Unit Plan 32 (Grade 6 Science): Sustainability & Resource Management
Communities monitor, minimize, and manage environmental impacts by using evidence-based strategies and evaluating design solutions to protect water, land, and air.
Focus: Evaluate how communities can monitor, minimize, and manage their impacts on water, land, and air, using evidence and design criteria aligned to MS-ESS3-3–5 and MS-ETS1-2.
Grade Level: 6
Subject Area: Science (Earth & Human Activity — Sustainability & Community Design)
Total Unit Duration: 5 sessions (one week), 50–60 minutes per session
I. Introduction
In this unit, students connect their knowledge of Earth systems to human activities and community decisions. They examine local and global examples of how people affect water quality, land use, and air and climate, and learn how communities use monitoring, data, and design solutions to reduce negative impacts. Students practice constructing arguments from evidence that technologies and behaviors have changed Earth’s environment, ask clarifying questions about climate drivers, and evaluate competing design solutions for sustainable resource management in line with MS-ESS3-3–5 and MS-ETS1-2.
Essential Questions
- How do human activities affect water, land, and air, and how can we monitor those impacts?
- In what ways have technologies and everyday choices influenced climate, land use, and water use?
- How can asking clarifying scientific questions improve our understanding of climate change factors and guide community actions?
- How can communities evaluate and choose among different sustainability solutions to minimize environmental impact while meeting human needs?
II. Objectives and Standards
Learning Objectives — Students will be able to:
- Identify examples of human impact on water, land, and air in local and global contexts (e.g., pollution, deforestation, emissions, land use change).
- Apply scientific principles to propose or critique methods of monitoring and minimizing impacts (e.g., water testing, recycling systems, green spaces, emissions reduction) aligned to MS-ESS3-3.
- Construct an argument from evidence that human activities and technologies have influenced climate, land use, and water use (aligned to MS-ESS3-4).
- Ask clarifying questions about evidence of climate change factors, including natural and human drivers (aligned to MS-ESS3-5).
- Use a systematic process to evaluate competing design solutions for improving sustainability of water, land, or air in a community scenario (aligned to MS-ETS1-2).
Standards Alignment — 6th Grade (NGSS-based custom)
- MS-ESS3-3 — Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing human impacts on the environment.
- MS-ESS3-4 — Construct an argument supported by evidence that human activities and technologies have influenced Earth’s environment (climate, land use, water use).
- MS-ESS3-5 — Ask questions to clarify evidence of factors that cause variations in global temperatures over time, including human activities.
- MS-ETS1-2 — Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process, based on how well they meet criteria and constraints.
Success Criteria — Student Language
- I can describe at least one way humans affect water, land, and air where I live or in another community.
- I can suggest or explain a monitoring method (like testing water or measuring trash) and a minimizing method (like conserving, reusing, or restoring).
- I can use evidence from graphs, maps, or texts to argue that human activities and technologies have changed climate, land use, or water use.
- I can write good scientific questions that clarify how different factors (natural and human) influence global temperature.
- I can compare two or more design ideas using criteria (how well they protect water, land, air) and constraints (cost, time, materials) and explain which is better and why.