Sixth Grade
6th Grade Science Content Standards
Emphasis on Earth Science
Plate Tectonics and Earth's Structure
1. Plate tectonics explains important features of the
Earth's surface and major geologic events.
As the basis for understanding this concept, students
know:
a. the fit of the continents, location of earthquakes,
volcanoes, and midocean ridges, and the distribution
of fossils, rock types, and ancient climatic zones provide
evidence for plate tectonics.
b. the solid Earth is layered with cold, brittle lithosphere;
hot, convecting mantle; and dense, metallic core.
c. lithospheric plates that are the size of continents
and oceans move at rates of centimeters per year in
response to movements in the mantle.
d. earthquakes are sudden motions along breaks in the
crust called faults, and volcanoes/fissures are locations
where magma reaches the surface.
e. major geologic events, such as earthquakes, volcanic
eruptions, and mountain building result from plate motions.
f. how to explain major features of California geology
in terms of plate tectonics (including mountains, faults,
volcanoes).
g. how to determine the epicenter of an earthquake and
that the effects of an earthquake vary with its size,
distance from the epicenter, local geology, and the
type of construction involved.
Shaping the Earth's Surface
2. Topography is reshaped by weathering of rock and
soil and by the transportation and deposition of sediment.
As the basis for understanding this concept, students
know:
a. water running downhill is the dominant process in
shaping the landscape, including California's landscape.
b. rivers and streams are dynamic systems that erode
and transport sediment, change course, and flood their
banks in natural and recurring patterns.
c. beaches are dynamic systems in which sand is supplied
by rivers and moved along the coast by wave action.
d. earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides, and
floods change human and wildlife habitats.
Heat (Thermal Energy) (Physical
Science)
3. Heat moves in a predictable flow from warmer objects
to cooler objects until all objects are at the same
temperature.
As a basis for understanding this concept, students
know:
a. energy can be carried from one place to another by
heat flow, or by waves including water waves, light
and sound, or by moving objects.
b. when fuel is consumed, most of the energy released
becomes heat energy.
c. heat flows in solids by conduction (which involves
no flow of matter) and in fluids by conduction and also
by convection (which involves flow of matter).
d. heat energy is also transferred between objects by
radiation; radiation can travel through space.
Energy in the Earth System
4. Many phenomena on the Earth's surface are affected
by the transfer of energy through radiation and convection
currents.
As a basis for understanding this concept, students
know:
a. the sun is the major source of energy for phenomena
on the Earth's surface, powering winds, ocean currents,
and the water cycle.
b. solar energy reaches Earth through radiation, mostly
in the form of visible light.
c. heat from Earth's interior reaches the surface primarily
through convection.
d. convection currents distribute heat in the atmosphere
and oceans.
e. differences in pressure, heat, air movement, and
humidity result in changes of weather.
Ecology (Life
Science)
5. Organisms in ecosystems exchange energy and nutrients
among themselves and with the environment.
As a basis for understanding this concept, students
know:
a. energy entering ecosystems as sunlight is transferred
by producers into chemical energy through photosynthesis,
and then from organism to organism in food webs.
b. over time, matter is transferred from one organism
to others in the food web, and between organisms and
the physical environment.
c. populations of organisms can be categorized by the
functions they serve in an ecosystem.
d. different kinds of organisms may play similar ecological
roles in similar biomes.
e. the number and types of organisms an ecosystem can
support depends on the resources available and abiotic
factors, such as quantity of light and water, range
of temperatures, and soil composition.
Resources
6. Sources of energy and materials differ in amounts,
distribution, usefulness, and the time required for
their formation.
As a basis for understanding
this concept, students know:
a. the utility of energy sources is determined by factors
that are involved in converting these sources to useful
forms and the consequences of the conversion process.
b. different natural energy and material resources,
including air, soil, rocks, minerals, petroleum, fresh
water, wildlife, and forests, and classify them as renewable
or nonrenewable.
c. natural origin of the materials used to make common
objects.
Investigation and Experimentation
7. Scientific progress is made by asking meaningful
questions and conducting careful investigations.
As a basis for understanding this concept, and to address
the content the other three strands, students should
develop their own questions and perform investigations.
Students will:
a. develop a hypothesis.
b. select and use appropriate tools and technology (including
calculators, computers, balances, spring scales, microscopes,
and binoculars) to perform tests, collect data, and
display data.
c. construct appropriate graphs from data and develop
qualitative statements about the relationships between
variables.
d. communicate the steps and results from an investigation
in written reports and verbal presentations.
e. recognize whether evidence is consistent with a proposed
explanation.
f. read a topographic map and a geologic map for evidence
provided on the maps, and construct and interpret a
simple scale map.
g. interpret events by sequence and time from natural
phenomena (e.g., relative ages of rocks and intrusions).
h. identify changes in natural phenomena over time without
manipulating the phenomena (e.g., a tree limb, a grove
of trees, a stream, a hillslope).
Internet Resources
Future
Volcanologists
Volcano
World
An
Introductions to Volcanoes
Dynamic
Earth: Plate Tectonics
Plate
Tectonics
Major
Tectonic Plates of the World
Savage
Earth
Life
Along a Fault Line
Mountain
Maker * Earth Shaker
Earthquakes
Virtual
Earthquake
Great
Quakes from the Discovery Channel
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