Grade: 6th

28 Feb 2021

Rocks and Minerals

August-June

While exploring rocks and minerals, students will uncover millions of years of history using simple geologic tests.  Students will view the landscape at Greenacres and, using a dichotomous key, determine what types of rocks and minerals are found in Ohio. 

Ohio Science Standards:

  • ESS Grade 6: Minerals have specific, quantifiable properties.
  • ESS Grade 6: Igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks have unique characteristics that can be used for identification and/or classification.
  • ESS Grade 6: Igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks form in different ways.
  • ESS Grade 6: Rocks, minerals and soils have common and practical uses.

NGSS Standards:

  • MS-ESS2-1. Develop a model to describe the cycling of Earth’s materials and the flow of energy that drives this process.
  • MS-ESS2-2. Construct an explanation based on evidence for how geoscience processes have changed Earth’s surface at varying time and spatial scales

Vocabulary:

Igneous, sedimentary, metamorphic, minerals, dichotomous key, hardness

Video Introduction: CLICK HERE for a video with a Greenacres educator

28 Feb 2021

Soils in Nature

August-June

Soil is a natural resource that  provides the foundation for producing our food, shelter, fuel. It also provides the surface on which to build our buildings and cities.  Students will get a bit dirty as they compare soils in different habitats at Greenacres and examine the past environment in which they formed.

Ohio Science Standards:

  • ESS Grade 6: Soil is unconsolidated material that contains nutrient matter and weathered rock.
  • ESS Grade 6: Rocks, minerals and soils have common and practical uses.

NGSS Standards:

  • MS-ESS2-1. Develop a model to describe the cycling of Earth’s materials and the flow of energy that drives this process.
  • MS-ESS2-2. Construct an explanation based on evidence for how geoscience processes have changed Earth’s surface at varying time and spatial scales.
  • MS-ESS3-1. Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for how the uneven distributions of Earth’s mineral, energy, and groundwater resources are the result of past and current geoscience processes.

Vocabulary:

erosion, deposition, soil, humus, inorganic, organic

Video Introduction: CLICK HERE for a video with a Greenacres educator

26 Feb 2021

Stream Health

August-June

The health of a stream can be assessed in several different ways.  Students will perform chemical, physical, and biological studies of a local Greenacres stream, and make conclusions about stream health and impacts of human activity on surface waters.

Ohio Science Standards:

  • SWK Grade 6-8: Science is a way of knowing about the world around us based on evidence from experimentation and observations.
  • SWK Grade 6-8: Science is a continual process and the body of scientific knowledge continues to grow and change.

NGSS Standards:

  • MS-PS1-2. Analyze and interpret data on the properties of substances before and after the substances interact to determine if a chemical reaction has occurred.
  • MS-ESS3-1. Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for how the uneven distributions of Earth’s mineral, energy, and groundwater resources are the result of past and current geoscience processes.
  • MS-ESS3-3. Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment.

Vocabulary:

biological, physical, chemical, pH, turbidity, dissolved oxygen, macroinvertebrate

Video Introduction: CLICK HERE for a video with a Greenacres educator

26 Feb 2021

Energy Flow in Nature

August-June

Energy is constantly moving in and through an ecosystem.  Students will conduct a survey of stream, field, and forest habitats at Greenacres and learn about the interrelationships between the organisms that they have observed as well as the movements of matter and energy throughout the ecosystem.

Ohio Science Standards:

  • LS Grade 7: Matter is transferred continuously between one organism to another and between organisms and their physical environments.
  • LS Grade 7: Energy can be transferred through a variety of ways.
  • LS Grade 7: In any particular biome, the number, growth and survival of organisms and populations depend on biotic and abiotic factors.

NGSS Standards:

  • MS-LS1-4. Use arguments based on empirical evidence and scientific reasoning to support an explanation for how characteristic animal behaviors and specialized plant structures affect the probability of successful reproduction of animals and plants respectively.
  • MS-LS1-6. Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for the role of photosynthesis in the cycling of matter and flow of energy into and out of organisms
  • MS-LS2-2. Construct an explanation that predicts patterns of interactions among organisms across multiple ecosystems.
  • MS-LS2-4. Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations.

Vocabulary:

food web, carnivore, omnivore, herbivore, ecosystem, population dynamics

Introduction: CLICK HERE for a poster from  a Greenacres educator

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