – To grow microorganisms in a specially prepared nutrient medium i.e.
growing mold on bread, your bread is your nutrient medium.
Data – Information from an experiment.
Decomposer -An organism, often a bacterium or fungus, that feeds on and breaks
down dead plant or animal matter.
Dependent Variable - The part of the experiment that is affected by the independent
variable.
Direct Sunlight – Covers a small surface area; heat is concentrated and warmer; Sun is
high in the sky; summer heat energy is direct.
Distance – The measurement of the amount of space between objects.
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Objective – Communicate Effectively Using Science Language and Reasoning
Dust Tail - Forms when the solar wind separates dust from the coma, pushing it
outward away from the Sun.
Earth’s Tilt – The earth’s axis is not straight up and down, instead it leans at a 23.5o.
Evidence - Data used to support a conclusion.
Experiment – A test that is done to support or disprove a hypothesis.
Force - A push or a pull.
Fungi - Organisms that are neither plant nor animals, but have characteristics of both
and absorb food from whatever they are growing on.
Galaxy – Many millions of stars grouped together in space.
Gibbous - Between half and full - Gibbous Waning; Gibbous Waxing.
Gravitational force - The pull that gravity has on an object.
Gravity – The power that attracts one object to another.
Hypothesis – Your proposed answer to your question or problem.
Independent Variable - The part of the experiment that is changed by the scientists or
person performing the experiment.
Indirect Sunlight – Covers a large surface area; heat is spread out and colder; Sun is
low in the sky; winter heat energy is indirect.
Inference - Assume a fact - without proof - based on previous experience.
Inner Solar System - The path of the Solar System between the Sun and the orbit of
Jupiter
Insulator – An object that heat cannot pass through (example – cork)
Intensity – Strike with great energy, strength; a loud sound or noise; the person hit the
gong with a lot of force.
Interpret - Explain what something means; explain results of an experiment.
Investigation - A process designed to answer a question.
Light year - The distance light travels in one year; it is used to measure distances in
space.
Mass – The amount of matter in an object.
Measure - Obtain information about something (weight - length - width - height - etc.)
Medium – Something that through which sound can travel.
Meteor Shower - Many meteors are seen in the night sky as a result of the Earth
passing through
Microorganism – A living thing that can only be seen with the aid of magnification.
Milky Way Galaxy – A group of billions of stars that is home to our Solar System.
Nucleus - The solid icy/rocky part of a comet.
Observe - To watch or look at something to get information.
Opaque – Does not let light pass through it.
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Objective – Communicate Effectively Using Science Language and Reasoning
Orbit - The path followed by body around another, such as Earth's path around the
Sun or the Moon's path around Earth.
Organism - Any living thing.
Phases of the Moon - The changes in the appearance of the Moon’s shape during a
month, such as New Moon, Waxing Crescent, First Quarter, Gibbous Waxing, Full
Moon, Gibbous Waning, Last (Third) Quarter, Waning Crescent.
Pitch – Sound that varies in tone (high or low)
Planets – Celestial objects that revolve around the Sun and do not produce their own
light.
Predict - Determine what you think will happen when you do an experiment before
you do the experiment.
Prism – An object that refracts light and shows the color of the spectrum.
Producer - A living thing, like a green plant, that makes its food from simple
substances and sunlight.
Protozoan. A single-celled animal-like organism that often lives in ponds.
Qualitative Data - Data that cannot be expressed by numbers (the flower smells nice pepperoni pizza is the best type of pizza - Baseball is a better sport than football.)
Quantitative Data – Data that can be expressed by numbers (There are 30 students in
my class; I weigh 98 pounds; I ate a pound of potatoes.)
Radiation - Heat energy traveling through space/air (heat from the sun or heat from a
campfire).
Reflection - The bouncing of light off an object. The Moon appears to shine because it
reflects the Sun’s light.
Reflection – The bouncing of light off of an object. The moon appears to shine
because it reflects the Sun’s light.
Refraction – The bending of light.
Revolution - The circling of one object around another object in space. A planet
revolves around the Sun. A moon revolves around a planet.
Rotation – When a planet or moon turns all the way around or spins on its axis one
time.
Satellites - A natural or human-built object that revolves around another object in
space; such as the moon.
Scale – A unit used to help understand size relationship.
Seasons - Due to the tilt of Earth as it travels around the Sun, we have spring, summer,
fall, and winter.
Single-celled organism – Any organism that has only one cell, the smallest unit of life.
Solar System - The system made of eight unique planets and other objects that all orbit
the sun; the sun is also part of the solar system.
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Objective – Communicate Effectively Using Science Language and Reasoning
Solar Wind - A stream of charged particles ejected from the surface of the Sun.
Spectrum – The colors white light is made of – red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo,
and violet (ROY G BIV).
Speed of light - How fast light travels which is 186, 000 miles per second or 300,000
kilometers per second.
Star – A large celestial object made up of gases that gives off light and heat.
Sun - The star that is the center of our solar system.
Telescope – An instrument that makes distant objects appear larger by making them
look closer.
Theory - A well-supported explanation for something that occurs in nature.
Tilt – The Earth’s axis is not straight up and down, instead it leans at a 23.5-degree
angle.
Translucent – Semi-transparent. Light is diffuse (fuzzy) looking as it passes through it.
Transparent – Allows light pass through it.
Universe - EVERYTHING that is in space.
Vibration – Rapid movement.
Waning - Phases appear to be getting smaller.
Waxing - Phases appear to be getting larger.
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