Science, Grade 6

Unit 1: Behaviour and Properties of Light

Light and sound: the electromagnetic spectrum and sources of light; the properties and behaviour of light including reflection, refraction, dispersion, and shadows; the properties of sound and how it travels; and the biochemistry of smell receptors.

• Light and the electromagnetic spectrum
• Sound and how it travels
• Smell receptors

Unit 2: Biological Forms and Processes

The senses and the nervous system: how sense organs, nerves, and the brain work together so organisms can detect and respond to their environment - vision, hearing, touch/taste/smell, balance and proprioception - and how the nervous system processes information.

• Seeing: vision
• Hearing: the ear
• Touch, taste, and smell
• Balance and body position
• The nervous system

Unit 3: Technological Applications

Technologies that extend, correct, and support the senses: wayfinding technologies (telescope, camera), corrective technologies (glasses, hearing aids), and adaptive technologies (Braille, seeing-eye dogs) that improve accessibility.

• Wayfinding technologies
• Corrective technologies
• Adaptive technologies

Unit 4: Learning and Living Sustainably

Living sustainably with our senses: safe practices that protect the sense organs; caring for our sensory health and building empathy for people with sensory impairments; careers in sensory science; the UN Sustainable Development Goals; and designing accessibility technology and thinking about the life cycle of the things we make.

• Protecting the sense organs
• Keeping our senses healthy
• Empathy and sensory impairments
• Careers in sensory science
• Science and the UN Sustainable Development Goals

• Design an accessibility device
• The life cycle of what we make