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

Students draw or build models showing how atoms link together to form molecules like water or salt. The model shows which atoms are present and how they connect.

Students compare what a substance looks like, smells like, or weighs before and after mixing it with something else to figure out whether a new substance was formed.

Students research where synthetic materials like plastic or nylon come from, then explain how those materials changed everyday life. The focus is on tracing a manufactured product back to the natural resource it started from.

Students build a diagram or model showing what happens to a substance's particles when heat is added or taken away, tracing how ice melts into water or water freezes back into ice as the particles speed up or slow down.

In a chemical reaction, atoms rearrange into new substances but none are created or destroyed. Students build and use models to show why the total mass before and after a reaction stays the same.

Students build a device that uses a chemical reaction to heat up or cool down, then test it and adjust it based on what they observe. Think hand warmers or instant cold packs.

Students design something that absorbs or redirects impact during a crash, then test how well it worked. The goal is to reduce the force felt when two objects collide.

Students set up an experiment to show that a heavier object needs more force to speed up or slow down, and that two forces pushing in opposite directions partly cancel each other out.

Students study diagrams and collect data to figure out what makes electric and magnetic forces stronger or weaker, such as how distance between objects or the amount of charge affects the pull or push they produce.

Students draw a graph showing how the pull between two objects changes as their masses change, then use that graph to back up the argument that heavier objects exert a stronger gravitational pull.

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

Students read and build graphs showing 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; a faster car carries more energy than a slower one.

When two magnets or two charged objects move closer together or farther apart, the stored energy between them changes. Students build a model to show how that stored energy depends on the distance between the objects.

Students design and build a device to control heat transfer, then test whether it works. Think of it as engineering an insulated cooler or a heat sink and proving it does the job.

Students heat different materials and measure how much the temperature changes. The experiment shows how mass and material type affect how much energy something absorbs.

When a moving object speeds up or slows down, energy is either flowing into it or leaving it. Students argue, with evidence, why that change in motion means energy moved somewhere.

Students use math to show how waves work, focusing on amplitude, the height of a wave. A taller wave carries more energy, whether it moves through water, sound, or light.

Waves hit a surface and one of three things happens: they bounce back, pass through, or get soaked up by the material. Students model and explain which outcome occurs depending on what the wave meets.

All living things are made of cells. Students explain how a single-celled organism like an amoeba handles every job needed to stay alive, and how those same jobs get divided among many cells in a larger organism like a plant or an animal.

Cells have parts with specific jobs, the way organs do in a body. Students build or use a model to show what each part does and how the parts work together to keep the cell running.

Living things are built in layers. Cells group into tissues, tissues form organs, and organs work together as systems that keep the body running.

Students gather evidence to show how body systems work together: the lungs bring in oxygen, the digestive system breaks down food, and the blood carries both to cells while hauling waste out.

Animal behaviors like courtship and nest-building, and plant structures like bright flowers or hooks on seeds, all raise the odds that an organism reproduces. Students explain how these traits help living things pass on their characteristics to the next generation.

Growth isn't just genetics. Students explain, using real evidence, how both an organism's genes and its environment (food, light, temperature) shape how it grows and develops.

Plants capture sunlight and turn it into sugar. Animals (and plants) break that sugar down to release energy, cycling the same carbon atoms through living things over and over.

Students look at real data (like food supply records or population counts) to explain why a plant or animal thrives, struggles, or declines when resources like food and water run short.

Students explain how living things and nonliving conditions in an ecosystem affect each other, then predict what happens when one part changes. Think: what shifts when a drought hits a forest, or a predator disappears from a lake.

Students trace how matter (like carbon or water) moves through an ecosystem and how energy flows from the sun through plants to animals. They build a diagram or model showing how living things and their environment exchange both.

When conditions change, like a drought or new species arriving, some ecosystems bounce back and some don't. Students examine what makes an ecosystem stable and what pushes it past the point of recovery.

When something in an ecosystem changes, such as a drought or a new predator arriving, other populations grow, shrink, or disappear. Students use real evidence to build an argument explaining why.

Students look at real plans people have used to protect or restore an ecosystem, then weigh what each plan does well and where it falls short.

