Students use photos and information about Australia's Shark Bay to draw and label a simple food web. Then they identify which animal in the ecosystem is a keystone species.

In this lesson, students consider the ongoing role of light energy in humans' lives. Through a folktale about the Sun, students are reminded that sunlight is the primary source of light energy on Earth. Students investigate a variety of early light emitting devices and consider their benefits and drawbacks.

In this STEM unit, students participate in an activity to grow plants in an environment very similar to the moon, which is designed in a unique partnership between NASA scientists and engineers and education professionals. The lesson incorporates leading-edge insight and practical experiences for students on how NASA works with plants. Students will describe the need for life science research on the International Space Station and the moon. They will also identify various plant species that are suitable for lunar plant growth and their requirements. In the culminating activities, students design and construct a working prototype of a plant growth chamber.

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Students review the concept that matter cycles in a food chain. They will participate in a reader's theater skit presentation that describes the roles that producers, consumers, and decomposers play in an ecosystem.

In this short video and accompanying activity and readings, students learn about the Venus Fly Trap and how it adapts to its environment to survive.

This lesson uses the book Ocean Sunlight: How Tiny Plants Feed the Seas by Molly Bang and Penny Chisholm to teach students about photosynthesis and its importance of providing food for ocean marine life as well as the oxygen needed to sustain life on earth and in the ocean.

In this lesson, students compare and contrast the processes of sexual reproduction and asexual reproduction by examining plant reproduction.

This course was created by the Rethink Education Content Development Team. This course is aligned to the NC Standards for 6th Grade Science. 

This course was created by the Rethink Education Content Development Team. This course is aligned to the NC Standards for 6th Grade Science. 

This course was created by the Rethink Education Content Development Team and is aligned to the NC Standards for 6th Grade Science.

In this activity, students are given roles in a skit designed to illustrate how a salt marsh works and how the organisms in it interact with each other.

Students will use “bottle” experiments to observe changes in the decomposition of vegetable scraps. Students vary temperature, moisture, and light conditions to determine the conditions that best facilitate the decomposition of organic material in soil.

In this lesson, students will analyze real scientific data from a short visualization clip to form logical hypotheses about what drives the migration patterns of raptors. Students will also describe and explain the connectedness of organisms within and across ecosystems and illustrate how primary productivity is the foundation of all food webs and how seasonal changes in primary productivity influence the behaviors of higher order consumers.

Sixth Grade Integrated Science textbook for the 2018-2020 school year. This textbook was developed to align to the Utah Science Core Curriculum. (Updated: May 29, 2019)

Healthy soil gives us many benefits, including nutritious food. During this video, I interview a local farmer to find out how he takes care of his soil. I also demonstrate an activity where students can try their hand at designing their own soil-friendly yard or green space, either at home or at school.

This encyclopedia entry is for the term "autotroph." An autotroph is an organism that can produce its own food using light, water, carbon dioxide, or other chemicals. Because autotrophs produce their own food, they are sometimes called producers. Text for this entry is appropriate for the middle and high school grade levels.

This is an encyclopedia entry for "biosphere." The biosphere is made up of the parts of Earth where life exists. The biosphere extends from the deepest root systems of trees, to the dark environment of ocean trenches, to lush rain forests and high mountaintops. Text for this entry is appropriate for the middle and high school grade levels.

This is an encyclopedia entry for the term "carnivore." A carnivore is an organism that mostly eats meat, or the flesh of animals. Sometimes carnivores are called predators. Text for this entry is appropriate for upper elementary, middle, and high school grade levels.

This encyclopedia entry is for the term "food chain." A food chain describes who eats whom in the wild. Text for this entry is appropriate for the upper elementary, middle and high school grade levels.