6th Grade Science
Quarter 3, 2015
Ms. L. Luckasavitch
Room SS7
Email: lluckasavitch@cic-valencia.org.ve
Website: luckasavitch.weebly.com
Course Description:
The goal of Science 6 is to provide students with the foundation of knowledge to understand, construct, and
reinforce scientific concepts. The topics covered will include an overview of science and the scientific method,
freshwater systems, the ocean, weather and climate, plate tectonics, earthquakes, volcanoes, rocks and minerals,
weathering and erosion, and geologic time. To this regard, students will actively engage in hands-on
exploration of these topics. Students will learn how to think like scientists while applying the concepts of
observing, measuring, communicating, classifying, predicting, inferring, hypothesizing, and experimenting.
Textbook:
Science Explorer: Inside Earth. Vogel, Carole Garbuny and Michael Wysession. Prentice Hall. 2007
Materials:
Ringed Binder
Lab Notebook
Pens, pencils, erasers
Units of Study:
Unit 6 – Plate Tectonics
Essential Question: What is inside the Earth and how does that affect the outside layer that we live on?
Ch. 1: Plate Tectonics (2 weeks)
Objectives: Students will understand the characteristics and movements of Earth’s layers and then apply that
knowledge to the understanding of continental drift, sea-floor spreading, and plate tectonics.
Desired outcomes: The students will be able to…
1. Describe ways in which geologists have learned about Earth’s inner structure.
2. Describe the characteristics of Earth’s three layers.
3. Explain the cause and effect of convection currents in Earth’s mantle and core.
4. Starting with Alfred Wegner’s hypothesis, explain continental drift, including the evidence that supports
it, and why it was initially rejected.
5. Explain the cause and effect of sea-floor spreading and the evidence that supports it.
6. Explain the theory of place tectonics and describe the three types of boundaries formed at plate edges.
Unit 7 – Earthquakes and Volcanoes
Essential Question: What causes earthquakes and volcanoes?
Ch. 2: Earthquakes and Ch. 3: Volcanoes (4 weeks)
Objectives: Students will understand the relationship between plate boundaries, earthquakes, and volcanoes.
They will know the cause and effect of earthquakes and ways to measure them. They will understand how
volcanoes form and erupt and the effect they have on the surrounding landscape.
Desired outcomes: The students will be able to…
1. Describe how stress in the crust changes Earth’s surface.
2. State where faults are usually found and why they formed.
3. Describe how the energy of an earthquake travels through the Earth.
4. Discuss the scales used to measure the strength of an earthquake.
5. State how scientists locate the epicenter of an earthquake.
6. Explain how scientists detect and try to predict earthquakes.
7. State damages caused by an earthquake and ways to reduce those damages.
8. Describe the relationship between plate boundaries and the location of volcanoes.
9. Explain how volcanoes are able to form far from plate boundaries.
10. State the parts of a volcano and describe what happens during an eruption.
11. Describe the stages of volcanic activity.
12. Describe the signs that scientists use to predict volcanic eruptions.
13. Describe the landforms created through volcanic activity.
Unit 8 – Minerals and Rocks
Essential Questions: What makes a mineral a mineral, and a rock a rock? How do rocks change over time?
Why are minerals and rocks important to us?
Ch. 4: Minerals and Ch. 4: Rocks (4 weeks)
Objectives: Students will understand the characteristics, properties, formation, and use of minerals and rocks.
They will also explain how rocks change form as they move through the rock cycle.
Desired outcomes: The students will be able to…
1. Define what a mineral is and describe the properties used to identify a mineral.
2. Explain how minerals form.
3. Discuss the use of minerals in society and how they are mined from the Earth.
4. Describe the properties use to identify rocks and distinguish between the three main types of rocks.
5. Describe the characteristics and classifications of the three main types of rocks.
6. Describe how the three main types of rock are formed.
7. Discuss how the three main types of rock are used in society.
8. Using the rock cycle, explain how rocks are able to change form over long periods of time.
9. Explain the role of plate tectonics in the rock cycle.
Evaluation:
Tests (One per unit along with an Error Analysis of each test)
Assignments (Textbook end-of-chapter questions; Labs; Project; Science Fair Preparation;
etc.)
Quizzes (One per chapter)
Homework (Guided notes, Visual Dictionary, etc.)
