Science 6 — Course Syllabus
MATATAG Curriculum · Key Stage 2 · School Year 2026–2027
| Learning Area | Science |
| Grade Level | Grade 6 |
| Key Stage | Key Stage 2 (Grades 4–6) |
| Time Allotment | 45 minutes daily · 5 days a week · 3 terms |
| Prerequisite | Science 5 |
| Curriculum Basis | MATATAG K to 10 Curriculum (DepEd, August 2023) |
| Calendar Basis | DO No. 009, s. 2026 — three-term school calendar |
| Assessment Basis | DO No. 015, s. 2026 — revised classroom assessment and grading |
| Medium of instruction | English |
The three-term school year
| Term | Months | Weeks |
|---|---|---|
| Term 1 | June – September | 1 – 11 |
| Term 2 | September – December | 12 – 22 |
| Term 3 | January – April | 23 – 33 |
§4 keeps the guide's own quarter attribution; §5 maps four quarters onto three terms.
1. Course Description
Science 6 is the exit year of Key Stage 2, and the standard it has to reach is specific: at the end of it, a learner should have the essential skills of scientific inquiry — designing simple investigations, choosing procedures and tools, observing patterns, drawing conclusions from evidence, and communicating them.
So the year is organised around the fair test. It is named in three of the four quarters and it is the whole of Quarter 1 competencies 8 and 9: change one factor, measure one factor, keep everything else the same, and do at least three trials.
The content carries it. Changes of state and separation techniques in Quarter 1; plant propagation and food webs in Quarter 2; simple machines and waves in Quarter 3; volcanoes, seasons and constellations in Quarter 4. Two of those quarters end in something a Grade 6 learner can do for their own household — a separation technique that solves a real problem, and an evacuation plan for a volcanic eruption.
The last competency of the year asks learners to gather understandings from indigenous communities about eclipses and the night sky, and to hold that alongside scientific explanation with respect for both. It is worth reading before the year starts, not in Week 32.
2. Grade Level Standard
Quoted verbatim from the MATATAG Science Curriculum Guide (DepEd, August 2023, page 24).
Grade 6 — At the end of Grade 6, learners describe the benefits of various separation techniques and demonstrate skills through the use of equipment. They use diagrams and flowcharts to describe changes of state. They use the words reversible and irreversible to describe changes to materials. They identify mixtures such as solutions and give examples such as mixture. They recognize and apply their understanding of the features of a fair test. Learners describe the different ways that plants reproduce and plan a simple scientific investigation to determine which method works best in a given habitat. They describe that vertebrates are animals with a backbone and that invertebrates do not have a backbone. They design and produce an example of a food web that identifies the role of consumers, producers, scavengers, and decomposers. They identify the technical terms biotic and abiotic as referring to living and non-living things. Learners carry out investigations to observe patterns and systems scientifically. They support their observations and conclusions to explain occurrences and concepts using technical scientific language. They use critical thinking skills and creativity to make models and other devices to communicate their understanding to other people. Learners describe that volcanoes can have unexpected and severe impacts on communities and that the uncertainty and impacts of unpredicted eruptions can be offset by understanding and following alerts from authorities. Learners explain that the weather patterns that produce seasons are largely predictable, and use models to explain natural processes and timing, such as the changes of season. Learners identify that scientific models are valuable in explaining other observations of patterns in nature, such as the apparent movement of celestial objects across the sky. They exhibit respect for cultures and interpretations of natural phenomena by indigenous people over generations and respect explanations of phenomena using scientific inquiry and objectivity.
3. Content Domains
3.1 The three content strands — what the learner does
| Strand | What it is at Grade 6 |
|---|---|
| Performing scientific inquiry skills | The fair test: change one factor, measure one factor, keep the rest the same, and run at least three trials. Named in Quarter 1, Quarter 2 and Quarter 3. |
| Understanding and applying scientific knowledge | Changes of state and separation; reproduction, classification and food webs; simple machines and waves; volcanoes, seasons and the night sky. |
| Developing and demonstrating scientific attitudes and values | Objectivity, creativity in making models, and respect for indigenous interpretations of natural phenomena — the guide's own final competency. |
3.2 The four discipline-oriented domains — what is studied
| Domain | Grade 6 coverage |
|---|---|
| Materials | Changes of state as diagrams and flowcharts; heat energy's role; reversible and irreversible; uniform and non-uniform mixtures; air as a mixture; separation techniques; the fair test. |
| Living Things | The circulatory system; plant reproduction and propagation; vertebrates and invertebrates; producers, consumers, scavengers and decomposers; interactions; biotic and abiotic factors. |
| Force, Motion, and Energy | Simple machines; levers; water waves; amplitude, frequency, wavelength and velocity; longitudinal and transverse waves; how sound changes when source or receiver moves. |
| Earth and Space | Volcanoes and PHIVOLCS alert levels; Philippine seasons; Earth's rotation; the Sun–Earth–Moon system and eclipses; constellations and indigenous astronomy. |
3.3 One quarter, one domain
Each quarter is one domain — the guide's table, page 28.
