Sixth Grade Science
Course Information Overview
Course Information Overview
Mustang Science experience
Unit 1
Energy and Energy Transformations
Students will develop an understanding of energy which has two components: energy storage and transformation. Students will analyze the properties and compare sources of kinetic and potential energy, construct scientific explanations of transformations, and analyze and interpret data. Interactions between objects can be explained and predicted using the concept of energy transfer. Additionally, students can explain that the total energy within a closed system changes only by the transfer of energy into or out of the system. Finally, students will design and test different variables that impact energy transfer.
~CMCSS Curriculumsf.
~CMCSS Curriculumsf.
Unit 2
Heat Transfers
This is a unit that bridges energy to weather and ocean currents as students begin to move from concrete concepts to the more abstract effects of convection. Students will conduct investigations to demonstrate the way heat moves among objects through conduction, convection, and radiation. Finally, students will relate the concrete to the abstract as they diagram and investigate the convection patterns of the Earth caused by uneven heating (global winds). The topics of density relating water and wind (hot air/water rises and cold air/water sinks) and convection will need to be explored to fully support upcoming units.
~CMCSS Curriculum
~CMCSS Curriculum
Unit 3
Ocean Currents and Climate Understanding of ocean convection currents requires that students are familiar with: unequal heating of the earth’s surface, the density-related rise of heated fluids, and the density-related descent of cooler fluids. Students will need to gather evidence to justify that oceanic convection currents are caused by the sun’s transfer of heat energy and differences in salt concentration leading to global water movement. Students will construct an explanation of how atmospheric flow (global winds, land/sea breezes), geographic features (including mountains and lakes), and ocean currents affect the climate of a region. |