Download What is Life? - Chariho Regional School District

Chariho Regional School District - Science Curriculum
September, 2016
GRADE SIX CURRICULUM
​Unit
1: Life Science - What is Life?
OVERVIEW
Summary
What is Life? Engages students in thinking about characteristics and requirements that are common to all living
organisms. It develops an operational definition of life that will be refined throughout the course and finally
challenged when students consider viruses.
Content to Be Learned
● Any free-living thing is an organism.
● All organisms exhibit common characteristics and have certain requirements: they grow, need energy
(food) and water, exchange gases, respond to the environment, reproduce, eliminate waste, and need a
suitable environment in which to live.
● Something can be dead only if it was once living.
● Some organisms can become dormant to survive an unsuitable environment.
Practices
● Collect, analyze, and interpret data about five materials for evidence of life.
● Construct explanations and arguments related to the concepts of living, non-living, dead and dormant.
Crosscutting Concepts
● Structure and function. The way in which an object or living thing is shaped and its substructure
determine many of its properties and functions.
Essential Question
● How do you know if something is living? (Parts 1 & 2)
Next Generation Science Standards
Unit 2: Life Science - The Microscope
OVERVIEW
Summary
What is Life? Engages students in thinking about characteristics and requirements that are common to all living
organisms. It develops an operational definition of life that will be refined throughout the course and finally
challenged when students consider viruses.
Content to Be Learned
● A compound optical microscope is composed of a two-lens system (eyepiece and objective lens), a stage
on which to mount the material being observed, a light source (lamp or reflected), and a focusing
system.
● A microscope’s optical power is the product of the magnification of the eyepiece and the objective lens.
● The field view (FOV) is the diameter of the circle of light seen through the microscope. As the power
increases, the FOV decreases.
● A microscope may reverse and invert images.
Practices
● Demonstrate proper use of the microscope.
● Draw scale representations of images seen through a microscope.
● Use computational thinking to estimate size of objects based on field view.
Crosscutting Concepts
● Phenomena that can be observed at one scale may not be observable at another scale.
● Engineering advances have led to important discoveries in virtually every field of science, and scientific
discoveries have led to the development of entire industries and engineered systems.
● Complex and microscopic structures and systems can be visualized, modeled, and used to describe how
their function depends on the relationships among its parts, therefore complex natural and designed
structures/systems can be analyzed to determine how they function.
Essential Questions
● How do objects appear when they are viewed through a microscope?
● How can we estimate the size of an object by looking at it through the microscope?
● What evidence can we find that brine shrimps are living organisms?
Next Generation Science Standards
Unit 3: Life Science - The Cell
OVERVIEW
Summary
In ​The Cell, students identify cells and begin to understand their importance as the basic units of life.
Content to Be Learned
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The cell is the basic unit of life. All living things are made up of one or more cells.
Every cell has structures that enable it to carry out life’s functions.
Both single-celled and multicellular organisms exhibit all the characteristics of life.
Asexual reproduction is a method of reproduction that results in offspring with identical genetic
information.
● Some organisms can become dormant to survive in an unsuitable environment.
Practices
● Use a microscope to discover and observe, and compare structures of cells in multicellular and
single-celled organisms.
● Describe differences between living cells that are organisms and living cells that are part of multicellular
organisms.
● Refine the working definition of life to include the cell.
Crosscutting Concepts
● Phenomena that can be observed at one scale may not be observable at another scale.
● Complex and microscopic structures and systems can be visualized, modeled, and used to describe how
their function depends on the relationships among its parts, therefore complex natural structures/systems
can be analyzed to determine how they function.
Essential Questions
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What microscopic structures make up organisms such as elodea?
How are elodea and the paramecium alike, and how are they different?
Is there life in the mini-habitats? If so, where did it come from?
What microscopic structures make up organisms such as humans (you)?
Next Generation Science Standards
Unit 4: Life Science - Domains
OVERVIEW
Summary
In ​Domains, students explore bacteria, fungi, and archaea to understand their roles in the scheme of life and
discover which group is most like a middle school student. They are introduced to the current classification
model of three domains: Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukaryota. They begin to investigate levels of complexity:
cells are made of cell structures, which are made of molecules, which are made of atoms.
Content to Be Learned
● Cells are made of cell structures, which are, in turn, made of molecules which are made of atoms.
● Bacteria, fungi, and archaea demonstrate all the characteristics of life.
● Life is classified into three different domains (Archaea, Bacteria, Eukaryota), depending upon cellular
and molecular characteristics.
Practices
● Observe the growth of bacteria on nutrient agar and bread mold on bread.
● Calculate the reproductive potential of bacteria.
● Determine that advances in technology have influenced the progress of science.
Crosscutting Concepts
● Phenomena that can be observed at one scale may not be observable at another scale.
● Complex and microscopic structures and systems can be visualized, modeled, and used to describe how
their function depends on the relationships among its parts, therefore complex natural structures/systems
can be analyzed to determine how they function.
● Engineering advantages have led to important discoveries in virtually every field of science, and
scientific discoveries have led to the development to entire industries and engineered systems.
Essential Questions
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What are the building blocks of cell structures?