| Quarter | Domain | Term |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Materials | Term 1 |
| 2 | Living Things | Terms 1 and 2 |
| 3 | Force, Motion, and Energy | Terms 2 and 3 |
| 4 | Earth and Space | Term 3 |
This is the last grade in which the order holds. From Grade 7 the four domains are renamed and
the quarter order becomes a 4 × 4 Latin square — see
science-spine.md §2.
4. Content Map
Every entry is quoted from the official curriculum guide (DepEd, August 2023, pages 41–45),
committed at docs/research/source/.
Performance tasks here are the guide's, not this syllabus's — page 17 requires one per quarter and supplies the tasks.
CG Quarter 1 — Materials
Taught in Term 1, weeks 1–8
| Content | Diagrams and flowcharts · Processes of changes of state · Physical and chemical change · Mixtures and separation techniques |
| Content standards | 1. Diagrams and flowcharts demonstrate processes involving heat energy and changes of state. 2. Changes in materials can be either reversible or irreversible. 3. Mixtures and the products of their separation techniques are very useful in our daily lives. 4. Scientific investigations need to satisfy the features of a fair test and use accurate and reliable measurements. |
| Learning competencies | 1. describe changes of state for solids, liquids, and gases as melting, evaporation, freezing, condensation using diagrams and flowcharts; 2. explain the role of heat energy in change of state processes; 3. explain why physical changes are reversible, and chemical changes are irreversible; 4. describe useful everyday examples of uniform and non-uniform mixtures, such as solutions and suspensions; 5. describe air as a mixture of oxygen, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and water vapor; 6. demonstrate various techniques in separating mixtures, such as decantation, winnowing, scooping, picking, evaporation, filtering, sieving, and using magnets; 7. explain the benefits of each mixture separation technique in preparing useful products; 8. apply the features of a fair test: a. change one factor, b. measure one factor, and c. keep all other factors the same; and 9. recognize the features of a fair test and that scientific investigations also involve a) doing at least three trials, or use replication, and b) observing, measuring, and recording accurately. |
| Performance standard | By the end of the Quarter, learners demonstrate an understanding of the benefits of various separation techniques. They use diagrams and flowcharts to describe changes of state. They use the words reversible and irreversible to describe changes to materials. They demonstrate skills in the use of equipment. They recognize and apply their understanding of the features of a fair test. |
| Performance task (from the guide) | A. Apply an appropriate separation technique to solve a local or household problem. B. Plan and conduct a simple scientific investigation involving a physical change, such as "Does sugar dissolve faster in hot or cold water?" Use your understanding of a fair test to answer the question. |
CG Quarter 2 — Living Things
Opens in Term 1 (weeks 9–11); completed in Term 2 (weeks 12–16)
| Content | The circulatory system · Reproduction in plants · Vertebrates and invertebrates · Food webs · Interactions between living things · Biotic and abiotic factors |
| Content standards | 1. Animals have systems that help them grow, respond, and reproduce. 2. There are several modes of reproduction in plants. 3. To be valid and reliable, scientific investigations need to include fair tests and multiple trials. 4. Animals can be grouped as vertebrates or invertebrates. 5. Producers, consumers, scavengers, and decomposers have important roles in food webs. 6. Interactions within an ecosystem can have important impacts on the living things within it. |
| Learning competencies | 1. identify from pictures and diagrams the parts of the circulatory system as heart, blood, and blood vessels, and describe how they work; 2. describe the different ways that plants reproduce, such as pollination, seed production, and plant propagation; 3. plan a simple scientific investigation that includes the features of a fair test, replication, and accurate measurement to determine which type of plant propagation — cutting, budding, layering, grafting — works best for garden plants; 4. describe the differences between animals with a backbone (vertebrates) and animals without backbones (invertebrates) by using common local examples; 5. describe the roles of producers, consumers, scavengers, and decomposers in a food web; 6. use information from secondary sources to describe that living things interact with each other in the natural environment, such as through competition, or predation; 7. describe living things as biotic factors and light, water, temperature, and soil type as abiotic factors of an ecosystem; and 8. explain how interaction between living things and interactions between living and non-living things may bring good or harm to the living things involved. |
| Performance standard | By the end of the Quarter, learners demonstrate an understanding of the different ways that plants reproduce. Plan a simple scientific investigation to determine which method works best in a given habitat. They describe and provide examples of vertebrates and invertebrates. They design an example of a food web showing the role of consumers, producers, scavengers, and decomposers. They identify the technical terms biotic and abiotic. |
| Performance task (from the guide) | A. Apply the features of a fair test to investigate how much water is needed to grow a common garden plant from a seed. B. Select an appropriate medium to design an example of a food web in a local ecosystem. |
CG Quarter 3 — Force, Motion, and Energy
Opens in Term 2 (weeks 17–22); completed in Term 3 (weeks 23–24)
| Content | Simple machines · Properties of water and sound waves · Longitudinal and Transverse waves |
