DSST BYERS: Sixth Grade Science
2017-2018 Science Curriculum Overview
This year our sixth graders are exploring a new curriculum featuring rigorous exploration of science with numerous inquiry based activities, hands on experiments, scientific seminars, and scientific argumentation!
DSST has adopted the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) to provide our students with a more rigorous, curiosity-driven, and experiential science course. Over the course of the next three years, all grades in our middle school curriculum will utilize these standards and practices.
I believe our revised standards and practices will allow students to gain a deeper understanding of not only scientific concepts but also how to appropriately, safely, and responsibly conduct scientific experimentation in future grades and endeavors.
6th Grade Science: Overview of Units
Unit One, Practices of Science: This introductory unit will begin students’ thinking about these course questions by focusing on what conditions are needed to support human life on Mars. The unit essential question will be “Is the soil on Mars suitable for farming?” In this unit, students will also learn how the biosphere, geosphere, atmosphere, and hydrosphere interact as context for how Earth and its living things co-exist. In future units students will explore more in-depth evidence of the geology of Mars and how it is evidence of the past, but the focus in this unit is on what properties of current Martian soil are or are not suitable for farming.
Unit Two, Geology on Mars: As scientists seek to determine if Earth is the only place with life in the universe, they first look at Earth to examine the conditions that make it a place where living things can survive. Through studying Earth, criteria for habitability have been established. Two important requirements are liquid water and an energy source (such as the sun). When scientists search for evidence of habitability on other planets, they look for these things. In their role as student planetary geologists working to investigate the planet Mars, students will search for evidence of past liquid water on the surface, a necessary indicator of habitability. Students will observe satellite images and Mars rover data as they consider two possible claims for what may have formed a long channel on the surface of Mars—flowing lava or flowing water.
Unit Three, Matter and Its Interactions: Taking on the role of student chemists working for the Universal Space Agency (a fictional agency), your students will investigate the mystery of the methane lake on Titan. One team of scientists at the Universal Space Agency claims that the lake evaporated while the other team of scientists claims that the lake froze. The students’ assignment is to determine what happened to the lake. Motivated to understand phase change more deeply, students gather evidence from the Phase Change Simulation, from several articles, and from physical investigations of phase change. They learn that the molecules of a substance move differently when that substance is in different phases. They also learn how the kinetic energy of molecules and the attraction between the molecules affects the way in which the molecules move. Students use this newfound understanding of molecules, kinetic energy, and attraction, as well as evidence about the conditions on Titan, to explain what they think happened to Titan’s mysterious lake.
Unit Four, Changes to Earth's Crust: In the first unit of Trimester 2, which focuses on Earth Science, students will begin with a foundation of understanding how the landscape of Colorado has changed over time. Students will develop a solid background in rocks, fossils, and weathering and erosion, before starting the second half of the unit from Amplify. The Amplify portion of the unit will then take students’ understanding of fossils to dive into the plate motions that cause large scale changes to a landscape over time. In the role of geologists working for the fictional Museum of West Namibia, your students will investigate a fossil mystery: why are fossils of Mesosaurus, a population of extinct reptile that once lived all together, now found separated by thousands of kilometers of ocean? This context frames the unit on plate motion, prompting students to understand plates, what happens at plate boundaries, and at what rate changes happen on a geologic scale. After determining that there is a plate boundary between these groups of fossils, students determine whether the fossils were separated suddenly as a result of one geologic event, or slowly over millions of years. By the end of the unit, students are able to explain that plates are destroyed and rock is added to plates constantly and slowly (and these processes have been occurring for millions of years) due to large-scale plate movement. This unit will focus largely on developing students’ abilities to construct clear explanations for changes to a landscape over time and to gather evidence from readings about the landscapes.
Unit Five, Ongoing Plate Motion: This unit will continue the trimester 2 focus on Earth Science by building on the previous units’ study of evidence of past plate motion to examine first what causes the mantle to move, and in turn, the plates of Earth’s crust to move. Next, students will examine several types of ongoing phenomena, including earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic formation to develop their skills in analyzing models, obtaining information from articles, and constructing explanations for the causes of each of these phenomena.
