Science 6

Unit 1: Matter

Organizing idea: matter is made of particles that move and behave differently when heated or cooled. How heating and cooling change the movement and spacing of particles, and how that explains melting, freezing, evaporating, condensing, and why warm air rises.

• How heating and cooling move particles
• Melting, freezing, evaporating and condensing

• Why warm air rises

Unit 2: Energy

Organizing idea: forces cause interactions between objects, and energy resources are used to meet human needs. The forces that act on flying objects (lift, drag, thrust, gravity), how they interact, and the energy resources that power our lives and the factors that shape how we use them.

• The forces that act on objects
• How forces interact to make flight

• Renewable and non-renewable energy resources
• What shapes the energy we choose

Unit 3: Earth Systems

Organizing idea: Earth’s climate is a long-term pattern that is changing. What climate is and how it differs from day-to-day weather, how climate changes over time, and the impact of climate change on the land, water and living things.

• Climate versus weather
• How and why climate changes

• Effects of a changing climate

Unit 4: Living Systems

Organizing idea: living and non-living things interact within ecosystems. The parts of an ecosystem (including a forest), how living things depend on one another and on the non-living surroundings, and how energy and matter move through food chains.

• Living and non-living parts

• Food chains and dependencies
• When an ecosystem changes

Unit 5: Space

Organizing idea: the solar system is made of celestial bodies that can be observed and modelled. The Sun, planets, moons and other bodies of the solar system, their relative sizes and positions, and how models represent this vast system.

• The Sun, planets and moons
• Why the Moon shines

• Representing size, order and distance

Unit 6: Computer Science

Organizing idea: abstraction lets us design and code by focusing on what matters and hiding the rest. Using abstraction in design and coding — hiding unnecessary detail, reusing steps — and describing how technologies affect people and the world.

• Hiding detail to focus on what matters

• How technologies affect us

Unit 7: Scientific Methods

Organizing idea: explanation is at the heart of science. What a scientific explanation is, how it connects evidence to a claim, and how investigating a question — like solving a mystery from clues — builds explanations we can trust.

• Evidence, claim and reasoning
• Building an explanation from clues