SC8.1: In the context of unifying concepts and processes, students develop an understanding of scientific content through inquiry. Science is a dynamic process; concepts and content are best learned through inquiry and investigation. Concepts in Life Systems, Earth and Space Systems, and Physical Systems are taught within the context of the following Unifying Concepts and Processes of Science:

SC8.1.2: Reproduction and Heredity: Students describe reproduction as a characteristic of all living systems, which is essential to the continuation of species, and identify and interpret traits, patterns of inheritance, and the interaction between genetics and environment.

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

SC8.1.4: Diversity of Organisms: Students investigate the interconnectedness of organisms, identifying similarity and diversity of organisms through a classification system of hierarchical relationships and structural homologies.

Dichotomous Keys

SC8.1.5: Behavior and Adaptation: Students recognize behavior as a response of an organism to an internal or environmental stimulus and connect the characteristics and behaviors of an organism to biological adaptation.

Paramecium Homeostasis

SC8.1.6: Interrelationships of Populations and Ecosystems: Students illustrate populations of organisms and their interconnection within an ecosystem, identifying relationships among producers, consumers, and decomposers.

Food Chain
Forest Ecosystem

SC8.1.7: The Earth in the Solar System: Students describe Earth as the third planet in the Solar System and understand the effects of the sun as a major source of energy, gravitational forces, and motions of objects in the Solar System.

Comparing Earth and Venus
Gravity Pitch
Phases of the Moon
Solar System
Solar System Explorer

SC8.1.8: The Structure of the Earth System: Students examine the structure of the Earth, identifying layers of the Earth, considering plate movement and its effect, and recognizing landforms resulting from constructive and destructive forces.

Plate Tectonics

SC8.1.10: The Structure and Properties of Matter: Students identify characteristic properties of matter such as density, solubility, and boiling point and understand that elements are the basic components of matter.

Density

SC8.1.11: Physical and Chemical Changes in Matter: Students evaluate chemical and physical changes, recognizing that chemical change forms compounds with different properties and that physical change alters the appearance but not the composition of a substance.

Density Experiment: Slice and Dice

SC8.1.12: Forms and Uses of Energy: Students investigate energy as a property of substances in a variety of forms with a range of uses.

Energy Conversions

SC8.1.13: The Conservation of Matter and Energy: Students identify supporting evidence to explain conservation of matter and energy, indicating that matter or energy cannot be created or destroyed but is transferred from one object to another.

2D Collisions
Air Track
Energy Conversion in a System

SC8.1.14: Effects of Motions and Forces: Students describe motion of an object by position, direction, and speed, and identify the effects of force and inertia on an object.

Distance-Time Graphs
Distance-Time Graphs - Metric
Fan Cart Physics
Force and Fan Carts
Free Fall Tower
Free-Fall Laboratory
Measuring Motion