8.3: Physical science focuses on science facts, concepts, principles, theories, and models that are important for all students to know, understand, and use.

8.3.1: develop an understanding of properties and changes of properties in matter.

8.3.1.A: Investigate and demonstrate that characteristic properties of substances (e.g., density, boiling point, and solubility) do not depend on the amount of the substance.

Density
Density Experiment: Slice and Dice
Density Laboratory
Density via Comparison
Determining Density via Water Displacement
Phases of Water
Solubility and Temperature

8.3.1.B: Observe, describe, and measure physical and chemical properties of matter

Density Experiment: Slice and Dice
Density Laboratory
Determining Density via Water Displacement
Mineral Identification
Mystery Powder Analysis

8.3.1.C: Explain that all matter is composed of elements which may combine in a variety of ways to form compounds.

Element Builder

8.3.1.D: Investigate and explain that in chemical reactions new properties are created and total mass is conserved.

Balancing Chemical Equations
Chemical Equation Balancing
Limiting Reactants

8.3.2: develop an understanding of motion and forces.

8.3.2.A: Investigate and describe the motion of an object by its position, direction of motion, and speed.

Atwood Machine
Distance-Time Graphs
Distance-Time and Velocity-Time Graphs
Uniform Circular Motion

8.3.2.B: Investigate and demonstrate that the speed and/or direction of an object changes when a force is applied to that object.

Atwood Machine
Charge Launcher
Force and Fan Carts
Roller Coaster Physics
Uniform Circular Motion

8.3.3: develop an understanding of the forms of energy and how energy is transferred.

8.3.3.B: Investigate and demonstrate how energy is transferred using simple machines.

Ants on a Slant (Inclined Plane)
Calorimetry Lab
Inclined Plane - Simple Machine
Levers
Pulley Lab
Pulleys
Torque and Moment of Inertia
Wheel and Axle

8.3.3.C: Investigate and describe how heat is transferred from a warmer object to a cooler object until both reach the same temperature.

Calorimetry Lab
Conduction and Convection
Heat Absorption
Herschel Experiment
Phase Changes

8.3.3.D: Investigate and describe the properties and transfer of sound energy.

Calorimetry Lab
Energy Conversions
Sound Beats and Sine Waves

8.3.3.E: Investigate and describe the transfer of energy from electrical and magnetic sources to different energy forms (e.g., heat, light, sound, and chemical).

Advanced Circuits
Energy Conversions
Magnetism

8.4: Life science focuses on science facts, concepts, principles, theories, and models that are important for all students to know, understand, and use.

8.4.1: develop an understanding of the structure and function in living systems.

8.4.1.A: Investigate and describe the levels of organizations: cells, tissues, organs, organ systems, whole organisms, and ecosystems.

Forest Ecosystem
Prairie Ecosystem

8.4.1.B: Investigate and demonstrate that all living things are composed of cells.

Cell Structure
Paramecium Homeostasis

8.4.1.C: Investigate and explain how cells sustain life through functions (e.g., growth and nutrition).

Cell Structure
Paramecium Homeostasis

8.4.1.D: Investigate and describe the specialized function performed by specialized cells (e.g., muscular and skeletal) in multi cellular organisms.

Cell Structure
Paramecium Homeostasis

8.4.2: develop an understanding of reproduction and heredity.

8.4.2.A: Investigate and describe how all organisms reproduce through sexual or asexual reproduction.

Cell Division
Flower Pollination

8.4.2.B: Investigate and describe that in many species, offspring receive hereditary information from the female (eggs) and male (sperm).

Chicken Genetics
Inheritance
Mouse Genetics (One Trait)
Mouse Genetics (Two Traits)

8.4.2.C: Investigate and explain that chromosomes contain genes which influence heredity.

Chicken Genetics
Human Karyotyping
Inheritance
Mouse Genetics (One Trait)
Mouse Genetics (Two Traits)

8.4.2.D: Investigate and describe the effects of inherited traits and environmental influences on an organism’s characteristics.

