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

Students study what matter is made of and how it changes. They learn why substances react, mix, or stay the same when combined with other materials.

Students learn why objects speed up, slow down, or change direction. The focus is on forces like gravity and friction and how they interact to keep things moving or hold them still.

Students study what energy is, where it comes from, and how it moves from one place or object to another. They learn why a moving ball can knock things over, why food fuels the body, and how heat travels through materials.

Students study how waves, including light and sound, carry energy and information. They explore how technologies like radio, cameras, and digital screens use wave behavior to send and store what we see and hear.

Living things are built from cells, and those cells run on energy from food. Students learn how the parts of an organism work together to keep it alive and growing.

Students learn how living things in an ecosystem depend on each other and on their environment. They trace energy through food webs and explore what happens when a species disappears or a new one arrives.

Students learn how traits like eye color or height pass from parents to offspring, and why siblings from the same parents can still look different from each other.

Students study how living things have changed over millions of years and why so many different species exist today. They look at fossils, body structures, and inherited traits to explain how life on Earth has evolved.

Students learn why the sun rises and sets, how seasons change, and what makes up our solar system and the universe beyond it.

Students study how Earth's layers, oceans, atmosphere, and weather patterns interact. They look at how energy from the sun and heat from inside the planet drive those changes over time.

Students study how Earth's natural resources, hazards, and climate connect to human decisions. The focus is on how people can design solutions to reduce the damage from natural disasters and slow the effects of resource use on the environment.

Students apply science ideas to real problems by defining what a solution needs to do, building and testing possible designs, and revising based on what they learn from results.

Students learn what atoms are and how they link together to form substances like water or table salt. They draw or build models showing which atoms make up a simple molecule or a repeating structure like a crystal.

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

Students trace everyday synthetic materials, like plastic or nylon, back to the natural resources they came from, then think through how those materials have changed daily life for better or worse.

Students build a diagram or model showing what happens to the tiny particles inside a substance when heat is added or taken away. The model explains why ice melts, water boils, or steam cools back into liquid.

In a chemical reaction, no atoms appear or disappear. Students build and use models to show that the atoms just rearrange, which is why the total mass before and after the reaction stays the same.

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

When two objects collide, each one pushes back on the other with equal force. Students use that idea to design a solution, like padding that reduces the impact when two moving objects hit.

Students plan and run a test to show how a heavier object needs more force to speed up or slow down than a lighter one does. The bigger the push or pull, the more the motion changes.

Students look at data to figure out what makes electric and magnetic forces stronger or weaker. They practice asking "what changes when I change this?" using real measurements, not guesses.

Students build an argument, using evidence, that gravity pulls objects toward each other and that heavier objects pull with more force. Think of how the Earth holds the Moon in orbit while the Moon barely nudges the Earth.

Students test how magnets or electrically charged objects push and pull each other without touching. They also judge whether the experiment was set up well 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 at the same speed.

Students model how stored energy changes when objects move closer together or farther apart, like a stretched rubber band or a ball held high above the ground.

Students design and build a device, like an insulated container or a heat conductor, then test whether it slows down or speeds up heat moving between objects. The goal is to show how material choices affect temperature change.

Students design an experiment to figure out how the amount of heat added, the type of material, and the weight of a sample each affect how much the temperature rises.

When a moving object speeds up or slows down, energy is either flowing into it or leaving it. Students build an argument, using real examples, to explain where that energy came from or went.

Students learn that bigger waves carry more energy. They practice showing that relationship with numbers and graphs, using wave height as the key measurement.

Waves hit a surface and either bounce back, pass through, or get soaked up by the material. Students model how light or sound behaves differently depending on what it runs into, like glass, wood, or water.

Students learn why digital signals, sent as on/off pulses, hold up better than analog signals when carrying sound, images, or data across long distances. They read technical sources and pull details together to build a case for why digital transmission loses less information in transit.

Students investigate whether living things are made of cells by examining samples under a microscope. They compare single-celled organisms to plants and animals, which are made of many specialized cells working together.

Students learn what cells do and how the parts inside them work together. Think of a cell like a tiny factory: each part has a job that keeps the whole thing running.

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

Students study how animals find mates and how plants grow flowers or fruit, then use real evidence to explain why those behaviors and structures help the species reproduce.

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 light, food, or temperature, shape how a living thing grows.

Students explain how plants use sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide to make food. That process moves energy and raw materials through living things, connecting plants to every organism that eats.

Food doesn't just get used up inside the body. Students learn how molecules in food are broken apart and rebuilt into new materials that help the body grow, move, and stay alive.

Sensory receptors detect what students see, hear, taste, smell, or touch, then send signals to the brain. The brain either acts on those signals right away or stores them as memories.