| Content standards | 1. Simple machines allow people to change the direction and size of forces. 2. Waves transfer energy between source and receiver. 3. Science processes and concepts help solve everyday problems. |
| Learning competencies | 1. observe and describe examples and uses of simple machines found at home, at school, and in the community; 2. demonstrate through guided investigation the advantages and limitations of simple machines such as inclined planes, wedges, levers, and pulleys; 3. carry out fair tests to show how levers can be used to change the magnitude and direction of a force; 4. identify that waves carry energy from a source to a receiver; 5. carry out investigations with water waves in a ripple tank, a big tub of water or improvised ripple tank and describe the features of the waves including their shape, size, and patterns of movement; 6. research using secondary sources to identify how the properties of waves are described using scientific terms such as amplitude, frequency, wavelength, and velocity; 7. identify differences and similarities between longitudinal waves and transverse waves; 8. demonstrate using simple models how longitudinal waves and transverse waves carry energy; 9. identify some examples of longitudinal waves, and transverse waves; and 10. describe and explain how sound changes when the source or the receiver are moving. |
| Performance standard | By the end of the Quarter, learners demonstrate objective inquiry by carrying out investigations to critically observe patterns and systems scientifically. They support their observations and conclusions using secondary sources to explain occurrences and concepts using technical scientific language. They use critical thinking skills and creativity to make models and other devices to communicate their understanding to other people. |
| Performance task (from the guide) | A. Develop an information poster explaining how musical instruments utilize the properties of sound waves. B. Design and propose or improve the design of a simple machine that can be used at home, in school, or in the community, with name, purpose, description, materials, sketch and benefits. C. Utilize the concept of motion and gravity to write a creative story, poem, or any written art. |
CG Quarter 4 — Earth and Space
Taught in Term 3, weeks 25–33
| Content | Volcanic activity and safety · Seasons in the Philippines · Motions of the Earth · Constellations · Understanding stability and change |
| Content standards | 1. Volcanoes are vents from which molten rock from Earth's crust erupts onto the surface releasing pressure and gases. 2. The Philippine volcanoes can violently and unpredictably erupt lava, ash, and ballistic projectiles. 3. Weather and climate have predictable patterns throughout the year, which affect human activities. 4. The revolution and the rotation of the Earth demonstrate observable patterns. 5. Constellations are patterns of stars in the sky. |
| Learning competencies | 1. explain what volcanoes are and how they are formed; 2. use local information or other reliable sources to identify where the nearest active and inactive volcanoes are located and assess the risk of impacts from eruptions to their local community; 3. discuss the patterns of volcanic eruptions in the Philippines over the last 100 years with family and community members; 4. identify and describe some of the materials formed during volcanic eruptions in the Philippines; 5. interpret PHIVOLCS Volcano Monitoring (Alert Levels) to demonstrate what to do before, during, and after a volcanic eruption; 6. describe the different seasons in the Philippines and suggest activities that are appropriate for each season; 7. demonstrate the rotation of the Earth on its axis using a globe to explain day and night; 8. make a Sun-Earth-Moon system model to demonstrate and explain the observable effects of predictable patterns and events including changes in seasons, changes in the patterns of visible stars over a year, and solar and lunar eclipses; 9. explain why ancient human cultures relied on constellations to indicate directions and verify seasons; and 10. gather information from local indigenous community members or from reliable secondary sources to investigate ways that indigenous people of the Philippines represented and communicated understandings of the predictability of solar and lunar eclipses, and patterns in the night sky and their use for tracking time. |
| Performance standard | By the end of the Quarter, learners appreciate that volcanoes can have unexpected and severe impacts on communities and that the uncertainty can be offset by understanding and following alerts from authorities. Learners appreciate weather patterns that produce seasons, and use models to describe natural processes and timing. They exhibit respect for cultures and interpretations of natural phenomena by indigenous people over generations and balance that with respect for explaining phenomena using scientific inquiry and objectivity. |
| Performance task (from the guide) | A. Design and describe an evacuation plan for a house or school in the event of a nearby and intensifying volcanic eruption, with the reasoning behind the planned actions. B. Select a constellation that can be seen from the Philippines and describe its features, and explain its practical and cultural significance for Filipino people in the past and present. |
5. Term-by-Term Scope and Sequence
| Quarter blocks | Q1 → weeks 1–8 · Q2 → 9–16 · Q3 → 17–24 · Q4 → 25–33 |
| The last week of each block | the quarter's performance task, per guide page 17 |
| Within a block | the guide's own competency order, adjacent competencies merged where natural — marked ⊕ |
⚠️ The week mapping is this repository's, not DepEd's. A school's approved Budget of Work replaces every week number below; none has been obtained. The quarter-to-domain assignment is DepEd's and is reproduced exactly.
