Grade 8 Science
Curriculum
- 7 Sections
- 126 Lessons
- 36 Weeks
Expand all sectionsCollapse all sections
- Start here1
- Unit 1: Contact Forces23
- 2.1Reading: Science Literacy Preface: Put Yourself in This Scene1 Week
- 2.2Lesson 1: What happens when two things hit each other?3 Days
- 2.3Lesson 2: What causes changes in the motion and shape of colliding objects?2 Days
- 2.4Reading: Science Literacy Collection 1: Collisions1 Week
- 2.5Lesson 3: Do all objects change shape or bend when they are pushed in a collision?1 Day
- 2.6Lesson 4: How much do you have to push on any object to get it to deform (temporarily vs. permanently)?2 Days
- 2.7Lesson 5: How does changing the mass or speed of a moving object before it collides with another object affect the forces on those objects during the collision?2 Days
- 2.8Reading: Science Literacy Collection 2: Bounce Back, Bend, Break, or Push1 Week
- 2.9Lesson 6: What have we figured out about objects interacting in collisions? How can we apply our new learning to answer questions about objects interacting in collisions?1 Day
- 2.10Lesson 7: How much does doubling the speed or doubling the mass affect the kinetic energy of an object and the resulting damage that it can do in a collision?2 Days
- 2.11Lesson 8: Where did the energy in our launcher system come from, and after the collisions where did it go to?1 Day
- 2.12Lesson 9: How do other contact forces from interactions with the air and the track cause energy transfers in the launcher system?2 Days
- 2.13Lesson 10: Why do some objects break or not break in a collision?2 Days
- 2.14Lesson 11: What can we design to better protect objects in a collision?2 Days
- 2.15Reading: Science Literacy Collection 4: Materials, Design, and Outcomes1 Week
- 2.16Lesson 12: What materials best reduce the peak forces in a collision?2 Days
- 2.17Lesson 13: How (and why) does the structure of a cushioning material affect the peak forces produced in a collision?3 Days
- 2.18Reading: Science Literacy Collection 5: Structures and Forces1 Week
- 2.19Lesson 14: How can we use our science ideas and other societal wants and needs to refine our designs?2 Days
- 2.20Lesson 15: How can we use what we figured out to evaluate another engineer’s design?2 Days
- 2.21Lesson 16: OPTIONAL How can we market our designs to our potential investors?4 Days
- 2.22Reading: Science Literacy Collection 61 Week
- 2.23Unit 1 words quiz: Contact Forces20 Minutes12 Questions
- Unit 2: Sound Waves21
- 3.1Reading: Science Literacy Preface: Put Yourself in This Scene1 Week
- 3.2Lesson 1: How does a sound source make something like this happen?3 Days
- 3.3Lesson 2: What is happening when speakers and other music makers make sounds?2 Days
- 3.4Reading: Science Literacy Collection 1: Musical Instruments1 Week
- 3.5Lesson 3: Do all objects vibrate when they make sounds?2 Days
- 3.6Lesson 4: How do the vibrations of the sound source compare for louder versus softer sounds?2 Days
- 3.7Lesson 5: How do the vibrations from a sound source compare for higher-pitch versus lower-pitch sounds?1 Day
- 3.8Reading: Science Literacy Collection 2: Sounds in Nature1 Week
- 3.9Lesson 6: How can any object make so many different sounds?2 Days
- 3.10Lesson 7: What is actually moving from the sound source to the window?1 Day
- 3.11Lesson 8: Do we need air to hear sound?1 Day
- 3.12Lesson 9: How can we model sound traveling through a solid, liquid, or gas?1 Day
- 3.13Reading: Science Literacy Collection 3: Sound and Media1 Week
- 3.14Lesson 10: What exactly is traveling across the medium?2 Days
- 3.15Lesson 11: How does sound make matter around us move?2 Days
- 3.16Lesson 12: What goes on in people’s ears so they can detect certain sounds?1 Day
- 3.17Reading: Science Literacy Collection 4: Compression Waves1 Week
- 3.18Lesson 13: What transfers more energy, waves of bigger amplitude or waves of greater frequency?2 Days
- 3.19Lesson 14: How can we explain our anchoring phenomenon, and which of our questions can we now answer?2 Days