What evidence is there that bacteria are living organisms?
What evidence is there that fungi are living organisms?
What are the characteristics of archaea?
Next Generation Science Standards
Unit 5: Life Science - Plants: The Vascular System
OVERVIEW
Summary
In ​Plants: The Vascular System, students begin their exploration of multicellular organisms. They face a
mystery when water enters a plant and seems to disappear. Students discover that the vascular system is the
culprit that carries water up through the plant and allows it to leave via the stomata, depositing water at the
plant’s cells along the way.
Content to Be Learned
● Transpiration is the process by which water is carried through vascular plants from the roots to stomata,
ensuring that all the cells have access to water.
● The vascular system of plants consists of xylen and phloem.
● Plants use photosynthesis and aerobic cellular respiration to make usable energy from the Sun’s energy.
● Cells are the building blocks of tissues, which are the building blocks of organs, which are the building
blocks of organ systems, which are the building blocks of multicellular organisms.
Practices
● Plan and carry out an investigation to answer a question.
● Analyze and interpret data.
● Use mathematics and computational thinking to determine the amount of water unaccounted for in a vial
with celery.
Crosscutting Concepts
● Phenomena that can be observed at one scale may not be observable at another scale.
● Systems may interact with other systems; they may have sub-systems and be a part of larger complex
systems.
● Matter is conserved because atoms are conserved in physical and chemical procedures.
● Within a natural system, the transfer of energy drives the motion and/or cycling of matter.
Essential Questions
● What happened to the water?
● How is water transported through a plant?
● How do plants use water?
​Next
Generation Science Standards
Unit 6: Life Science - Plant Reproduction and Growth
OVERVIEW
Summary
In ​Plant Reproduction and Growth, students initiate germination in lima beans and discover the latent embryo
inside. They investigate how the environmental factor of salinity affects germination and early growth of
different food crops. They then study the reproductive system in flowers to understand the origin of seeds, and
discover the relationships between flowers and pollinators.
Content to Be Learned
● Environmental and genetic factors affect the germination and growth of plants.
● Flowering plants reproduce sexually, producing seeds, which contain dormant new plants.
● Flowering plants have characteristics that attract pollinators to ensure successful pollination and
reproduction and pollinators are attracted to flowers that meet their needs.
Practices
● Dissect dry and wet lima bean seeds to discover the embryo; dissect and mount the structures of a simple
flower.
● Plan and carry out an investigation to determine how salinity affects the rate of germination of different
food crops.
● Sequence the steps of pollination and fertilization.
● Examine a flower to discover its pollination syndrome.
Crosscutting Concepts
● Phenomena may have more than one cause, and some cause and effect relationships in systems can only
be described using probability.
Essential Questions
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How do the structural adaptations of seeds help them survive?
How do environmental factors affect the germination and early growth of different food crops?
What is the purpose of a flower?
What adaptations do flowering plants have to accomplish pollination?
Next Generation Science Standards
Unit 7: Life Science - Insects
OVERVIEW
Summary
Insects introduces students to the structures, functions, and behaviors of the Madagascar hissing cockroach.
Students make careful observations of live hissing cockroaches and consider the systems that make life possible
for this multicellular organism. They return to the levels of complexity to compare insect, plant, and human
transport systems.
Content to Be Learned
● The structures and behaviors of an organism have functions that enhance the organism’s chance to
survive and reproduce in its habitat.
● Cells are the building blocks of tissues, which are the building blocks of organs, which are the building
blocks of multicellular organisms.
● Insects have open circulatory systems that transport substances to and away from their cells.
Practices
● Observe and explain how hissing cockroaches’ structural and behavioral adaptations help them to
survive.
● Compare the transport systems of insects, plants, and humans.
Crosscutting Concepts
● Systems may interact with other systems; they may have sub-systems and be a part of larger complex
systems.
Essential Questions
● How do the structures and behaviors of the Madagascar hissing cockroach enable life’s functions?
● How is the insect transport system like plant and human transport systems and how is it different?
Next Generation Science Standards
Unit 8: Life Science - Diversity of Life
OVERVIEW
Summary
Diversity of Life gives students the opportunity to explore the diversity of plants and animals at a local site by
conducting a brief bioblitz (a counting of the different plants and animals that are in the site). Students then
conclude the course by thinking about viruses. Suddenly, their ideas about what life is are challenged as they
consider something that does not fit into the definition of life they have developed.
Content to Be Learned
● Biodiversity is the variety of life that exists in a particular habitat or ecosystem.
● Measuring biodiversity includes measuring both the variety of organisms and the number of organisms
in a habitat or ecosystem.
● Scientific debate regarding whether viruses are living organisms is ongoing.
● All life on Earth is related.
Practices
● Use different collection techniques to gather organisms.
● Compare predicted species diversity to observed species diversity in a local study site.
● Argue using evidence about whether viruses are living.
Crosscutting Concepts
● Engineering advances have led to important discoveries in virtually every field of science, and scientific
discoveries have led to the development of entire industries and engineered systems.
Essential Questions
● What kind of plant and animal life exists in our schoolyard (neighborhood)?
● How do you know if something is living?
Next Generation Science Standards