Term 1 — June to September
| Week | Focus | CG source | Artifacts in this repo |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Melting, evaporation, freezing, condensation — as a flowchart | Q1 · 1 | — |
| 2 | What heat energy does in each of them | Q1 · 2 | — |
| 3 | Reversible and irreversible — and why | Q1 · 3 | ✔ Full set — lesson plans, slides, game, offline activities, worksheets, wall chart |
| 4 ⊕ | Uniform and non-uniform mixtures and air as a mixture | Q1 · 4–5 | — |
| 5 | Eight separation techniques, demonstrated | Q1 · 6 | — |
| 6 | Which technique for which product, and why | Q1 · 7 | — |
| 7 ⊕ | The three features of a fair test and three trials, measured accurately | Q1 · 8–9 | — |
| 8 | Quarter 1 performance task — a separation technique for a household problem, or the hot-and-cold sugar investigation | Q1 · PT | — |
| 9 | The circulatory system | Q2 · 1 | — |
| 10 | How plants reproduce | Q2 · 2 | — |
| 11 | Planning the propagation fair test | Q2 · 3 | — |
End-of-term block — Term 1 examination, remediation, reporting.
Term 2 — September to December
| Week | Focus | CG source |
|---|---|---|
| 12 | Vertebrates and invertebrates, with local examples | Q2 · 4 |
| 13 | Producers, consumers, scavengers, decomposers | Q2 · 5 |
| 14 | Competition and predation | Q2 · 6 |
| 15 ⊕ | Biotic and abiotic factors and interactions that help or harm | Q2 · 7–8 |
| 16 | Quarter 2 performance task — the seed-and-water fair test, or a local food web | Q2 · PT |
| 17 | Simple machines at home, at school, in the barangay | Q3 · 1 |
| 18 | What a simple machine can and cannot do | Q3 · 2 |
| 19 | The lever fair test | Q3 · 3 |
| 20 ⊕ | Waves carry energy and the improvised ripple tank | Q3 · 4–5 |
| 21 | Amplitude, frequency, wavelength, velocity | Q3 · 6 |
| 22 ⊕ | Longitudinal and transverse and modelling both | Q3 · 7–8 |
End-of-term block — Term 2 examination, remediation, reporting.
Term 3 — January to April
| Week | Focus | CG source |
|---|---|---|
| 23 ⊕ | Examples of each kind of wave and how sound changes when things move | Q3 · 9–10 |
| 24 | Quarter 3 performance task — sound-wave poster, simple-machine design, or creative writing | Q3 · PT |
| 25 | What volcanoes are and how they form | Q4 · 1 |
| 26 ⊕ | The nearest active volcano and the risk and a hundred years of eruptions | Q4 · 2–3 |
| 27 | Lava, ash and ballistic projectiles | Q4 · 4 |
| 28 | PHIVOLCS Alert Levels, and what to do at each | Q4 · 5 |
| 29 | The Philippine seasons and what they are good for | Q4 · 6 |
| 30 | Rotation, and why there is day and night | Q4 · 7 |
| 31 | A Sun–Earth–Moon model: seasons, stars and eclipses | Q4 · 8 |
| 32 ⊕ | Constellations for direction and season and Philippine indigenous astronomy | Q4 · 9–10 |
| 33 | Quarter 4 performance task — an evacuation plan, or a constellation and its cultural significance | Q4 · PT |
End-of-term block — Term 3 examination, closing activities, reporting.
