PK–12 Essential Standards and Benchmarks

Kahua Standards and Benchmarks

PK-12 essential standards and benchmarks for Hawaiian-focused education.

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Grade 6 - Science

In addition to HFCS ‘Āina-based Learning Competencies (click to view), the PK-12 Science Kahua is grounded in the belief that the purpose of science is “Science is best defined as a careful, disciplined, logical search for knowledge about any and all aspects of the universe, obtained by examination of the best available evidence and always subject to correction and improvement upon discovery of better evidence. What's left is magic. And it doesn't work.” (year, Randi).

End of school year grade level outcomes were crosswalked with the HFCS Vision of the Graduate (2013), NGSS, Fountas and Pinnell, and were prioritized using the following criteria (Reeves, 2004): 1) Endurance, 2) Leverage, 3) Readiness, 4) Assessment Requirements.

  • S.6.1Gather manaʻo about moʻokūʻauhau and kūlana through nīnauele (interviews) and oral histories.
  • S.6.2Use ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi inoa ‘āina (traditional place names, mauka/makai) to understand various traditions/histories of a place and to understand my place in different spaces.
  • S.6.3Demonstrate appropriate lawena when engaging in different cultural protocol (i.e. welcoming, entering, gathering, planting, mahalo, kamaʻāina/malihini) in a variety of settings (i.e. in and out of school).
  • S.6.4Contribute to community wellness by practicing ola pono (i.e. ʻai pono, laʻau lapaʻau, māla, hoʻoponopono) and building the capacity to connect with ʻāina.
  • S.6.5Ground our thoughts and actions in kānaka historical and contemporary best practices (i.e. resource management, conservation) and educate others.

  • S.6.6Ask questions and define problems to identify and clarify evidence of an argument, and gather manaʻo through kilo, nīnauele, research, and/or oral histories.
  • S.6.7In the design of the investigation: identify independent and dependent variables and controls, what tools are needed to do the gathering, how measurements will be recorded, and how many data sets are needed to support a claim.
  • S.6.8Apply scientific ideas or principles to design, construct, and test a design of an object, tool, process, or system.
  • S.6.9When considering design solutions, listen intently to the explanations and ideas of others and practice ola pono that contributes to community wellness and building the capacity to connect with ʻāina.
  • S.6.10Construct a convincing argument that supports or refutes claims for either explanations or solutions about the natural and designed worlds.
  • S.6.11Use and present oral and written arguments supported by empirical evidence and scientific reasoning to support or refute an explanation or a model for a phenomenon.
  • S.6.12Engage in appropriate lawena that uphold the integrity of and respect for individuals, groups, and the ‘āina when participating in scientific protocols.

  • S.6.13All matter is made from different types of atoms, which combine with one another in various ways, and all atoms of the same element are alike. Atoms form molecules that range in size from two to thousands of atoms.
  • S.6.14When two objects interact, each one exerts a force on the other that can cause energy to be transferred to or from the object. Transfer of heat energy can happen through conduction, radiation, convection, with different effects. Heat energy from warmer objects can transfer to cooler objects; energy is spontaneously transferred out of hotter regions or objects into colder ones.
  • S.6.15Models can be used to represent systems and their interactions -- such as inputs, processes, and outputs -- and energy and matter flows within systems.
  • S.6.16A wave can be described as a disturbance that travels through a medium, transporting energy from one location to another without transporting matter. There are three basic types of waves: electromagnetic, mechanical, and matter.
  • S.6.17Light shining on an object can be reflected, absorbed, or transmitted through the object, depending on the objectʻs composition and the frequency (color) of the light and can be shown through a wave model of light.
  • S.6.18Light travels in straight lines, except at surfaces between different materials (i.e. transparent, translucent, opaque). Light waves travel through space, unlike matter waves like sound or water waves.
  • S.6.19Digitized information in the form of waves can be transmitted across long distances without significant degradation. Devices such as computers and cell phones can receive and decode this digitized information, which converts it from digitized form to voice and vice versa.