- 3.20Reading: Science Literacy Collection 5: Air, Wind, and Sound1 Week
- 3.21Unit 2 words quiz: Sound Waves20 Minutes12 Questions
- Unit 3: Forces at a Distance19
- 4.1Reading: Science Literacy Preface: Put Yourself in This Scene1 Week
- 4.2Lesson 1: What causes a speaker to vibrate?4 Days
- 4.3Lesson 2: What can a magnet pull or push without touching?2 Days
- 4.4Reading: Science Literacy Collection 1: Day-to-Day Magnets1 Week
- 4.5Lesson 3: How does energy transfer between things that are not touching?1 Day
- 4.6Lesson 4: What can we figure out about the invisible space around a magnet?4 Days
- 4.7Reading: Science Literacy Collection 2: Beyond Magnets1 Week
- 4.8Lesson 5: How does the magnetic field change when we add another magnet to the system?1 Day
- 4.9Lesson 6: How can we use magnetic fields to explain interactions at a distance between the magnet and the coil?3 Days
- 4.10Reading: Science Literacy Collection 3: Gravity and Earth1 Week
- 4.11Lesson 7: How does changing the distance between two magnets affect the amount of energy transferred out of the field?1 Day
- 4.12Lesson 8: How does the energy transferred from a battery to a wire coil compare to the energy transferred from a computer to a speaker?3 Days
- 4.13Lesson 9: How do the magnet and the electromagnet work together to move the speaker?3 Days
- 4.14Reading: Science Literacy Collection 4: Noncontact Energy Transfer1 Week
- 4.15Lesson 10: How does distance affect the strength of force pairs in a magnetic field?3 Days
- 4.16Lesson 11: What else determines the strength of the force pairs between two magnets in a magnetic field?3 Days
- 4.17Reading: Science Literacy Collection 5: Magnetism and Bodies1 Week
- 4.18Lesson 12: What cause-effect relationships explain how magnetic forces at a distance make things work?2 Days
- 4.19Unit 3 words quiz: Forces at a Distance20 Minutes12 Questions
- Unit 4: Earth in Space23
- 5.1Reading: Science Literacy Preface: Put Yourself in This Scene1 Week
- 5.2Lesson 1: How are we connected to the patterns we see in the sky?4 Days
- 5.3Lesson 2: What patterns are happening in the sky that I have experienced and can observe (through models and tools)?1 Day
- 5.4Lesson 3: How can we explain the Sun’s path change over time?3 Days
- 5.5Lesson 4: How do these changes in sunlight impact us here on Earth?2 Days
- 5.6Reading: Science Literacy Collection 1: Sky Watching Since Days of Old1 Week
- 5.7Lesson 5: How can we explain phenomena like Manhattanhenge?1 Day
- 5.8Lesson 6: Why do we see the shape of the Moon change?2 Days
- 5.9Lesson 7: Why do we see eclipses and when do we see them?2 Days
- 5.10Reading: Science Literacy Collection 2: Reaching for the Moon1 Week
- 5.11Lesson 8: What does a lunar eclipse look like and how can we explain it?1 Day
- 5.12Lesson 9: Why do the Moon and Sun appear to change color near the horizon?1 Day
- 5.13Lesson 10: How does light interact with matter in the atmosphere?1 Day
- 5.14Lesson 11: How does the shape of a water droplet or an ice crystal cause sunlight to form into a rainbow?2 Days
- 5.15Reading: Science Literacy Collection 3: Imaging and Imagining Space1 Week
- 5.16Lesson 12: Why does the Moon always change color during a lunar eclipse?2 Days
- 5.17Lesson 13: What new patterns do we see when we look more closely at other objects in the sky?3 Days
- 5.18Reading: Science Literacy Collection 4: Space On-Screen1 Week
- 5.19Lesson 14: Why do some solar system objects orbit planets and others orbit the Sun?2 Days
- 5.20Lesson 15: How did the solar system get to be the way it is today?1 Day
- 5.21Lesson 16: What patterns and phenomena are beyond our solar system that we cannot see with just our eyes?1 Day
- 5.22Lesson 17: How are we connected to all of the systems in space beyond the planet we live on?2 Days
- 5.23Unit 4 words quiz: Earth in Space20 Minutes12 Questions
- Unit 5: Genetics24
- 6.1Reading: Science Literacy Preface: Put Yourself in This Scene1 Week
