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Science · Grade 6

Engineering Investigation and Evidence-Based Explanation

In this year capstone, learners work as an engineering team helping a community garden club. They define a design problem with measurable criteria and constraints, plan a fair test, generate data with the plant-growth and heat-transfer simulations, analyse means, ranges and outliers, write claim–evidence–reasoning explanations, and use test results to improve a design while weighing trade-offs.

  • 5 lessons
  • About 130 minutes
  • Engineering investigation capstone check: 12 questions
  • Ways to answer: choose an answer, draw a graph, highlight a text, type a number, put in order and sort into groups
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What learners will discover

  • Define a design problem precisely, with measurable criteria and clear constraints.
  • Plan a fair investigation, naming the variables, controls, repeated trials and data table.
  • Analyse test data using means, ranges, outliers and graphs, and state conclusions only within the range of the data.
  • Write a claim–evidence–reasoning explanation that uses specific data and a scientific idea.
  • Use test results to evaluate and improve a design, weighing trade-offs between criteria.

Lessons

  1. Define the problem 7 steps3 practiceabout 20 min
  2. Plan a fair test 9 steps4 practiceabout 22 min
  3. Analyse the data 8 steps5 practiceabout 24 min
  4. Claim, evidence and reasoning 7 steps5 practiceabout 24 min
  5. Iterate and weigh trade-offs 8 steps4 practiceabout 24 min
  6. Engineering investigation capstone check 12 questions at the end

Keep exploring

Games to practice with

  • Marble MountainLay straights, curves, drops and splitters to roll marbles down the mountain.
  • Bridge LabBuild a bridge from beams, brace it with triangles, and stay on budget.
  • Circuit Workshop 3DWire up batteries, bulbs and switches on a 3D workbench.

More 6th grade science

Guide for grown-ups