Colorado State Standards for Science: Grade 6

CO.1. Students apply the processes of scientific investigation and design, conduct, communicate about, and evaluate such investigations.

1.1. Ask questions and state hypotheses that lead to different types of scientific investigations (for example: experimentation, collecting specimens, constructing models, researching scientific literature) 14
Suggested Titles for Colorado Science State Standard 1.1.

1.2. Use appropriate tools, technologies and metric measurements to gather and organize data and report results 11
Suggested Titles for Colorado Science State Standard 1.2.

1.3. Interpret and evaluate data in order to formulate logical conclusions 20
Suggested Titles for Colorado Science State Standard 1.3.

1.4. Demonstrate that scientific ideas are used to explain previous observations and to predict future events (for example: plate tectonics and future earthquake activity) 11
Suggested Titles for Colorado Science State Standard 1.4.

1.5. Identify and evaluate alternative explanations and procedures 11
Suggested Titles for Colorado Science State Standard 1.5.

1.6. Communicate results of their investigations in appropriate ways (for example: written reports, graphic displays, oral presentations 24
Suggested Titles for Colorado Science State Standard 1.6.

CO.2. Physical Science: Students know and understand common properties, forms, and changes in matter and energy. (Focus: Physics and Chemistry)

2.1. Physical properties of solids, liquids, gases and the plasma state and their changes can be explained using the particulate nature of matter model 10
Suggested Titles for Colorado Science State Standard 2.1.

2.2. Mixtures of substances can be separated based on their properties (for example: solubilities, boiling points, magnetic properties, densities and specific heat) 4
Suggested Titles for Colorado Science State Standard 2.2.

2.3. Mass is conserved in a chemical or physical change 17
Suggested Titles for Colorado Science State Standard 2.3.

2.4. Mass and weight can be distinguished 10
Suggested Titles for Colorado Science State Standard 2.4.

2.5. All matter is made up of atoms that are comprised of protons, neutrons and electrons and when a substance is made up of only one type of atom it is an element 12
Suggested Titles for Colorado Science State Standard 2.5.

2.6. When two or more elements are combined a compound is formed which is made up of molecules 18
Suggested Titles for Colorado Science State Standard 2.6.

2.7. Quantities (for example: time, distance, mass, force) that characterize moving objects and their interactions within a system (for example, force, speed, velocity, potential energy, kinetic energy) can be described, measured and calculated 5
Suggested Titles for Colorado Science State Standard 2.7.

2.8. That there are different forms of energy and those forms of energy can be transferred and stored (for example: kinetic, potential) but total energy is conserved 20
Suggested Titles for Colorado Science State Standard 2.8.

2.9. Electric circuits provide a means of transferring electrical energy when heat, light, sound, magnetic effects and chemical changes are produced 7
Suggested Titles for Colorado Science State Standard 2.9.

2.10. White light is made up of different colors that correspond to different wavelengths 4
Suggested Titles for Colorado Science State Standard 2.10.

CO.3. Life Science: Students know and understand the characteristics and structure of living things, the processes of life, and how living things interact with each other and their environment. (Focus: Biology-- Anatomy, Physiology, Botany, Zoology, Ecology)

3.1. Classification schemes can be used to understand the structure of organisms 7
Suggested Titles for Colorado Science State Standard 3.1.

3.2. Human body systems have specific functions and interaction (for example: circulatory and respiratory, muscular and skeletal) 12
Suggested Titles for Colorado Science State Standard 3.2.

3.3. There is a differentiation among levels of organization (cells, tissues, and organs) and their roles within the whole organism 1
Suggested Titles for Colorado Science State Standard 3.3.

3.4. Multicellular organisms have a variety of ways to get food and other matter to their cells (for example: digestion, transport of nutrients by circulatory system) 7
Suggested Titles for Colorado Science State Standard 3.4.

3.5. Photosynthesis and cellular respiration are basic processes of life (for example, set up a terrarium or aquarium and make changes such as blocking out light) 7
Suggested Titles for Colorado Science State Standard 3.5.

3.6. Different types of cells have basic structures, components and functions (for example: cell membrane, nucleus, cytoplasm, chloroplast, single-celled organisms in pond water, Elodea, onion cell, human cheek cell) 5
Suggested Titles for Colorado Science State Standard 3.6.

3.7. There are non-communicable conditions and communicable diseases (for example: heart disease and chicken pox) 15
Suggested Titles for Colorado Science State Standard 3.7.

3.8. There is a flow of energy and matter in an ecosystem (for example: as modeled in a food chain, web, pyramid, decomposition)

3.9. Asexual and sexual cell reproduction/division can be differentiated 5
Suggested Titles for Colorado Science State Standard 3.9.

