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In Grade 6, learners continue to explore science and build science literacy in increasingly sophisticated ways. Grade 6 learners will investigate how forces interact, including forces associated with gravity and buoyancy. They will learn how energy, such as electricity in simple circuits, is stored, transmitted, and used in different forms. The dynamics of the Earth-Moon- Sun system are explored to explain the cause of seasonal change and how the length of a day, month, and year are determined. Learners will be introduced to the concept of inheritance and its relationship to how species change over time. The concepts explored in the areas of force, energy, space science, genetics, and evolution further develop their understanding of these big ideas in science. Learning science by doing is consolidated in Grade 6 as learners participate in inquiry and engineering design process activities, further scientific tool and measurement skills, explore science in everyday life, and examine how science interacts with society and the environment. Thus, they continue to develop agency and their own scientific identity. In Grade 6, learners continue to explore Indigenous ways of knowing, being, and doing, for example, through interacting with the local community and learning in nature . The Grades 3 to 6 Nature of Science learning outcomes include the purpose, methods, applications, and implications of science.
Inquiry questions to help guide learning and planning for the year may include the following:
Please see documents in the curriculum implementation resources section for more information on how to use this curriculum.
The Guiding Principles for the Design of Learning Experiences and Assessment Practices provide guidance to all Manitoba educators as they design learning experiences and classroom assessments to strengthen, extend, and expand student learning.
Please note, this website continues to evolve, so please visit regularly to keep current with what’s new in the Learning Experiences and Assessment Practices section.
The Guiding Principles for the Evaluation and Communication of Student Learning build shared understandings of what is needed to ensure equity, reliability, validity, and transparency in judgment and communication of student learning.
Please note, this website continues to evolve, so please visit regularly to keep current with what’s new in the Evaluation and Communication of Student Learning section.
Science learning outcomes are organized into five strands. These strands and learning outcomes are intended to be woven together throughout all learning experiences while supporting the development of global competencies. All strands equally and cohesively build scientific literacy, skills, and attitudes, inclusive of Indigenous ways and knowledge. Teachers can tailor curriculum implementation to the learners’ specific interests and needs.
Legend
Include the following = compulsory content
Examples/e.g.,= suggestions for learning
Learning Outcome Key
[SCI] Subject
[K] Grade level
[A] Strand
[1] Learning Outcome
SCI.6.A.1
Demonstrate an understanding of different First Nations, Métis, and Inuit ways of knowing, being, and doing by exploring Indigenous methods of observing and interpreting the world, applying scientific principles, and creating technologies within local traditional and contemporary contexts (e.g., wholistic, reciprocal, interconnected, and sustainable ways; land-based learning; outdoor learning; intersections with Western science).
SCI.6.B.1
Develop a sense of agency, identity, and belonging in science by
Science, Technology, Society, and Environment (STSE) Contexts
SCI.6.C.1
Take class, group or personal action on a local, provincial, Canadian or global STSE (Science, technology, society and the environment) issue.
Examples:
Scientific Measurement
SCI.6.C.2
Measure using the appropriate techniques, tools, and units. (Bold indicates items introduced for the first time at this grade level.)
Include the following:
Tools: calendar, clock, ruler, pan balance, balance, volumetric vessels, spring scale, voltmeter, ammeter (multimeter)
Attributes: length, mass, volume, time, temperature, speed, force, electric potential, current (Note: DC low voltage only, i.e., battery power)
Units: length (km, m, cm, mm), mass (kg, g), volume (L, mL), time (h, min, s), temperature (°C), speed (km/h, m/s), force (N), current (A), potential (V)
Skills and understanding of scientific measurement: measure and estimate using standard SI tools and units; select measurement tools; display quantitative data (charts, line graphs, tables, etc.); recognize importance of standard units; convert between SI length, time, and volume units; understand meaning of SI prefixes and their symbols (micro, milli, centi, deci, deka, hecto, kilo, mega)
Action and Practice
SCI.6.C.3
Apply a range of scientific, technological or engineering practices (e.g., asking questions, identifying problems, observing, experimenting, measuring, classifying, collecting and analyzing data, engaging in scientific debate and argumentation, communicating results, designing and building) in a manner that demonstrates respect and ensures personal safety and the safety of others.
Examples:
Scientific Instruments
SCI.6.C.4
Use various materials and scientific equipment appropriately, competently, and safely while carrying out various scientific practices.
Examples: telescope, hand lenses, binoculars, electrical circuit components, fossils, glassware, craft and recycled materials, classroom materials, materials from nature, logbook, diagrams, charts, graphs, spreadsheets, safety procedures
Careers, Hobbies, and Activities
SCI.6.C.5
Make connections between scientific ideas and a range of careers, hobbies and activities.
Examples: astronomer, teacher, geneticist, pilot, ship’s captain, oceanographer, climate scientist, energy engineer, museum curator, rigger, balloonist, sailor, model rocketry, crop farmer, star gazing, Indigenous storytelling related to seasons and life, fossil hunting, swimming, basketball, lacrosse, snowshoeing, skiing, snowboarding
Purpose: Science is about finding the cause or causes of phenomena in the natural world.
SCI.6.D.1
Demonstrate the understanding that science attempts to develop explanations for phenomena in nature.