Unit Six, Evolutionary History: In the Evolutionary History unit at the start of Trimester 3, students will take on the role of student paleontologists investigating a Mystery Fossil. This fossil is based on a real cetacean (whale) fossil excavated in Pakistan in 2000. The students’ task is to determine the Mystery Fossil’s evolutionary history so that they can accurately place the specimen in a museum exhibit. To gain an understanding of how paleontologists determine relationships between species, students use the Evolutionary History Simulation to analyze real fossil evidence and explore relationships on an interactive evolutionary tree. With a fossil collection at their fingertips, students identify similarities and differences among the skeletal structures of both extinct and living species. Students also use the Natural Selection Simulation to revisit principles of natural selection, applying this concept to understanding how one species becomes two. They read several articles about evolution, speciation, and natural selection, and they create models to show their thinking. By the end of the unit, students can use their analysis of skeletal structures to determine where they should place the Mystery Fossil in the museum, according to what species the evidence shows it to be most closely related to—whales or wolves.
Unit Seven, Ecology and Biodiversity: The focus for the Ecology and Biodiversity Unit will be for students to understand the interactions that take place between different organisms and resources within an ecosystem. Students will examine these interactions within the context of biodiversity and the collapse of Easter Island. Students will focus on ecosystem carrying capacities and what factors add to or take away from that number. Students will apply the knowledge they gain at the beginning of the unit towards identifying commonalities between ecosystems and then identifying organisms within different ecosystems that share characteristics. Students will continue the unit by evaluating the factors that cause a specific population to increase or decrease over time. Students will conclude the unit by studying biodiversity and how humans are impacting it. The focus will be on coming up with possible solutions to problems and how those solutions will affect humans. This part of the unit is focused on student driven problem solving. Students will have to identify the problem that their community is facing, identify the reason that it has become a problem, the impacts that would happen if it were allowed to continue, and then design and present their own solutions. The goal behind this unit is for students to apply their understanding of ecosystems, organisms, and human interactions towards a problem as a capstone project for their Science 6 experience.
2016-2017 6th Grade Science Grading Policies
Student grades are comprised of five sub-categories to provide students will a balanced metric of their achievement in the science classroom.
This year our sixth graders are exploring a new curriculum featuring rigorous exploration of science with numerous inquiry based activities, hands on experiments, scientific seminars, and scientific argumentation!
DSST has adopted the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) to provide our students with a more rigorous, curiosity-driven, and experiential science course. Over the course of the next three years, all grades in our middle school curriculum will utilize these standards and practices.
I believe our revised standards and practices will allow students to gain a deeper understanding of not only scientific concepts but also how to appropriately, safely, and responsibly conduct scientific experimentation in future grades and endeavors.
6th Grade Science: Overview of Units
Unit One, Practices of Science: This introductory unit will begin students’ thinking about these course questions by focusing on what conditions are needed to support human life on Mars. The unit essential question will be “Is the soil on Mars suitable for farming?” In this unit, students will also learn how the biosphere, geosphere, atmosphere, and hydrosphere interact as context for how Earth and its living things co-exist. In future units students will explore more in-depth evidence of the geology of Mars and how it is evidence of the past, but the focus in this unit is on what properties of current Martian soil are or are not suitable for farming.
Unit Two, Geology on Mars: As scientists seek to determine if Earth is the only place with life in the universe, they first look at Earth to examine the conditions that make it a place where living things can survive. Through studying Earth, criteria for habitability have been established. Two important requirements are liquid water and an energy source (such as the sun). When scientists search for evidence of habitability on other planets, they look for these things. In their role as student planetary geologists working to investigate the planet Mars, students will search for evidence of past liquid water on the surface, a necessary indicator of habitability. Students will observe satellite images and Mars rover data as they consider two possible claims for what may have formed a long channel on the surface of Mars—flowing lava or flowing water.
Unit Three, Matter and Its Interactions: Taking on the role of student chemists working for the Universal Space Agency (a fictional agency), your students will investigate the mystery of the methane lake on Titan. One team of scientists at the Universal Space Agency claims that the lake evaporated while the other team of scientists claims that the lake froze. The students’ assignment is to determine what happened to the lake. Motivated to understand phase change more deeply, students gather evidence from the Phase Change Simulation, from several articles, and from physical investigations of phase change. They learn that the molecules of a substance move differently when that substance is in different phases. They also learn how the kinetic energy of molecules and the attraction between the molecules affects the way in which the molecules move. Students use this newfound understanding of molecules, kinetic energy, and attraction, as well as evidence about the conditions on Titan, to explain what they think happened to Titan’s mysterious lake.