Students study how changes in food, water, or space affect which animals and plants survive in a given area. When resources run low, populations shrink; when resources are plentiful, they grow.

Students predict how living things affect each other, such as how predators, prey, and plants interact, and explain why those same patterns show up across different ecosystems.

Students trace how matter (like water, carbon, or nutrients) moves through an ecosystem and how energy flows from the sun through living things. They build a model, such as a diagram or chart, to show how the two are connected.

When something in an ecosystem changes, like a drought drying up a pond or a new predator moving in, other living things feel it. Students use real data to explain how one change can shrink, grow, or wipe out a population.

Students look at real proposals for protecting wildlife or land and judge which one does the best job of keeping ecosystems healthy. They weigh trade-offs, not just pick a favorite.

A gene mutation is a change in the DNA instructions inside a cell. Students model how that change can alter the proteins a cell makes, which may damage the organism, help it survive better, or make no difference at all.

Students explore why two parents produce offspring that look similar but not identical, while a single parent produces offspring that are exact copies. The lesson uses diagrams or models to show how genes get passed down in each case.

Students study real fossil evidence to find patterns in how life on Earth has changed over millions of years, including which creatures existed, which died out, and how species shifted over time.

Students compare bones, body shapes, and other physical features across living animals and fossils to figure out which species share a common ancestor.

Students compare drawings of animal embryos at early stages of development to find clues about how species are related. Similarities that disappear by adulthood can still show up in the embryo, revealing connections between animals that look nothing alike when fully grown.

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

Selective breeding and genetic tools let people choose which traits get passed to the next generation of plants or animals. Students research how those technologies work and what they make possible.

Students use graphs and data to explain why some traits become more or less common in a population over generations. Natural selection favors traits that help survival, so those traits spread while others fade.

Students build and use a model of the Earth, sun, and moon to explain why the moon's shape appears to change each night, why eclipses happen, and why seasons shift throughout the year.

Gravity pulls every planet, moon, and star toward other objects with mass. Students build or use a model to show how that pulling force keeps planets orbiting the sun and stars grouped inside a galaxy.

Students compare the sizes and distances of planets, moons, and the sun using real data. The goal is to understand just how vast the gaps between objects in our solar system actually are.

Students study layers of rock to figure out the order of events in Earth's history. Each layer tells part of the story, and scientists use those clues to build a timeline stretching back 4.6 billion years.

Students create a diagram or model showing how rocks, water, and other Earth materials move through cycles, and explain what energy source (like heat from inside Earth or sunlight) keeps each cycle going.

Rocks, landforms, and coastlines change over time because of forces like erosion, earthquakes, and volcanic activity. Students study evidence from Earth's surface to explain how those changes happen across thousands of years or in a single storm.

Fossils and rock layers found on different continents match up in ways that only make sense if the continents were once connected. Students study those patterns, along with seafloor shapes, to figure out how Earth's plates have shifted over millions of years.

Students map how water moves from oceans to clouds to rain and back again. They learn that sunlight powers the cycle upward and gravity pulls it back down.

Students track how air masses move and collide to explain why the weather changes. They gather real data, like temperature and pressure readings, and use it as evidence for what caused a storm, a cold snap, or a clear day.

Students build a diagram or model to explain why some parts of Earth get hotter than others, and how that uneven heat, combined with Earth's spin, drives wind patterns and ocean currents that shape the climate where you live.

Minerals, fossil fuels, and fresh water are not spread evenly across Earth. Students explain why using evidence from geoscience processes, like volcanic activity or the movement of ancient seas, that shaped where those resources ended up.

Students study data from past earthquakes, floods, and volcanic eruptions to spot patterns. Those patterns help scientists predict where disasters are likely to strike and design systems that reduce the damage.

Students design a plan to track and reduce a real environmental problem, such as water pollution or habitat loss, using science to explain what to do and why it would work.

Students build a written argument explaining how a growing population and rising resource use (think water, fuel, and farmland) put pressure on land, air, and water. They back that argument with real evidence.

Students look at data and ask questions about why Earth's average temperature has risen over the past 100 years, including the role of burning fossil fuels and other human activity.

Before building anything, students figure out exactly what a solution needs to do and what limitations it has to work within, like cost, materials, or environmental impact. That groundwork shapes every design decision that follows.

Students compare two or more design solutions side by side, checking each one against the same set of requirements and limits to decide which works best for the problem at hand.

Students compare test results from multiple design prototypes to find what works best in each one, then combine those strengths into a single improved design.

Students build and test a model of their design, study what the results show, then adjust and retest until the design works as well as it can.