Tennessee Academic Vocabulary – 6th grade

SCIENCE
WORD / DEFINITION / CURRICULUM OPPORTUNITIES / NUMBER OF EXPOSURES
Absorption / uptake of substances by a tissue, as of nutrients through the wall of the intestine; a taking in or reception by molecular or chemical action, as of gases or liquids
Amplitude / the absolute value of the maximum displacement from a zero value during one period of an oscillation.
Classification / Biology. the assignment of organisms to groups within a system of categories distinguished by structure, origin, etc. The usual series of categories is phylum (or, esp. in botany, division), class, order, family, genus, species, and variety.
Commensalism / (of an animal, plant, fungus, etc.) living with, on, or in another, without injury to either
Consumer / Ecology. an organism, usually an animal, that feeds on plants or other animals.
Decomposer / Ecology. an organism, usually a bacterium or fungus, that breaks down the cells of dead plants and animals into simpler substances.
Eclipses (solar/lunar) / The partial or complete obscuring, relative to a designated observer, of one celestial body by another.
Energy transformations / the "work" of living things, although it is not immediately evident that they involve work in the physical sense.
Synthetic work, electrical work, mechanical work
Extinction / Biology. the act or process of becoming extinct; a coming to an end or dying out: the extinction of a species.
Food web / a series of organisms related by predator-prey and consumer-resource interactions; the entirety of interrelated food chains in an ecological community.
Forms of energy / There are many forms of energy, but they can all be put into two categories: kinetic and potential.
Kinetic energy – motion – of waves, electrons, atoms, molecules, substances, and objects
Potential energy – stored energy and the energy of position – gravitational energy
Fossils / A remnant or trace of an organism of a past geologic age, such as a skeleton or leaf imprint, embedded and preserved in the earth's crust.
frequency / Physics. a. the number of periods or regularly occurring events of any given kind in unit of time, usually in one second.
b. the number of cycles or completed alternations per unit time of a wave or oscillation. Symbol: F; Abbreviation: freq.
Heat flow / Whenever there is a temperature difference between two objects in contact, heat energy will flow from the warmer object to the cooler object until they reach the same temperature.
Mutualism / a relationship between two species of organisms in which both benefit from the association.
Nuclear power / Power, especially electricity, the source of which is nuclear fission or fusion.
Parasitism / Biology. a relation between organisms in which one lives as a parasite on another.
Producer / A photosynthetic green plant or chemosynthetic bacterium, constituting the first trophic level in a food chain; an autotrophic organism.
Reflection / Physics, Optics. a. the return of light, heat, sound, etc., after striking a surface. b. something so reflected, as heat or esp. light.
Refraction / Physics. the change of direction of a ray of light, sound, heat, or the like, in passing obliquely from one medium into another in which its wave velocity is different.
Relative age / The approximate age determination of rocks, fossils or minerals made by comparing whether the material is younger or older than other surrounding material. Relative age is estimated according to stratigraphic and structural relationships, such as superposition, and by fossil content, since the relative ages and successions of fossils have been established by paleontologists
Seasons / One of the four natural divisions of the year, spring, summer, fall, and winter, in the North and South Temperate zones. Each season, beginning astronomically at an equinox or solstice, is characterized by specific meteorological or climatic conditions.
Sedimentary rocks / Of or pertaining to sediment; formed by sediment; containing matter that has subsided.
Tides / The periodic variation in the surface level of the oceans and of bays, gulfs, inlets, and estuaries, caused by gravitational attraction of the moon and sun.
A specific occurrence of such a variation: awaiting the next high tide.
Universe components / The Universe is composed of objects that are "attracted" to each other by gravity. Sun, Moon, planets, galaxies, stars, solar systems, etc.
Wave / a disturbance on the surface of a liquid body, as the sea or a lake, in the form of a moving ridge or swell.
2. any surging or progressing movement or part resembling a wave of the sea: a wave of the pulse.
wavelength / Physics. the distance, measured in the direction of propagation of a wave, between two successive points in the wave that are characterized by the same phase of oscillation.