Science

This course focuses on students transitioning from elementary to middle school. The science standards support that transition as students examine more abstract concepts, providing a foundation in the disciplines of science. They explore the characteristics of their world, from the Earth’s placement in the solar system to the interactions of water, energy, air, and ecosystems on the Earth. As students more closely examine the use of resources, they also consider how their actions and choices affect future habitability on Earth. Students continue to develop scientific skills and processes as they pose questions and predict outcomes, plan and conduct investigations, collect and analyze data, construct explanations, and communicate information about the natural world. Mathematics and computational thinking gain importance as students advance in their scientific thinking. Students continue to use the engineering
design process to apply their scientific knowledge to solve problems.

This course emphasizes a more complex understanding of change, cycles, patterns, and relationships in the living world. Students build on basic principles related to these concepts by exploring the cellular organization and the classification of organisms; the dynamic relationships among organisms, populations, communities, and ecosystems; and change as a result of the transmission of genetic information from generation to generation. Students build on their scientific investigation skills through more independent identification of questions and planning of investigations. Students evaluate the usefulness and limits of models and support their conclusions using evidence. Mathematics, computational thinking, and experience in the engineering design process gain importance as students advance in their scientific thinking.

This course stresses an in-depth understanding of the nature and structure of matter and the characteristics of energy. Major areas covered by the standards include the particle nature of matter, the organization and use of the periodic table; physical and chemical changes; energy transfer and transformations; properties of longitudinal and transverse waves; electricity and magnetism; and work, force, and motion. The standards continue to build on skills of systematic investigation with a clear focus on variables and repeated trials. Validating conclusions using evidence and data becomes increasingly important at this level. Mathematics, computational thinking, and experiences in the engineering design process gain importance as students advance in their scientific thinking. Students enrolled in this course will take the Grade 8 Science Standards of Learning test.