What does a student learn in StateMichigan,GradeGrade 6,SubjectScience?

Students learn that everything is made of atoms, then draw or build models showing how atoms link together to form molecules like water or table salt.

Students trace everyday synthetic materials like plastic, nylon, or fertilizer back to the natural resources they came from. They also look at how those materials have changed daily life and created new problems to solve.

Students build a diagram or model showing what happens to a substance, like water or wax, when it heats up or cools down: particles move faster or slower, temperature rises or falls, and the substance melts, freezes, or boils.

Students compare what a substance looks like, smells like, or how it behaves before and after mixing it with something else. If the result is clearly different, a chemical reaction likely happened.

When substances react and change into something new, the atoms that were there before are still there after. Students build models showing that atoms just rearrange, which is why the total mass stays the same before and after a reaction.

Students design and test a device that uses a chemical reaction to produce heat or cold, like a hand warmer or a cold pack, then adjust the design based on what they observe.

When two objects collide, each one pushes back on the other with equal force. Students use that principle to design a solution, like a bumper or padding, that changes how the objects move after impact.

Students design an experiment to show how a heavier object or a stronger push changes how fast something speeds up, slows down, or turns. The bigger the force and the lighter the object, the greater the change in motion.

Students look at data to figure out what makes electric and magnetic forces stronger or weaker. They ask questions about patterns in the data, like how distance or the number of coils in a magnet changes the pull or push.

Students build an argument, using evidence, that gravity pulls objects toward each other and that the pull gets stronger as the objects get more massive. Think of why a bowling ball and a feather fall differently, or why Earth holds the Moon in orbit.

Students test how magnets or charged objects push and pull each other without touching, then check whether the experiment was set up fairly enough to trust the results.

Students read and build graphs that show how a moving object's energy changes when it gets heavier or faster. A heavier car rolling downhill carries more energy than a lighter one moving at the same speed.

When objects that push or pull on each other from a distance move closer together or farther apart, the energy stored between them changes. Students build a model (a diagram or physical setup) to show how that stored energy increases or decreases as the arrangement shifts.

Students design and build a device to control heat, then test whether it works. The goal is to show they understand how heat moves and can use that knowledge to solve a real problem.

Students plan an experiment to figure out how heating different materials changes their temperature. The key question: does the amount of heat, the type of material, or how much of it you have affect how fast the temperature rises?

When a moving object speeds up or slows down, energy has moved into or out of it. Students build an argument using evidence to explain where that energy came from or went.

Students use numbers and graphs to describe how waves work, focusing on one key idea: a wave with a bigger amplitude (taller peak) carries more energy than a wave with a smaller one.

Waves behave differently depending on the material they hit. Students learn that light or sound can bounce off a surface, pass through it, or be soaked up by it, and they use diagrams or models to show which happens and why.

Digitized signals (like the ones that carry a phone call or a video stream) hold up better over long distances than analog signals, which pick up static and distortion along the way. Students explain why digital wins using science and technical sources.

Students investigate whether living things are made of one cell or many. They gather evidence through observation, often using a microscope, to show that cells are the basic building blocks of all living organisms.

Students build a diagram or model of a cell and explain what each part does. The goal is to show how parts like the nucleus or membrane work together to keep the whole cell running.

Students explain how the body's systems (like digestion or circulation) work together, using real evidence to back up their reasoning. The focus is on how groups of cells form tissues and organs that keep larger systems running.

Students learn how the body's sensory receptors (eyes, ears, skin) detect the world around them and send signals to the brain. The brain then either acts on that signal right away or stores it as a memory.

Plants and algae use sunlight to turn water and carbon dioxide into sugar, releasing oxygen as a byproduct. Students explain how this process moves energy and raw materials through living things and into the rest of the ecosystem.

Students map out how the body breaks food down into smaller building blocks, then reassembles those pieces into new molecules that fuel movement, repair tissue, and support growth.

Students look at real data to explain how the amount of food, water, or space available affects whether a plant or animal population grows, shrinks, or stays the same in a given place.

Students map how matter (like carbon or water) moves through an ecosystem and how energy flows from the sun through plants, animals, and decomposers. The model shows how nothing disappears. It just changes form or moves on.

When something in an ecosystem changes, like a drought or a species disappearing, other plants and animals feel it. Students use real data to argue how those changes grow or shrink populations.

Students explain why similar relationships, like predators hunting prey or plants competing for light, show up across very different ecosystems. The goal is to spot those repeating patterns and explain what drives them.

Students compare different real-world plans for protecting wildlife and healthy ecosystems, then decide which approach works best and why. The focus is on weighing trade-offs, not just picking a favorite.

