• Course Description

    In the first unit of Physical Science in Sixth Grade, students will work toward formulating an answer to the question, “How do atomic and molecular interactions explain the properties of matter that we see and feel?” by building an understanding of what occurs at the atomic and molecular scale. In unit two, students will work toward formulating an answer to the question, “How can energy be transferred from one object or system to another?” In unit 3, students will work toward answering the question “What are the characteristics and properties of waves and how can they be used?” In unit 4, students will develop an understanding of why some objects will keep moving, why objects fall to the ground and why some materials are attracted to each other while others are not. 

    Grade Level(s): Sixth Grade

    Related Priority Standards (State &/or National):  MLS Science Standards Grades 6-12 

    Course-Level Scope & Sequence (Units &/or Skills)

    Unit 1: Matter and Its Interactions

    Students will work toward formulating an answer to the question, “How do atomic and molecular interactions explain the properties of matter that we see and feel?” by building an understanding of what occurs at the atomic and molecular scale. By the end of this unit, students will be able to apply an understanding that pure substances have characteristic physical and chemical properties and are made from a single type of atom or molecule. They will also be able to provide molecular level accounts to explain states of matters and changes between states, that chemical reactions involve regrouping of atoms to form new substances, and that atoms rearrange during chemical reactions.

    Unit 2: Energy

    Students will work toward formulating an answer to the question, “How can energy be transferred from one object or system to another?” This work is broken down into four sub-ideas: Definitions of Energy, Conservation of Energy and Energy Transfer, the Relationship between Energy and Forces, and Energy in Chemical Process and Everyday Life.

    Students develop their understanding of important qualitative ideas about energy including that the interactions of objects can be explained and predicted using the concept of transfer of energy from one object or system of objects to another, and the total change of energy in any system is always equal to the total energy transferred into or out of the system. Students will understand that objects that are moving have kinetic energy and that objects may also contain stored (potential) energy, depending on their relative positions. Students will also come to know the difference between energy and temperature, and begin to develop an understanding of the relationship between force and energy.

    Unit 3: Waves, Sound, and Light

    Students will work toward answering the question “What are the characteristics and properties of waves and how can they be used?” This work will be broken down into Wave Properties, Sound, and Electromagnetic Radiation (light). Students will be able to describe and predict characteristics, properties, and behaviors of waves,

    Unit 4: Motion and Stability

    In this area, student learning will focus on developing an understanding of why some objects will keep moving, why objects fall to the ground and why some materials are attracted to each other while others are not. Their work will be broken into two sub-ideas: Forces and Motion and Types of Interactions. By the end of this unit students will be able to apply Newton’s Laws of Motion and relate forces and the motion of objects. Students will also apply ideas about gravitational, electrical, and magnetic forces to explain a variety of phenomena including beginning ideas about why some materials attract each other while others repel.

    Course Resources & Materials:  McGraw Hill iScience: Physical Science

    Date Last Revised/Approved:  May 2017