Jade 6th grade science students will be introduced to inquiry-based science units that combine lecture, discussion and lab activities. The sixth grade science units are Principles of Matter, Solutions and Pollutions (i.e., Chemistry), Planetary Science and Diversity of Life.
Students will begin the year with Principles of Matter; students will learn what matter is and use scientific vocabulary to define different states of matter. The next unit will be the SEPUP (Science Education for Public Understanding Program) Solutions and Pollution, Chemistry Unit. This chemistry unit will help students understand the different ways chemistry is used to help clean up water pollution and show students a variety of lab techniques to obtain scientific data. After the Solutions and Pollution unit, we will study the FOSS (Full Options Science System developed at the Lawrence Hall of Science University of Californian Berkeley) Planetary Science which will focus on our Solar System and how the Sun impacts planet Earth. Our last unit will be FOSS Diversity of Life. In this unit, students will define the characteristics of living organisms and use microscopes to study a variety of microscopic plants and animals.
