Controlled Experiments & the Living World
Objectives
- D06.S1.04.01 Use simple tools (such as a ruler, scale, thermometer, or magnifier) to measure and record observations with units.
- D06.S1.04.02 Compare results across repeated trials and explain why repeating a test matters.
- D06.S2.04.01 Describe how animals' body parts and behaviors help them survive in their environment.
- D06.S2.04.02 Explain how living and nonliving things in an ecosystem depend on each other (such as soil, water, and sunlight).
- D06.S3.04.01 Describe how energy moves from one place or object to another (such as heat, sound, and light) and is never destroyed.
- D06.S3.04.02 Build a simple circuit and explain what conductors and insulators do.
- D06.S4.04.01 Describe the water cycle and how water moves and is reused around the Earth.
- D06.S4.04.02 Explain how fossils and rock layers give clues about Earth's long history.
Essential questions
- How do careful measurement and repeated trials make an experiment trustworthy?
- How do living and nonliving things, energy, and the Earth's long story connect?
Big ideas
- Measuring with tools and units, and comparing repeated trials, strengthens evidence.
- Adaptations, ecosystems, energy transfer, circuits, the water cycle, and fossils reveal an interconnected, changing world.
Lessons
- 1 Measure Like a Scientist 55 minutes
- 2 Why Repeat? Repeated Trials 55 minutes
- 3 A Controlled Experiment 60 minutes
- 4 Survival Body Parts and Behaviors 55 minutes
- 5 Living and Nonliving: An Ecosystem Web 55 minutes
- 6 Our Ecosystem Diagram 60 minutes
- 7 Energy Moves: Heat, Sound, Light 55 minutes
- 8 A Simple Circuit: Conductors and Insulators 60 minutes
- 9 The Water Cycle 55 minutes
- 10 Fossils and Rock Layers: Earth's Long Story 55 minutes
Assessment plan
Observation during measured investigations; records of repeated trials and simple circuit builds, an ecosystem diagram, and a water-cycle model as portfolio artifacts.
Unit 6 — Controlled Experiments & the Living World
Overview
This unit turns wonder into a careful, repeated test, building on Grade 3’s fair test of changing one thing. Learners use simple tools such as a ruler, scale, thermometer, or magnifier to measure and record observations with units, and compare results across repeated trials, explaining why repeating a test matters. They describe how animals’ body parts and behaviors help them survive in their environment, how living and nonliving things in an ecosystem depend on one another, how energy moves from one place or object to another as heat, sound, and light and is never destroyed, build a simple circuit and explain what conductors and insulators do, describe the water cycle and how water is reused around the Earth, and explain how fossils and rock layers give clues about Earth’s long history. Big questions are explored as stories grounded in evidence, never as dogma.
Essential questions
- How do careful measurement and repeated trials make an experiment trustworthy?
- How do living and nonliving things, energy, and the Earth’s long story connect?
Lessons
| Lesson | Title | Standards |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Measure Like a Scientist | D06.S1.04.01 |
| 2 | Why Repeat? Repeated Trials | D06.S1.04.02 |
| 3 | A Controlled Experiment | D06.S1.04.01, D06.S1.04.02 |
| 4 | Survival Body Parts and Behaviors | D06.S2.04.01 |
| 5 | Living and Nonliving: An Ecosystem Web | D06.S2.04.02 |
| 6 | Our Ecosystem Diagram | D06.S2.04.01, D06.S2.04.02 |
| 7 | Energy Moves: Heat, Sound, Light | D06.S3.04.01 |
| 8 | A Simple Circuit: Conductors and Insulators | D06.S3.04.02 |
| 9 | The Water Cycle | D06.S4.04.01 |
| 10 | Fossils and Rock Layers: Earth’s Long Story | D06.S4.04.02 |