- 6.2Lesson 1: How do organisms get their differences?3 Days
- 6.3Lesson 2: How do extra-big muscles compare to typical ones up close?1 Day
- 6.4Lesson 3: How do diet and exercise affect muscle size?1 Day
- 6.5Reading: Science Literacy Collection 1: Muscles and Other Traits1 Week
- 6.6Lesson 4: What is different about the food and exercise for cattle with extra-big muscles?1 Day
- 6.7Lesson 5: Where do the babies with extra-big muscles get that trait variation?2 Days
- 6.8Lesson 6: How do chromosomes cause cattle to be born with extra-big muscles?2 Days
- 6.9Reading: Science Literacy Collection 2: Born or Built1 Week
- 6.10Lesson 7: How does an animal get extra-big muscles?2 Days
- 6.11Lesson 8: Why don’t offspring always look like their parents or their siblings?2 Days
- 6.12Lesson 9: How do farmers control the variation in their animals?2 Days
- 6.13Reading: Science Literacy Collection 3: Picking Parents1 Week
- 6.14Lesson 10: How can we use our model to explain a different trait variation?1 Day
- 6.15Lesson 11: How can we answer the rest of our questions?1 Day
- 6.16Lesson 12: Do plants have genetic material?1 Day
- 6.17Lesson 13: How do plants reproduce?2 Days
- 6.18Reading: Science Literacy Collection 4: Plants and Variation1 Week
- 6.19Lesson 14: (How) do other organisms reproduce without sperm and eggs?2 Days
- 6.20Lesson 15: How do we get variations if the genetic information is exactly the same?1 Day
- 6.21Lesson 16: How much of trait variation in a population is controlled by genes or by the environment?2 Days
- 6.22Reading: Science Literacy Collection 5: Making New Individuals1 Week
- 6.23Lesson 17: Why are living things different from one another?2 Days
- 6.24Unit 5 words quiz: Genetics20 Minutes12 Questions
- Unit 6: Natural Selection and Common Ancestry21
- 7.1Reading: Science Literacy Preface: Put Yourself in This Scene1 Week
- 7.2Lesson 1: How could penguins and other things living today be connected to the things that lived long ago?4 Days
- 7.3Lesson 2: How similar or different are different species of penguins?2 Days
- 7.4Lesson 3: How do the body structures of other ancient penguins compare to modern penguins?2 Days
- 7.5Lesson 4: Why are there similarities and differences in the body structures of modern and ancient penguins?2 Days
- 7.6Reading: Science Literacy Collection 1: Earth’s Long Life Story1 Week
- 7.7Lesson 5: How might other living things be connected to ancient organisms?2 Days
- 7.8Lesson 6: How could organisms living today be connected to organisms that lived long ago?2 Days
- 7.9Lesson 7: How do traits found in a population change over a shorter amount of time?3 Days
- 7.10Reading: Science Literacy Collection 2: Genes, Species, and Change1 Week
- 7.11Lesson 8: How can we model what is causing the changes in the populations happening across all our case studies?2 Days
- 7.12Lesson 9: How well does our General Model predict and explain the changes happening over time in a different population?2 Days
- 7.13Lesson 10: Why does our General Model tend to produce different outcomes in different environmental conditions?2 Days
- 7.14Reading: Science Literacy Collection 3: Selection and Survival1 Week
- 7.15Lesson 11: Can we use our General Model for Natural Selection to explain changes over time in green anole lizards?1 Day
- 7.16Lesson 12: Can our model explain changes over really long periods of time?2 Days
- 7.17Lesson 13: Can we apply the General Model for Natural Selection over millions of years to explain how all the ancient and modern penguins are connected?2 Days
- 7.18Reading: Science Literacy Collection 4: From Ancient to Modern Species1 Week
- 7.19Lesson 14: What do the patterns in embryo development tell us about how things living today could be connected to the things that lived long ago?2 Days
- 7.20Lesson 15: What can we explain now, and what questions do we still have?1 Day
- 7.21Unit 6 words quiz: Natural Selection and Common Ancestry20 Minutes12 Questions