40%
35%
20%
5%
Next Generation Science Standards Benchmarks:
Standard 2. Understands Earth's composition and structure
1. Knows that the Earth is comprised of layers including a core, mantle, lithosphere, hydrosphere, and
atmosphere
2. Knows how land forms are created through a combination of constructive and destructive forces (e.g.,
constructive forces such as crustal deformation, volcanic eruptions, and deposition of sediment; destructive
forces such as weathering and erosion)
4. Knows that the Earth's crust is divided into plates that move at extremely slow rates in response to
movements in the mantle
5. Knows processes involved in the rock cycle (e.g., old rocks at the surface gradually weather and form
sediments that are buried, then compacted, heated, and often recrystallized into new rock; this new rock is
eventually brought to the surface by the forces that drive plate motions, and the rock cycle continues)
6. Knows that sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic rocks contain evidence of the minerals, temperatures,
and forces that created them
7. Knows how successive layers of sedimentary rock and the fossils contained within them can be used to
confirm the age, history, and changing life forms of the Earth, and how this evidence is affected by the folding,
breaking, and uplifting of layers
Standard 2. Understands Earth's composition and structure
1. Understands the concept of plate tectonics (e.g., the outward transfer of the Earth's internal heat and the
action of gravitational forces on regions of different density drive convection circulation in the mantle; these
convection currents propel the Earth's crustal plates, which move very slowly, pressing against one another in
some places and pulling apart in other places)
2. Knows effects of the movement of crustal plates (e.g., earthquakes occur along the boundaries between
colliding plates; sea floor spreading occurs where plates are moving apart; mountain building occurs where
plates are moving together; volcanic eruptions release pressure created by molten rock beneath the Earth's
surface)
4. Knows that throughout the rock cycle (e.g., formation, weathering, sedimentation, reformation), the total
amount of material stays the same as its form changes
5. Knows methods used to estimate geologic time (e.g., observing rock sequences and using fossils to correlate
the sequences at various locations; using the known decay rates of radioactive isotopes present in rock to
measure the time since the rock was formed)
MS-ESS2-2. Construct an explanation based on evidence for how geoscience processes have changed Earth's
surface at varying time and spatial scales.
MS-ESS2-3. Analyze and interpret data on the distribution of fossils and rocks, contintental shapes, and
seafloor structures to provide evidence of the past plate motions.
Standard 11: Understands the nature of scientific knowledge
1. Understands the nature of scientific explanation (e.g. use of logically consistent arguments; emphasis on
evidence; use of scientific principles, models and theories; acceptance or displacement of explanations based on
new scientific evidence)
2. Knows that all scientific ideas are tentative and subject to change and improvement in principle, but for most
core ideas in science, there is much experimental and observational confirmation
3. Knows that different models can be used to represent the same thing and the same model can represent
different things; the kind and complexity of the model should depend on its purpose
4. Knows that models are often used to think about things that cannot be observed or investigated directly (e.g.
processes that occur too slowly, too quickly, and too small a scale or are too dangerous for direct observation)
Standard 12: Understands the nature of scientific inquiry
1. Knows that there is no fixed procedure called "the scientific method," but that investigations involve
systematic observations, carefully collected, relevant evidence, logical reasoning, and some imagination in
developing hypotheses and explanations
2. Understands that questioning, response to criticism, and open communication are integral to the process of
science (e.g., scientists often differ with one another about the interpretation of evidence or theory in areas
where there is not a great deal of understanding; scientists acknowledge conflicting interpretations and work
towards finding evidence that will resolve the disagreement)
3. Designs and conducts a scientific investigation (e.g., formulates hypotheses, designs and executes
investigations, interprets data, synthesizes evidence into explanations, proposes alternative explanations for
observations, critiques explanations and procedures)
4. Identifies variables in a scientific investigation (e.g. independent, dependant, control)
5. Understands why only one variable, independent, can be manipulated at a time and that all other variables
must be controlled during the investigation
6. Uses appropriate tools (including computer hardware and software) and techniques to gather, analyze, and
interpret scientific data
7. Establishes relationships based on evidence and logical argument (e.g., provides causes for effects)
8. Evaluates the results of scientific investigations, experiments, observations, theoretical and mathematical
models, and explanations proposed by other scientists (e.g., reviewing experimental procedures, examining
evidence, identifying faulty reasoning, identifying statements that go beyond the evidence, suggesting
alternative explanations)
Standard 13: Understands the scientific enterprise
1. Knows that people of all backgrounds and with diverse interests, talents, qualities, and motivations engage in
fields of science and engineering; some of these people work in teams and others work alone, but all
communicate extensively with others
2. Knows that the work of science requires a variety of human abilities, qualities, and habits of mind (e.g.,
reasoning, insight, energy, skill, creativity, intellectual honesty, tolerance of ambiguity, skepticism, openness to
new ideas)
3. Knows various settings in which scientists and engineers may work (e.g., colleges and universities,
businesses and industries, research institutes, government agencies)
4. Understands ethics associated with scientific study (e.g., potential subjects must be fully informed of the risks
and benefits associated with the research and their right to refuse to participate; potential subjects must be fully
informed of possible risks to community and property)
5. Knows ways in which science and society influence one another (e.g., scientific knowledge and the
procedures used by scientists influence the way many individuals think about themselves, others, and the
environment; societal challenges often inspire questions for scientific research; social and economic forces
strongly influence which science research programs are pursued and funded).