Coverage check
| CG quarter | Competencies | Teaching weeks | PT week | Where |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quarter 1 | 9 | 7 | 8 | Term 1, weeks 1–8 |
| Quarter 2 | 8 | 7 | 16 | Term 1 weeks 9–11; Term 2 weeks 12–16 |
| Quarter 3 | 10 | 7 | 24 | Term 2 weeks 17–22; Term 3 weeks 23–24 |
| Quarter 4 | 10 | 8 | 33 | Term 3, weeks 25–33 |
| Total | 37 | 29 | 4 | 33 weeks |
All 37 CG competencies are placed. None is taught twice, and none is dropped.
6. Assessment and Grading
Per DO No. 015, s. 2026, for a Key Stage 2 core learning area: Written Works 20% · Performance Tasks 50% · Examinations 30%.
Transmutation is a year switch. SY 2026–2027 uses an adjusted table in which a raw 70 transmutes to a passing 75; from SY 2027–2028 transmutation is removed.
⚠️ Reported, not read. Two independent search passes returned the same split. Confirm before computing a real grade.
What Grade 6 assessment has to add
The fair test is assessable, and it is assessed as a design rather than as a definition. From
Week 7 onward, any investigation a learner reports must name what was changed, what was measured,
what was kept the same, and how many trials were run. Every rubric in
assessment.md §6 has a row for it, because a learner can recite the three
features and still design a comparison with two variables in it.
7. Learner Support
| Provision | What it looks like |
|---|---|
| Below-level | Recover something first, name it second. worksheet-remediation.html starts from things the learner has actually got back. |
| On-level | The standard task with the evidence column filled, not just the label. |
| Above-level | The edge cases — shattered glass, a burning candle that melts, smoke. Where a definition stops working is more interesting than one more example of it working. |
| Language | All materials are in English. Reversible, irreversible, uniform, decantation and winnowing are said aloud before they are read. |
| Learners with additional needs | Enlarged print, extended time, verbal instead of written response, a peer scribe. Every digital artifact is keyboard-operable and screen-reader labelled. |
| Absence and catch-up | Every digital artifact is one file that copies to a phone or USB stick and runs offline. |
8. Materials
No-cost / recycled — the default.
- Salt, sugar, sand, rice with husks, and small stones
- Saucers or jar lids for evaporation; cloth or a coffee filter for filtering
- A magnet, iron filings or nails, and sawdust
- A tub of water as an improvised ripple tank; a spring or a length of rope for wave models
- A globe or a ball and a torch for the Sun–Earth–Moon model
- Chalk and a board
If available.
- A projector or television for the deck; any browser device for the game
- A real ripple tank; a balance; a thermometer
- A printed PHIVOLCS alert-level chart
DepEd's Grade 6 equipment list is not held here. The guide names a ripple tank explicitly and then says "a big tub of water or improvised ripple tank" in the same competency — which is the guide itself acknowledging the gap. Every artifact here runs on the improvised version, and
offline-activities.mdsays how.
9. Curriculum Verification — Completed
| Item | Source | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Grade level standard (§2) | CG p. 24 | ✅ Verbatim |
| The three content strands (§3.1) | CG p. 19 | ✅ Verified |
| The four domains (§3.2) | CG p. 19 | ✅ Verified |
| Domain per quarter (§3.3) | CG p. 28 | ✅ Verified |
| Quarters 1 to 4 (§4) | CG pp. 41–45 | ✅ Verbatim |
| Performance tasks (§4) | CG pp. 41–45 | ✅ From the guide |
| Week mapping (§5) | This repository | ⚠️ Proposal — the Budget of Work is unobtained |
| Three-term calendar | DO No. 009, s. 2026 | ⚠️ Adopted, from reporting |
| Assessment weights (§6) | DO No. 015, s. 2026 | ⚠️ Adopted, from reporting |
What opening the guide changed
| Assumed | Actually |
|---|---|
| Grade 6 Quarter 1 is mixtures and solutions | Mixtures are in it, but the quarter opens with changes of state and reaches mixtures at competency 4. |
| Waves are Grade 7 | Water waves, wavelength, frequency and the moving-source effect are Grade 6 Quarter 3. |
| Volcanoes are Grade 8 or 9 | Grade 6 Quarter 4 competency 1, with PHIVOLCS alert levels at competency 5. Grades 8 and 9 return to them at a different depth. |
| Indigenous knowledge is an optional enrichment | It is competency 10, the last competency of the year, and the performance standard names respect for it explicitly. |
Part of the E-turo MATATAG artifact set. Companion files:
lesson-plan.md · lesson-plan-ilaw.md ·
assessment.md · offline-activities.md ·
slides.html · game.html