  • S.6.20Plants have basic structures, processes, and behaviors that enable them to survive, reproduce, and defend themselves. To enhance survival in the environment, plants respond to (behavior) external stimuli (including dormancy and forms of tropism).
  • S.6.21Plants, algae (including phytoplankton) use the energy from light to make sugars (food) from carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and water through the process of photosynthesis, which also releases oxygen. These sugars can be used immediately or stored for growth or later use.
  • S.6.22Energy derived from the Sun is used by plants to produce sugars (photosynthesis) and is transferred within food chains and food webs (terrestrial and aquatic) from producers to consumers to decomposers.
  • S.6.23Abiotic factors (such as temperature, water, sunlight, and soil quality) of biomes (freshwater, marine, forest, grasslands, wetlands, desert, tundra) affect the ability of organisms to grow, survive, reproduce, and/or create their own food through photosynthesis.
  • S.6.24In any ecosystem, organisms and populations with similar requirements for food, water, oxygen, or other resources may compete with each other for limited resources, access to which consequently constrains their growth, survival, and reproduction.
  • S.6.25The flow of energy within food webs in an ecosystem is interconnected with the cycling of matter down to the atoms that make up the organisms. The cycling of matter (including water, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and oxygen) is ongoing between the living and nonliving parts of food webs in an ecosystem.

  • S.6.26The relative motion and relative position of the Sun, Earth, and moon affect the seasons, tides, phases of the moon, and eclipses. Patterns of the apparent motion of the Sun, the moon, and stars in the sky can be observed, described, predicted and explained with models.
  • S.6.27Earth and its solar system are part of the Milky Way galaxy, held together by gravity that controls orbital motions within them. The Milky Way galaxy is one of many galaxies in the universe.
  • S.6.28The solar system consists of the Sun and a collection of objects, including planets, their moons, and asteroids that are held in orbit around the Sun by its gravitational pull on them. The solar system appears to have been formed from a disk of cosmic dust and gas, drawn together by gravity.
  • S.6.29The model of the solar system can explain eclipses of the Sun and the moon. Earth’s spin axis is fixed in direction over the short-term but tilted relative to its orbit around the Sun. The seasons are a result of that tilt and are caused by the differential intensity of sunlight on different areas of Earth across the year.
  • S.6.30Earth sustains life, based on their properties (including types of surface, atmosphere, and gravitational force) and location to the Sun. Humans depend on Earth’s land, ocean, atmosphere, and biosphere for many different resources.
  • S.6.31Tectonic processes continually generate new ocean sea floor at ridges and destroy old seafloor at trenches so that essentially the Earth remains the same size over time. Maps of ancient land and water patterns (based on investigations of rocks and fossils) make clear how Earth’s plates have moved great distances, collided, and spread apart.
  • S.6.32The Earth is made up of layers, including both continental and oceanic crusts, and the mantle and core, whereby its relative position determines its composition and density.
  • S.6.33The collection of fossils and their placement in chronological order of appearance in rock layers or through radioactive dating is known as the fossil record. It documents the existence, diversity, extinction, and change of life forms throughout the history of life on Earth. This is under the assumption that natural laws operate today as in the past.
  • S.6.34The energy that flows and matter that cycle within and among the planet’s systems, produce chemical and physical changes in Earth’s materials and living organisms. This energy is derived from the Sun and Earth’s hot interior. Crustal plates and ocean basins are formed, they move and interact with each other (tectonic shifting), and heat flows beneath the surface which can melt rock and create volcanoes, all reflecting forces within the Earth.
  • S.6.35Minerals, fresh water, and biosphere resources are limited, and many are not renewable or replaceable over human lifetimes. These resources are distributed unevenly around the planet as a result of past geologic processes.
  • S.6.36Mapping the history of natural hazards in a region, combined with an understanding of related geologic forces can help forecast location and likelihoods of future events.
  • S.6.37Human activities have significantly altered the biosphere, sometimes damaging or destroying natural habitats and causing the extinction of other species. Changes to Earth’s environments can have positive and negative impacts for different living things.
  • S.6.38Human health is dependent on the stewardship of Earth’s resources and the monitoring of geologic processes and the maintaining of soil quality.