Curriculum Guide
Grade 6 – Science Standard 1.4
Physical Science.1.4 - Distinguish among, explain, and apply the relationships among mass, weight, volume, and density.
Related Colorado Department of Education Sample Units:
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Water, Water Everywhere (Concepts: resources, cycle, balance, system, change, properties, structure/form, phase, water, activity, quality)
Building Blocks Of Life (Concepts: properties, structure, function, substance, energy, relationship, foundation, order, patterns, bonds, interaction, matter,
atoms, molecules, mass volume, density, weight)
Essential Questions - 21st Century Skills and Readiness Competencies (District):
1. Which of the following is the best recommendation for a person trying to lose weight
and why? Reduce the number of calories eaten, exercise more, or go to the moon?
2. If weight and mass are not the same thing, why might people use the words
interchangeably?
3. In what type of situation would it be most useful to know the mass of an object?
weight? volume? density?
4. How is mass measured?
5. How is volume measured?
6. What is density?
7. What are some of the tools you can use to report results for scientific investigations?
Evidence Outcomes (District):
a. Explain that the mass of an object does not change, but its weight changes based
on the gravitational forces acting upon it.
b. Predict how changes in acceleration due to gravity will affect the mass and weight of
an object.
c. Predict how mass, weight, and volume affect density.
d. Measure mass and volume, and use these quantities to calculate density.
e. Use tools to gather, view, analyze, and report results for scientific investigations
about the relationships among mass, weight, volume, and density.
Academic Vocabulary (District):
acceleration
density
force
gravity
mass
volume
weight
Assessment (District):
1, 2, 6, & 7. Assessments are built into the lessons.
3. & 4. Use Discussion Questions for assessment.
5. Use the Lab as the assessment.
8. When you go into the lesson link, all links to the assessments are found on the right
side of the web page.
9. Formative Assessments are located at bottom of lesson plan. They also have links
to worksheets that could be used as assessments.
Suggested Activities/Strategies (District):
1. Students investigate a wax candle and a piece of clay to understand why the candle
floats and the clay sinks, even though the candle is heavier than the piece of clay.
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Density Activity
2. Students place hot and cold colored water into room-temperature water. They
observe that the hot water floats on the room-temperature water and the cold water
sinks.
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2. Temperature Affects Density Activity
3. This video segment adapted from ZOOM offers a demonstration of buoyancy by
showing how to pour a cup of air into a cup filled with water.
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3. Density and Buoyancy Video and Questions
Resources/Technology (District):
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Free Clip Art
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Free I-pad Apps
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Free PowerPoints
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Free Interactive Games
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Mass versus Weight Resource
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Density Lesson Plans
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Volume, Mass, Weight Slide Share
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Measuring Mass, Volume, Density
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Density Archimedes PowerPoint
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Density Review PowerPoint
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Interactive Simulations
4. In this video from NASA's Teaching From Space Initiative, two astronauts aboard
the International Space Station (ISS) describe mass, weight, and the differences
between the two.
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4. Mass versus Weight Video and Questions
5. Cookie Lab: Students use mass and volume to describe and identify cookies.
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5. Cookie Lab
6. Go to Share My Lesson and choose from several lesson plans over this standard.
7. Density Lesson Plan: Students make predictions about which items will sink or float.
They then use what they learned about density to create an aluminum foil object that
floats and an object that sinks.
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7. Density Lesson Plan
8. Density of Water Lab: Students measure the volume and mass of water to
determine its density.
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8. Density of Water Lab
9. Mass and Density Lesson: Students identify differences in mass, volume, and
density amongst the three states of matter and calculate density with varying quantities
of mass and volume.
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9. Mass and Density Lesson