Students learn why living things look different from one another and how those differences help some survive while others don't. This builds toward understanding how species change over generations and why some die out.

Fossils, DNA, and body structures show that living things share common ancestors. Students look at this evidence to explain how life on Earth has changed over millions of years and why species that seem different are actually related.

Fossils tell the story of life on Earth. Students study fossil evidence to figure out how environments changed over time, why some species died out, and how others adapted or evolved.

Natural selection is how a species slowly changes over generations. Animals and plants with traits that help them survive in their environment tend to live longer and pass those traits on to offspring.

Some animals in a group are born with traits that help them survive and have offspring in their environment. Students study real examples to explain why those helpful traits get passed down more often over time.

Students research technologies like selective breeding and genetic modification that let humans shape which traits animals or plants pass on to their offspring.

Natural traits that help a species survive, like thick fur in cold climates or long beaks for reaching food, spread through a population over generations because individuals with those traits live longer and reproduce more.

Students read graphs showing how a trait, like body size or coloring, became more or less common in a population over generations. They use that data to explain how natural selection shaped the change.

Students build a model of the Earth, sun, and moon to explain why the moon appears to change shape each month and why eclipses happen when the three bodies line up.

Students build or draw a model showing why Earth's tilt causes seasons. As Earth orbits the sun, some parts of the planet receive sunlight at a steeper angle and get more heat, which is why summer and winter happen at different times in different places.

Gravity pulls every planet, moon, and star toward other massive objects. Students build or use a model to show how that pull keeps planets orbiting the sun and holds the shape of a galaxy.

Students study real measurements of planets, moons, and the sun to make sense of how their sizes and distances compare. The numbers are so large that students learn to use scaled-down models to make the comparisons meaningful.

Rock layers act like pages in Earth's history book. Students use evidence from those layers to explain how scientists divide deep time into eras and periods, and why that order matters for understanding how life and landscapes have changed.

Heat rising from deep inside Earth moves huge slabs of rock in slow, grinding loops. That motion builds mountains, pushes up new ocean floor, pulls old ocean floor back down, and sets off volcanoes along the way.

Rocks, landforms, and coastlines don't stay the same forever. Students study how slow processes like erosion and fast ones like earthquakes reshape the land, then use real evidence to explain how those changes happen over years or across millions of years.

Fossils, rock layers, and the shapes of continents give clues about how Earth's plates have shifted over millions of years. Students study maps and data to figure out where those plates used to be.

Students build a model showing how water moves through the water cycle: evaporating into the air, forming clouds, and falling back to Earth. The sun's heat and gravity keep the cycle going.

Students research and analyze weather data to show how moving air masses collide and interact to cause changes in temperature, wind, and precipitation.

Students build a model showing how the sun heats Earth unevenly and how Earth's spin sets the atmosphere and oceans in motion. Those two forces together shape the climate patterns a region gets year after year.

Students explain why coal, oil, drinkable water, and metals aren't spread evenly across the planet. They use evidence to connect those patterns to geological events and to how humans have extracted or redirected resources over time.

Students study real data from past earthquakes, floods, and other natural disasters to spot patterns. Those patterns help scientists predict when and where disasters might strike next, and what tools or structures could reduce the damage.

Students look at real data to see how a growing population, and each person using more resources, puts pressure on land, water, and air over time.

Students design a plan to track and reduce a human impact on the environment, such as pollution or habitat loss, using what they know about how Earth's systems work.

Human activities, like burning fuel for cars and electricity, release gases that trap heat in the atmosphere. Students learn how this changes weather patterns, sea levels, and ecosystems over time.

Students look at real data, like temperature records and carbon levels, to figure out what has driven rising global temperatures over the last hundred years. The evidence points to both natural factors and human activity.

Students figure out exactly what a solution must do and what it cannot do before building anything. They factor in science concepts and real-world limits, like cost, safety, or harm to the environment.

Students compare two or more solutions to an engineering problem and use a clear set of criteria to decide which one works best within the given limits, like cost, materials, or size.

Students look at test results from multiple design solutions, find what works best in each, and combine those strengths into one improved design that better solves the original problem.

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