Unit Four, Changes to Earth's Crust: In the first unit of Trimester 2, which focuses on Earth Science, students will begin with a foundation of understanding how the landscape of Colorado has changed over time. Students will develop a solid background in rocks, fossils, and weathering and erosion, before starting the second half of the unit from Amplify. The Amplify portion of the unit will then take students’ understanding of fossils to dive into the plate motions that cause large scale changes to a landscape over time. In the role of geologists working for the fictional Museum of West Namibia, your students will investigate a fossil mystery: why are fossils of Mesosaurus, a population of extinct reptile that once lived all together, now found separated by thousands of kilometers of ocean? This context frames the unit on plate motion, prompting students to understand plates, what happens at plate boundaries, and at what rate changes happen on a geologic scale. After determining that there is a plate boundary between these groups of fossils, students determine whether the fossils were separated suddenly as a result of one geologic event, or slowly over millions of years. By the end of the unit, students are able to explain that plates are destroyed and rock is added to plates constantly and slowly (and these processes have been occurring for millions of years) due to large-scale plate movement. This unit will focus largely on developing students’ abilities to construct clear explanations for changes to a landscape over time and to gather evidence from readings about the landscapes.
Unit Five, Ongoing Plate Motion: This unit will continue the trimester 2 focus on Earth Science by building on the previous units’ study of evidence of past plate motion to examine first what causes the mantle to move, and in turn, the plates of Earth’s crust to move. Next, students will examine several types of ongoing phenomena, including earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic formation to develop their skills in analyzing models, obtaining information from articles, and constructing explanations for the causes of each of these phenomena.
Unit Six, Evolutionary History: In the Evolutionary History unit at the start of Trimester 3, students will take on the role of student paleontologists investigating a Mystery Fossil. This fossil is based on a real cetacean (whale) fossil excavated in Pakistan in 2000. The students’ task is to determine the Mystery Fossil’s evolutionary history so that they can accurately place the specimen in a museum exhibit. To gain an understanding of how paleontologists determine relationships between species, students use the Evolutionary History Simulation to analyze real fossil evidence and explore relationships on an interactive evolutionary tree. With a fossil collection at their fingertips, students identify similarities and differences among the skeletal structures of both extinct and living species. Students also use the Natural Selection Simulation to revisit principles of natural selection, applying this concept to understanding how one species becomes two. They read several articles about evolution, speciation, and natural selection, and they create models to show their thinking. By the end of the unit, students can use their analysis of skeletal structures to determine where they should place the Mystery Fossil in the museum, according to what species the evidence shows it to be most closely related to—whales or wolves.
Unit Seven, Ecology and Biodiversity: The focus for the Ecology and Biodiversity Unit will be for students to understand the interactions that take place between different organisms and resources within an ecosystem. Students will examine these interactions within the context of biodiversity and the collapse of Easter Island. Students will focus on ecosystem carrying capacities and what factors add to or take away from that number. Students will apply the knowledge they gain at the beginning of the unit towards identifying commonalities between ecosystems and then identifying organisms within different ecosystems that share characteristics. Students will continue the unit by evaluating the factors that cause a specific population to increase or decrease over time. Students will conclude the unit by studying biodiversity and how humans are impacting it. The focus will be on coming up with possible solutions to problems and how those solutions will affect humans. This part of the unit is focused on student driven problem solving. Students will have to identify the problem that their community is facing, identify the reason that it has become a problem, the impacts that would happen if it were allowed to continue, and then design and present their own solutions. The goal behind this unit is for students to apply their understanding of ecosystems, organisms, and human interactions towards a problem as a capstone project for their Science 6 experience.
2016-2017 6th Grade Science Grading Policies
Student grades are comprised of five sub-categories to provide students will a balanced metric of their achievement in the science classroom.
- Practice and Participation (25%): Composed of accuracy and completion metrics, assignments include mastery checks, experiments/lab reports, simulation de-briefs, and/or creation of models. Students can expect at least two practice and participation grades per day.
- Formative Assessments (25%): Composed of formative assessments (aka quizzes), students can expect to take at least two formatives per unit. These assessments vary from written argumentation, multiple choice format, and/or performance assessments.
- Summative Assessments (30%): Composed of formative assessments (aka quizzes), students can expect to take at one summative per unit. These assessments vary from written argumentation, multiple choice format, scientific seminars, and/or performance assessments.
- Homework (10%): Composed of accuracy and completion metrics, assignments include readings, written argumentation, and skill practice. Students can expect at least three homework assignments per week graded on completion and/or accuracy.
- Interim Assessments and Performance Assessments (IA/PA) (10%): Composed of traditional multiple choice and written assessments and performance assessments, students both an IA and a PA at the end of the trimester.