Download 6th Grade Science Curriculum - Gettysburg Area School District

Sixth Grade Science Curriculum Key Learning
The study of science in the Gettysburg Area Middle School engages students in the following
topics each year: the scientific method, the relationship between science and technology, and the
history and nature of science. Content areas of life, earth, and physical science will be integrated
and explored through lab activities, research, data analysis, and problem solving. Meteorology,
astronomy, geology, and environmental science will be areas of focus in sixth grade. Students
are expected to demonstrate inquiry-based scientific techniques in a cooperative setting. Labs,
tests, quizzes, homework and projects are used to assess student learning.
Environmental Science
Key Learning: The Earth is a complex and dynamic set of interconnected
systems (e.g. geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, biosphere) that interact
over a wide range of temporal and spatial scales.
Unit Essential Question:
How do Earth’s processes and human activities affect each other?
Lesson Essential Questions:
How do you use observation skills scientifically to investigate the
environment?
How does the Earth recycle its water systems?
S8.A.2.1 S8.A.2.2 3.3.6.A4, 3.3.8.A4
Astronomy
Key Learning: The universe is composed of a variety of different objects
which are organized into systems each of which develops according to accepted
physical processes and laws.
Unit Essential Question:
What are the predictable patterns caused by different objects in the solar
system?
How do objects in the universe appear and behave?
Lesson Essential Questions:
What is the relationship between and among the objects of our solar system?
What causes some of the cyclical patterns that occur as a result of the Earth’s
rotation around the Sun?
How does the moon affect the Earth’s water systems?
3.3.5.B1, 3.3.6.B1, 3.3.7.A4, 3.3.7.B1, 3.3.6.B2, 3.3.7.B2
Meteorology
Key Learning: The changing weather impacts everyday life. Changes in the
atmosphere cause different weather patterns to emerge.
Unit Essential Question: How do atmospheric changes create different weather
patterns?
Lesson Essential Questions:
What are the characteristics of each layer of the atmosphere? How do wind,
temperature, humidity, precipitation, air pressure and clouds influence weather
(six main factors)?
How do meteorologists use data to forecast the weather?
How do climate changes on one part of the Earth affect weather on other parts
of the Earth?
S8.A.2.2.1
S8.A.3.2.1 S8.D.1.3.1 S8.D.2.1.1 S8.D.2.1.2 S8.D.2.1.3
Geology
Key Learning: Plate tectonics is the unifying theory that explains the past and
current movements of the rocks at Earth’s surface and provides a framework
for understanding its geological history. Tectonic processes continually
generate new ocean seafloor at ridges and destroy old seafloor trenches.
Unit Essential Question: How do we describe and interpret Earth’s features,
their origins and the processes that shape them?
Lesson Essential Questions: How do plate tectonics explain the past and current
movements of the rocks at Earth’s surface?
How do tectonic processes continually generate new ocean seafloor at ridges
and destroy old seafloor at trenches?
How are the different kinds of rocks formed?
3.3.6.A1, 3.3.7.A6, 3.3.8.A6