Science as Systems & Evidence
Objectives
- D06.S1.06.01 Collect and organize data in tables and graphs, and use them to support or revise a claim.
- D06.S1.06.02 Identify sources of error or bias in a simple investigation and suggest how to reduce them.
- D06.S2.06.01 Explain how cells are the basic unit of life and that some living things are made of a single cell.
- D06.S2.06.02 Describe how energy flows and matter (such as carbon and water) cycles through an ecosystem.
- D06.S3.06.01 Describe the forms of energy (kinetic, potential, thermal, chemical, and electrical) and how energy changes between them.
- D06.S3.06.02 Explain how balanced and unbalanced forces determine whether an object's motion changes.
- D06.S4.06.01 Describe Earth's place in the solar system and the scale of planets, moons, and the Sun.
- D06.S4.06.02 Explain how the rock cycle recycles Earth's materials and how soil supports life.
Essential questions
- How do data support or revise a claim, and where can error or bias creep in?
- How do cells, ecosystems, energy, forces, and Earth's place in the solar system work as systems?
Big ideas
- Tables and graphs support or revise claims, and naming error and bias makes an investigation stronger.
- Cells are the unit of life; matter and energy flow and cycle through ecosystems; energy changes form; forces decide motion; and Earth holds a place in a vast solar system.
Lessons
- 1 Collect and Organize Data in Tables 50 minutes
- 2 Graphs Support or Revise a Claim 50 minutes
- 3 Sources of Error in an Investigation 50 minutes
- 4 Bias: How It Creeps In and How to Reduce It 50 minutes
- 5 Cells: The Basic Unit of Life 50 minutes
- 6 Energy Flows, Matter Cycles Through an Ecosystem 50 minutes
- 7 Forms of Energy and How Energy Changes 50 minutes
- 8 Energy Transformations in Action 50 minutes
- 9 Balanced and Unbalanced Forces 50 minutes
- 10 Earth's Place in the Solar System 50 minutes
- 11 The Rock Cycle Recycles Earth's Materials 50 minutes
- 12 Soil Supports Life 55 minutes
Assessment plan
Observation of data collection, claim revision, and error-and-bias naming; a data-table-and-graph task, an error-and-bias note, an ecosystem energy-and-matter diagram, and a solar-system scale model as portfolio artifacts.
Unit 6 — Science as Systems & Evidence
Overview
This unit deepens the inquiry Grade 5 designed into an investigation of error and bias. Learners collect and organize data in tables and graphs and use them to support or revise a claim, and identify sources of error or bias in a simple investigation and suggest how to reduce them. They explain how cells are the basic unit of life and that some living things are made of a single cell, and describe how energy flows and matter — such as carbon and water — cycles through an ecosystem. They describe the forms of energy — kinetic, potential, thermal, chemical, and electrical — and how energy changes between them, and explain how balanced and unbalanced forces determine whether an object’s motion changes. They describe Earth’s place in the solar system and the scale of planets, moons, and the Sun, and explain how the rock cycle recycles Earth’s materials and how soil supports life. Systems and nuance enter here for the first time, always with a concrete anchor and open inquiry rather than dogma.
Essential questions
- How do data support or revise a claim, and where can error or bias creep in?
- How do cells, ecosystems, energy, forces, and Earth’s place in the solar system work as systems?
Lessons
| Lesson | Title | Standards |
|---|---|---|
| L.06.006.01 | Collect and Organize Data in Tables | D06.S1.06.01 |
| L.06.006.02 | Graphs Support or Revise a Claim | D06.S1.06.01 |
| L.06.006.03 | Sources of Error in an Investigation | D06.S1.06.02 |
| L.06.006.04 | Bias: How It Creeps In and How to Reduce It | D06.S1.06.02 |
| L.06.006.05 | Cells: The Basic Unit of Life | D06.S2.06.01 |
| L.06.006.06 | Energy Flows, Matter Cycles Through an Ecosystem | D06.S2.06.02 |
| L.06.006.07 | Forms of Energy and How Energy Changes | D06.S3.06.01 |
| L.06.006.08 | Energy Transformations in Action | D06.S3.06.01 |
| L.06.006.09 | Balanced and Unbalanced Forces | D06.S3.06.02 |
| L.06.006.10 | Earth’s Place in the Solar System | D06.S4.06.01 |
| L.06.006.11 | The Rock Cycle Recycles Earth’s Materials | D06.S4.06.02 |
| L.06.006.12 | Soil Supports Life | D06.S4.06.02 (revisits S1, S2, S3, S4) |