Chicken Genetics
Evolution: Mutation and Selection
Inheritance
Microevolution
Mouse Genetics (One Trait)
Mouse Genetics (Two Traits)
Natural Selection
Rainfall and Bird Beaks

8.4.3: develop an understanding of regulation and behavior.

8.4.3.B: Investigate and examine how an organism senses change in its internal or external environment and responds to keep conditions within a required range.

Pond Ecosystem

8.4.3.C: Investigate and explain how behavior is a response to internal and external stimuli determined by heredity and experience.

Human Homeostasis
Inheritance

8.4.3.D: Investigate and explain how an organism’s behavior evolves through environmental adaptation.

Evolution: Mutation and Selection
Natural Selection

8.4.4: develop an understanding of populations and ecosystems.

8.4.4.A: Investigate and describe that a population consists of all individuals of a species at a given place and time.

Food Chain
Forest Ecosystem
Prairie Ecosystem
Rabbit Population by Season

8.4.4.B: Investigate and analyze the living and nonliving factors that determine the number of organisms an ecosystem can support.

Food Chain
Rabbit Population by Season

8.4.4.C: Describe an organism by the function it serves in an ecosystem (e.g., producer, consumer, and decomposer).

Food Chain
Forest Ecosystem
Prairie Ecosystem

8.4.4.D: Investigate and explain how energy entering ecosystems as sunlight is transferred by producers into chemical energy through photosynthesis, and that energy then passes from organism to organism in food webs.

Food Chain
Forest Ecosystem
Interdependence of Plants and Animals
Photosynthesis Lab
Prairie Ecosystem

8.4.5: develop an understanding of diversity and adaptations of organisms.

8.4.5.A: Explain how internal structures, similarity of chemical processes, (e.g., photosynthesis and respiration) and evidence of common ancestry demonstrate unity among organisms.

Photosynthesis Lab
Pond Ecosystem

8.4.5.B: Investigate and explain how organisms adapt to living and nonliving factors in a biome.

Evolution: Mutation and Selection
Natural Selection

8.4.5.C: Investigate and explain how environmental changes created by nature and by humans may cause species extinction.

Natural Selection
Pond Ecosystem

8.5: Earth and space science focuses on science facts, concepts, principles, theories, and models that are important for all students to know, understand, and use.

8.5.1: develop an understanding of the structure of the earth.

8.5.1.D: Investigate and describe the water cycle.

Water Cycle

8.5.1.F: Investigate and describe the influence of topography, location, and oceans on climate.

Coastal Winds and Clouds
Seasons Around the World
Seasons in 3D
Seasons: Earth, Moon, and Sun
Seasons: Why do we have them?

8.5.2: develop an understanding of the earth's history.

8.5.2.A: Investigate and describe how earth processes that occur today (e.g., volcanism, weather, and erosion) are similar to those that occurred in the past.

Rock Cycle

8.5.2.B: Investigate and use the fossil record to provide evidence and explain how environmental conditions have changed.

Human Evolution - Skull Analysis

8.5.3: develop an understanding of the earth in the solar system.

8.5.3.A: Investigate and list the components of the solar system.

Rotation/Revolution of Venus and Earth
Solar System
Solar System Explorer

8.5.3.B: Investigate and describe the motion of objects in the solar system that support the concepts of day, year, eclipses, and phases of the moon.

2D Eclipse
3D Eclipse
Eclipse
Moon Phases
Moonrise, Moonset, and Phases
Phases of the Moon
Rotation/Revolution of Venus and Earth
Solar System
Solar System Explorer

8.5.3.C: Investigate and describe the influence of gravity on objects in the solar system.

Gravitational Force
Gravity Pitch
Orbital Motion - Kepler's Laws
Rotation/Revolution of Venus and Earth
Solar System
Tides

8.5.3.D: Investigate and describe the sun as the major source of energy that influences the atmosphere and the earth’s surface.

Energy Conversions
Food Chain
Herschel Experiment

8.5.3.E: Investigate and describe the effect of the tilt of the earth’s axis on seasons.

Seasons Around the World
Seasons in 3D
Seasons: Earth, Moon, and Sun
Seasons: Why do we have them?
Summer and Winter