3.10. Chromosomes and genes play a role in heredity (for example, genes control traits, while chromosomes are made up of many genes) 8
Suggested Titles for Colorado Science State Standard 3.10.

3.11. Changes in environmental conditions can affect the survival of individual organisms, populations, and entire species 18
Suggested Titles for Colorado Science State Standard 3.11.

3.12. Changes or constancy in groups of organisms over geologic time can be revealed through evidence 9
Suggested Titles for Colorado Science State Standard 3.12.

3.13. Individual organisms with certain traits are more likely than others to survive and have offspring. 5
Suggested Titles for Colorado Science State Standard 3.13.

CO.4. Earth and Space Science: Students know and understand the processes and interactions of Earth's systems and the structure and dynamics of Earth and other objects in space. (Focus: Geology, Meteorology, Astronomy, Oceanography)

4.1. Inter-relationships exist between minerals, rocks, and soils 11
Suggested Titles for Colorado Science State Standard 4.1.

4.2. Humans use renewable and nonrenewable resources (for example: forests and fossil fuels) 55
Suggested Titles for Colorado Science State Standard 4.2.

4.3. Natural processes shape the Earth's surface (for example: landslides, weathering, erosion, mountain building, volcanic activity) 12
Suggested Titles for Colorado Science State Standard 4.3.

4.4. Major geological events such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and mountain building are associated with plate boundaries and attributed to plate motions 15
Suggested Titles for Colorado Science State Standard 4.4.

4.5. Fossils are formed and used as evidence to indicate that life has changed through time 9
Suggested Titles for Colorado Science State Standard 4.5.

4.6. Successive layers of sedimentary rock and the fossils contained within them can be used to confirm age, geologic time, history, and changing life forms of the Earth; this evidence is affected by the folding, breaking and uplifting of layers 12
Suggested Titles for Colorado Science State Standard 4.6.

4.7. The atmosphere has basic composition, properties, and structure (for example: the range and distribution of temperature and pressure in the troposphere and stratosphere) 4
Suggested Titles for Colorado Science State Standard 4.7.

4.8. Atmospheric circulation is driven by solar heating (for example: the transfer of energy by radiation, convection, conduction) 2
Suggested Titles for Colorado Science State Standard 4.8.

4.9. There are quantitative changes in weather conditions over time and space (for example: humidity, temperature, air pressure, cloud cover, wind, precipitation) 32
Suggested Titles for Colorado Science State Standard 4.9.

4.10. There are large-scale and local weather systems (for example: fronts, air masses, storms) 32
Suggested Titles for Colorado Science State Standard 4.10.

4.11. The world's water is distributed and circulated through oceans, glaciers, rivers, groundwater, and atmosphere 18
Suggested Titles for Colorado Science State Standard 4.11.

4.12. The ocean has a certain composition and physical characteristics (for example: currents, waves, features of the ocean floor, salinity, and tides) 3
Suggested Titles for Colorado Science State Standard 4.12.

4.13. There are characteristics (components, composition, size) and scientific theories of origin of the solar system 15
Suggested Titles for Colorado Science State Standard 4.13.

4.14. Relative motion, axes tilt and positions of the Sun, Earth, and Moon have observable effects (for example: seasons, eclipses, moon phases) 4
Suggested Titles for Colorado Science State Standard 4.14.

4.15. The universe consists of many billions of galaxies (each containing many billions of stars) and that vast distances separate these galaxies and stars from one another and from the Earth 8
Suggested Titles for Colorado Science State Standard 4.15.

4.16. Technology is needed to explore space (for example: telescopes, spectroscopes, spacecraft, life support systems) 26
Suggested Titles for Colorado Science State Standard 4.16.

CO.5. Students understand that the nature of science involves a particular way of building knowledge and making meaning of the natural world.

5.1. A controlled experiment must have comparable results when repeated 11
Suggested Titles for Colorado Science State Standard 5.1.

5.2. Scientific knowledge changes as new knowledge is acquired and previous ideas are modified (for example: through space exploration) 11
Suggested Titles for Colorado Science State Standard 5.2.

5.3. Contributions to the advancement of science have been made by people in different cultures and at different times in history 20
Suggested Titles for Colorado Science State Standard 5.3.

5.4. Models can be used to predict change (for example: computer simulation, video sequence, stream table) 15
Suggested Titles for Colorado Science State Standard 5.4.

5.5. There are interrelationships among science, technology and human activity that affect the world 47
Suggested Titles for Colorado Science State Standard 5.5.