Grade 6
The grade 6 program in the suggested sequence below progressively builds students’ abilities to meet all the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) grade-level performance expectations, as outlined by the NYC DOE, through a three-dimensional instructional sequence. The following is an overview of the sequence of units, a description of each unit’s phenomena and student role, and the NYP-12SLS addressed in them.
Scroll down to see the phenomenon, student role, and performance expectations by unit.
Sequence of units
- Harnessing Human Energy
- Thermal Energy
- Populations and Resources
- Matter and Energy in Ecosystems
- Weather Patterns
- Ocean, Atmosphere, and Climate
- Earth’s Changing Climate
Harnessing Human Energy
Rescue workers can use their own human kinetic energy to power the electrical devices they use during rescue missions.
In their role as energy scientists, students learn about energy transfer and conversion as they design a system to power the electronic devices of rescue workers.
- PS2-3: Strength of Magnetic and Electric Forces
- PS2-5: Force Fields
- PS3-6: Electric Circuits
Thermal Energy
One of two proposed heating systems for Riverdale School will best heat the school.
In their role as thermal scientists, students evaluate competing proposals for heating a school, applying what they learn about matter, energy, and temperature.
- PS3-3: Thermal Energy Transfer
- PS3-4: Energy and Temperature
- PS1-6: Thermal Energy and Chemical Processes
Populations and Resources
The size of the moon jelly population in Glacier Sea has increased.
In their role as student ecologists, students work to uncover the cause of the moon jelly population explosion in Glacier Sea. They learn about how organisms interact in an ecosystem to get the resources they need.
- LS2-1: Resources and Populations
- LS2-2: Ecosystem Relationships
- LS2-3: Flow of Energy and Cycling of Matter
- LS2-4: Changes Affect Populations
- LS2-5: Ecosystem Services
Matter and Energy in Ecosystems
The biodome ecosystem has collapsed.
Students act as ecologists to investigate a failed biodome. In the process, they learn about how matter, carbon in particular, flows through biotic and abiotic components of an ecosystem.
- LS2-2: Ecosystem Relationships
- LS2-3: Flow of Energy and Cycling of Matter
- LS2-4: Changes Affect Populations
- ESS3-5: Motion and Energy Transfer
Weather Patterns
In recent years, rainstorms in Galetown have been unusually severe.
Students play the role of forensic meteorologists who must explain why powerful storms have increased after a manmade lake was built. They learn how air masses, water, and energy from the Sun produce weather phenomena.
- ESS2-4: The Water Cycle
- ESS2-5: Air Masses
- ESS3-2: Natural Hazards
Ocean, Atmosphere, and Climate
During El Niño years, the air temperature in Christchurch, New Zealand is cooler than usual.
As climatologists, students must explain the pattern of temperature changes in El Niño years, which are impacting agriculture around the Pacific. They learn about how sunlight, ocean, and atmosphere interact to produce regional climate.
- ESS2-6: Climate Patterns
- PS1-7: Density of Matter
Earth’s Changing Climate
The ice on Earth’s surface is melting.
In their role as climatologists, students must explain why Earth’s ice is melting. They learn about how changes in the atmosphere are affecting the energy balance in the Earth’s system, and about humans’ role in these changes.
- ESS3-2: Natural Hazards
- ESS3-3: Designs to Minimize Impact
- ESS3-5: Factors for Global Temperature