Method: Scientific explanations, theories, and models are those that best fit the evidence available at a particular time.
SCI.6.D.2
Demonstrate the understanding that developing scientific explanations involves systematically collecting data through observations and measurements or using data from other sources.
SCI.6.D.3
Demonstrate the understanding that a hypothesis is a prediction about what is happening, or what might happen, based upon theory, research, past experience, observations, or other evidence.
SCI.6.D.4
Demonstrate the understanding that the data that scientists look for is guided by a theory or a hypothesis, and the evidence they find supports or refutes their predictions.
Application: The knowledge produced by science is used in engineering and technologies to create products and processes.
SCI.6.D.5
Demonstrate the understanding that engineering is the application of scientific principles and approaches to solving problems, often resulting in new technology that furthers scientific discovery.
SCI.6.D.6
Demonstrate the understanding that when solving problems, there may be many possible solutions, each with associated implications, requiring both critical and creative thinking in choosing the best solution.
Examples: functionality, sustainability, economic considerations, ethics, impacts on all organisms and all parts of the ecosystems
Implication: Applications of science often have ethical, environmental, social, economic, and political implications.
SCI.6.D.7
Demonstrate the understanding that technologies may have both beneficial and detrimental social and environmental consequences.
These outcomes are organized according to the big ideas of science. They are not grouped to form prescriptive clusters or units. Teachers are encouraged to regroup, reorganize and reorder the learning outcomes in this strand according to themes or units that meet the needs of their classes and their teaching.
Outcomes relating to the big ideas of force: Changing the movement of an object requires a net force to be acting on it.
SCI.6.E.1
Demonstrate the understanding that the gravitational force of Earth pulls objects (near Earth’s surface) toward the planet’s centre.
SCI.6.E.2
Demonstrate an understanding of forces that oppose gravitational force.
Examples: lift, normal force, buoyancy, tension
SCI.6.E.3
Demonstrate a conceptual understanding of the principles of buoyancy.
Include the following: opposing forces, Archimedes Principle, volume, density, mass.
Outcomes relating to the the big ideas of energy: The total amount of energy in the universe is always the same but can be transferred from one energy store to another during an event.
SCI.6.E.4
Demonstrate the understanding that objects can have stored energy.
Examples: chemical, food, kinetic, thermal, gravitational, solar, electrical, elastic
SCI.6.E.5
Demonstrate the understanding that stored energy can be transferred, and this causes events to happen.
Examples: create or transfer heat, illuminate a bulb, run a motor, grow and repair living tissue
SCI.6.E.6
Demonstrate the understanding that in battery-powered circuits, as electricity flows, energy is transferred from the battery to components in the circuit and ultimately to the environment.
Include the following: chemical energy (batteries), charge, conductor, circuits, energy change from one form to another.
SCI.6.E.7
Demonstrate an understanding of safety precautions associated with electricity.
Examples: household appliances, batteries, circuits
Outcomes relating to the big ideas of space science: Our Solar System is a very small part of one of billions of galaxies in the universe.
SCI.6.E.8
Demonstrate an understanding of the rotational motion of Earth, and its role in defining the length of a day.
Include the following: day and night, sunrise, sunset, rotation.
SCI.6.E.9
Demonstrate the understanding that the meaning of human time systems is tied to the motions of Earth around the Sun and the Moon around Earth.
Include the following: month, year, seasons (solstice, equinox), revolution, orbit.
SCI.6.E.10
Demonstrate an understanding of the relationship among the tilt of Earth’s axis, revolution around the Sun, number of daylight hours, and seasonal change.
SCI.6.E.11
Demonstrate an understanding of the nature of the Sun as a star like billions of others, and as the central source of energy, light, and gravity in the Solar System.
Include the following: heat, Moon phases.
Outcomes relating to the big ideas of genetics: Genetic information is passed down from one generation of organisms to another.
SCI.6.E.12
Demonstrate the understanding that organisms resemble their parents in both plants and animals because genetic information is passed from one generation to the next.
Examples: plant and animal offspring
SCI.6.E.13
Demonstrate the understanding that the traits, skills, and behaviours exhibited by organisms result from some combination of genetic, environmental, social, and learned components.
Examples: bird songs, migrations, web building, nest building
Outcomes relating to the big ideas of evolution: The diversity of organisms, living and extinct, is the result of evolution.
SCI.6.E.14
Demonstrate the understanding that there is a wide variety of organisms in the world, which are systematically categorized by scientists.
Include the following: physical traits, taxonomy, dichotomous key.
SCI.6.E.15
Demonstrate the understanding that fossils provide evidence of how organisms have changed over time.
Examples: animal fossils, plant fossils, micro fossils
SCI.6.E.16
Demonstrate an understanding of the nature of plant and animal species.
Include the following: viable offspring, hybrids (e.g., grolar/pizzly bear, mule, coydog, coy-wolf, liger, hybrid crops).
SCI.6.E.17
Demonstrate the understanding that sexual reproduction of animals and plants produces offspring that are similar to but not identical to their parents.
Curriculum Implementation Resources
Curriculum implementation resources will include supplementary documents to support implementation. This section and the support documents will continue to be updated, so you are encouraged to visit the site regularly.
