Grade 6 Science Iowa standards Standards

Earth and Space

Life

Physical

Initial Level: Recognize models of the Earth, Moon, and Sun system.

Precursor Level: Use a model to show that Earth's Moon moves around Earth, and Earth and its Moon move around the Sun.

Target Level: Use an Earth-Sun-Moon model to show that Earth's orbit around the Sun corresponds to a calendar year and the orbit of the Moon around Earth corresponds to a month.

Initial Level: Identify the process that forms igneous rock (e.g., volcanoes).

Precursor Level: Use a model to describe the change from igneous to sedimentary rock.

Target Level: Use a model to describe the change within the rock cycle between igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rock.

Identify differences in weather conditions from day to day.

Precursor Level: Identify geoscience processes (e.g., wind, rain, runoff) that have an impact on landforms (e.g., landslides, erosion such as gullies).

Target Level: Explain how geoscience processes that occur daily (e.g.,wind, rain, runoff) slowly change the surface of Earth, while catastrophic events (e.g., earthquakes, tornadoes, floods) can quickly change the surface of Earth.

Initial Level: Interpret basic weather information (e.g., radar, map) to identify weather conditions.

Precursor Level: Interpret basic weather information (e.g., radar, map) to compare weather conditions.

Target Level: Interpret basic weather information (e.g., radar, map) to make predictions about future conditions.

Initial Level: Identify a natural resource.

Precursor Level: Identify the geoscience process that produces a natural resource.

Target Level: Interpret, based on evidence, how geoscience processes create resources.

Initial Level: Recognize resources in the local environment that are important for human life.

Precursor Level: Recognize ways in which humans impact the environment.

Target Level: Develop a plan to monitor and minimize a human impact on the local environment.

Initial Level: Recognize major organs of animals.

Precursor Level: Use a model to demonstrate how organs are connected in major organ systems.

Target Level: Make a claim about how a structure (e.g., organs and organ systems) and its related function supports survival of animals.

Initial Level: Match organisms to their habitats.

Precursor Level: Identify factors that influence growth of organisms.

Target Level: Interpret data to show that environmental resources (e.g., food, light, space, water) influence growth of organisms.

Initial Level: Identify food that animals eat.

Precursor Level: Classify animals based on what they eat (e.g., herbivore, omnivore, carnivore).

Target Level: Use models of food chains/webs to identify producers and consumers in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems.

Initial Level: Recognize that organisms differ within the same species.

Precursor Level: Identify similarities and differences between plant and animal parents and their offspring.

Target Level: Make a claim supported by evidence that offspring inherit traits from their parents.

Initial Level: Observe and identify examples of change (e.g., state of matter, color, temperature, and odor).

Precursor Level: Gather data on the properties (e.g., color, texture, odor, and state of matter) of substances before and after chemical changes have occurred.

Target Level: Interpret and analyze data on the properties (e.g., color, texture, odor, and state of matter) of substances before and after chemical changes have occurred.

Initial Level: Identify ways to change the movement of an object (e.g., faster, slower, stop).

Precursor Level: Investigate and identify ways to change the motion of an object (e.g., change an incline's slope to make an object go slower, faster, farther).

Target Level: Investigate and predict the change in motion of objects based on the forces acting on those objects.

Initial Level: Identify objects/materials used to minimize or maximize thermal energy transfer.

Precursor Level: Investigate objects/materials and predict their ability to maximize or minimize thermal energy transfer.

Target Level: Test and refine a device to either minimize or maximize thermal energy transfer.

Initial Level: Use a model to recognize that sound waves are transmitted by vibrations.

Precursor Level: Investigate changes in vibrations and sources of sound in everyday life.

Target Level: Use a model to show how light or sound waves are reflected, absorbed, or transmitted through various materials.

Earth's Place in the Universe

Earth and the Solar System

Earth's Systems

Earth's Materials and Systems

Weather and Climate

Earth and Human Activity

Natural Resources

Human Impacts on Earth Systems

From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes

Structure and Function

Growth and Development of Organisms

Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics

Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems

Heredity: Inheritance and Variation of Traits

Variation of Traits

Matter and Its Interactions

Structure and Properties of Matter

Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions

Forces and Motion

Energy

Conservation of Energy and Energy Transfer

Waves and Their Applications in Technologies for Information Transfer

Wave Properties

Student Sensemaking of phenomena

Asking questions and defining problems.

Planning and carrying out investigations.

Analyzing and interpreting data.

Using mathematical and computational thinking.

Engaging in argument from evidence.

Obtaining, evaluating and communicating information.

Constructing explanations and designing solutions.

Developing and using models.

Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence from rock strata for how the geologic time scale is used to organize Earth’s history.

Develop a model to describe the cycling of Earth’s materials and the flow of energy that drives this process.

Construct an explanation based on evidence for how geoscience processes have changed Earth’s surface at varying time and spatial scales.

Analyze and interpret data on the distribution of fossils and rocks, continental shapes, and seafloor structures to provide evidence of the past plate motions.

Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for how the uneven distributions of Earth’s mineral, energy, and groundwater resources are the result of past and current geoscience processes.

Analyze and interpret data on natural hazards to forecast future catastrophic events and inform the development of technologies to mitigate their effects.

Define the criteria and constraints of a design problem with sufficient precision to ensure a successful solution, considering relevant scientific principles and potential impacts on people and the natural environment that may limit possible solutions.

Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.

Analyze data from tests to determine similarities and differences among several design solutions to identify the best characteristics of each that can be combined into a new solution to better meet the criteria for success.

Develop a model to generate data for iterative testing and modification of a proposed object, tool, or process such that an optimal design can be achieved.

Conduct an investigation to provide evidence that living things are made of cells; either one cell or many, different numbers and types of cells.

Develop and use a model to describe the function of a cell as a whole and ways parts of cells contribute to the function.

Use arguments supported by evidence for how the body is a system of interacting subsystems composed of groups of cells.

Gather and synthesize information that sensory receptors respond to stimuli by sending messages to the brain for immediate behavior or storage as memories.

Develop a model that predicts and describes changes in particle motion, temperature, and state of a pure substance when thermal energy is added or removed.

Undertake a design project to construct, test, and modify a device that either releases or absorbs thermal energy by chemical processes.

Apply scientific principles to design, construct, and test a device that either minimizes or maximizes thermal energy transfer.

Use mathematical representations to describe a simple model for waves that includes how the amplitude of a wave is related to the energy in a wave.

Develop and use a model to describe that waves are reflected, absorbed, or transmitted through various materials.

Integrate qualitative scientific and technical information to support the claim that digitized signals are a more reliable way to encode and transmit information than analog signals.