Students study how animal behaviors (like migration or mating calls) and plant structures (like flowers or fruit) make reproduction more likely to succeed. They use real evidence to explain why these traits matter.

Students explain why two plants or animals of the same species can end up very different sizes. They use evidence to show how genes and surroundings, like available food, light, or water, both shape how an organism grows.

A mutation is a change in a gene's instructions. Students learn how that change can alter the proteins a body makes, and why some mutations cause disease, some help an organism survive, and some make no difference at all.

Students explain why two parents produce a child who isn't identical to either one, while a single organism splitting or copying itself produces offspring that match exactly. The lesson connects to how genes get passed down during each type of reproduction.

Students research how people use technologies like selective breeding and genetic modification to control which traits animals and plants pass to their offspring.

Fossils tell the story of life on Earth. Students read fossil evidence to spot patterns in how living things appeared, changed, and died out over millions of years.

Students compare body parts across living animals and fossils to figure out which species share a common ancestor. A fish fin and a human arm, for example, have the same basic bone structure because they came from the same evolutionary line.

Students look at drawings of animal embryos side by side and spot features that look alike across species, like a fish and a human both developing similar structures early on. Those shared patterns reveal family connections that disappear by the time the animals are fully grown.

Some animals in a group are born slightly different from the others. Students explain, using real examples, why those differences can make certain individuals more likely to survive and have offspring in a given place.

Students use graphs or simple calculations to show how a useful trait (like better camouflage or faster speed) can spread through a population across generations, while a harmful trait fades out.

Students build a diagram or model showing how the Earth, sun, and moon move together. They use it to explain why the moon appears to change shape each month, why eclipses happen, and why seasons change.

Gravity pulls every planet, moon, and star toward other objects with mass. Students build or use models to explain how that pull keeps planets orbiting the sun and stars clustered together in a galaxy.

Students compare the actual sizes and distances of planets, moons, and the sun using data and charts. The numbers are so large that the work focuses on understanding how objects relate to each other in scale, not memorizing figures.

Rock layers act like pages in Earth's history book. Students use evidence from those layers to explain how scientists divide Earth's 4.6-billion-year past into chunks of time, from ancient seas to the first dinosaurs to today.

Geoscience processes like erosion, volcanism, and plate movement reshape Earth's surface over time. Students explain how those changes happen across scales, from a single landslide to continents shifting over millions of years.

Fossils, rock layers, and the shapes of continents are clues that the ground beneath us has been moving for millions of years. Students read maps and data to piece together how Earth's plates have shifted over time.

Students build a diagram or model showing how rocks, water, and other materials move through Earth over time, and what sources of energy (like heat from inside Earth or sunlight) keep those cycles going.

Students map how water moves through Earth: evaporating from oceans, forming clouds, falling as rain or snow, and flowing back downhill. The sun drives water upward; gravity pulls it back down.

Earth's mineral deposits, oil fields, and underground water are not spread evenly across the planet. Students explain why, using evidence of the geologic processes, like volcanic activity and erosion, that concentrated those resources in specific places over time.

Students track how air masses move and collide to explain why weather changes. They collect real data, like temperature and pressure readings, to show what causes shifts from sunny to stormy.

Students track how air masses move and collide to explain why Michigan weather shifts so quickly. The Great Lakes and surrounding land shapes play a big role in those changes.

Unequal heating from the sun, combined with Earth's spin, drives wind and ocean currents around the planet. Students model how those moving air and water patterns shape the typical weather a region sees year after year.

Students look at real data on rising temperatures and ask questions about what's driving the change. The focus is on identifying the human and natural factors behind a century of global warming.

Students study real data from earthquakes, floods, and volcanic eruptions to spot patterns that help predict when disasters might strike. The goal is using that information to design better warnings and protections.

Students design a plan to track and reduce a real environmental problem, like water pollution or habitat loss, using science to back up their choices.

Students build an argument, using real data, for why a growing population and rising resource use put pressure on land, water, and air. The focus is on connecting human choices to changes in Earth's systems.

Students spell out exactly what a solution must do and what it cannot do before building anything. That means listing real limits like cost, materials, and safety rules, and thinking through how the design might affect people or the environment.

Students compare different solutions to an engineering problem and judge which one best fits the rules and limits set at the start. This is the core of design: picking the strongest option based on evidence, not preference.

Students compare test results from multiple design solutions, looking for what each one does well. Then they combine the best features into a single improved design that better fits the original problem's requirements.

Students build and test a model of their design idea, then use what they learn from each test to improve it. The goal is to keep refining until the design works as well as it can.