SEVENTH or EIGHTH GRADE SCIENCE

Physical Science

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Physical Science is a survey of the laws and theories that govern, and allow us to predict the behavior of the world around us.  Topics include the laws of motion, energy, electricity and magnetism, atoms and molecules, chemical reactions, light and sound.  The knowledge and skills learned in physical science will provide a foundation that is built upon in all the other science courses.

 

Seventh/Eighth Grade students will continue to utilize the scientific process skills including: observing, communicating, classifying, measuring, hypothesizing, and experimenting.

·        Design a scientific investigation to answer questions or test hypotheses.

·        Collect, organize and display sufficient data to support analysis.

·        Be able to graph data appropriately through line, bar, and pie graphs.

·        Be able to interpret data from various graphs

·        Be able to use modern technologies to sort and arrange data.

·        Summarize and analyze data including possible sources of error.

·        Explain results and offer reasonable and accurate interpretations and implications.

·        Construct appropriate graphs from data and develop quantitative statements about the relationships between variables.

·        Apply simple mathematic relationships to determine a missing quantity in a mathematic expression, given the two remaining terms (including speed = distance/time, density = mass/volume, force = pressure x area, volume = area x height).

·        Apply safe and appropriate abilities to manipulate materials, equipment, and technologies

 

 

 

 

 

Alaska Content Standards

 

Standard A.  A student should understand scientific facts, concepts, 

                        principles, and theories.

Standard B.  A student should possess and understand the skills of

                        scientific inquiry.

Standard C.  A student should understand the nature and history of

                        science.

Standard D.  A student should be apply scientific knowledge and skills

                        to make reasoned decisions about the use of science and

                        scientific innovations.

 

Alaska Science Performance Standards

 

A 1.  Students develop and used models to demonstrate how atoms and elements form molecules and compounds, and how properties such as density can be measured and compared.

A 2.  Students will explain changes that occur in physical and chemical properties of matter using a qualitative description of changes on a molecular level, including conservation of matter.

A 3.  Students will explain changes that occur in physical and chemical properties of matter using a qualitative description of changes on a molecular level, including conservation of matter.

A 4.  Students conduct research and make predictions about tides, weather, seasons, and phases of the moon and correlate these natural events to the motion of the Earth within our solar system.

A 5.  Students describe gravity as the force that governs orbital motion in the solar system and motion of the tides on the Earth, and describe light as radiation that travels in a straight line that can be reflected, refracted, or absorbed by matter.

A 6.  Students analyze how balanced and unbalanced forces act on familiar objects and predict or explain changes in motion that may (or may not) occur.

A 7.  Students use models to explain how large scale movements within the Earth’s interior cause changes on the Earth’s surface.

A 8a.  Students investigate common physical and chemical changes and the characteristics associated with each type of change, and relate these changes to simple rearrangements of atoms.

A 8b.  Students observe and describe energy changes that take place around them.

A 8c.  Students examine energy transfers and identify energy that is useful vs. energy that is unavailable.

A 9.  Students create an ecosystem and explain physical and chemical changes that take place as energy flows and matter cycles within that ecosystem.

A 10.  Students create models to describe the basic structure of plant and animal cells, how cells organize to form tissues, how tissues form organs, and how organs form organ systems within multicellular organisms.

A 11.  Students explain the similarities and differences between sexual and asexual reproduction in a variety of organisms.

A 12.  Students organize living organisms into groups based on an internal and external structure, reproductive style, and their place in the food web.

A 13.  Students use information found in the fossil record to provide evidence for the history of Earth and its changing life forms.

A 14a.  Students classify living organisms based on their position and function in a complex food web.

A 14b.  Students describe the interactions of individuals within a population.

A 14c.  Students predict how a shortage or excess of resources affect organisms in higher trophic levels.

A 15.  Students conduct research to learn how the local environment is used by a variety of competing interests including local plant and animal populations, individual families, the local community, and outside sources such as oil and mining companies, hunting groups, and tourists.

A 16.  Students describe how objects in one moving reference frame are perceived in reference to another moving reference frame. (classical relativity)

B 1.  Students hypothesize, make qualitative and quantitative observations, control experimental variables, interpret data; and use this information to explain everyday phenomena and make predictions

B 2.  Students use appropriate instruments, develop and design a controlled experiment, and conduct research.

B 3.  Students compare their work to the work of others to identify multiple paths that can be used to investigate a particular question.

B 4.  Students design an experiment through a collaborative process, describing individual ways to answer the question before coming to group consensus on the best experimental design.

B 5.  Students practice factual recording of experimental results and unbiased data collection.

B 6.  Students examine laboratory and community safety procedures, identify how an individual affects the safety of the group, and practice safe behavior in the classroom and laboratory.

C 1.  Students will make and record observations and be able to link those observations to known scientific concepts, principles and laws.

C 2.  Students conduct a series of experiments to demonstrate the reproducibility of scientific phenomena.

C 3.  Students describe how the local society, culture, history, and environment have affected the development of scientific knowledge.

C 4.  Students investigate the societal (non-scientific) belief of a community regarding a natural phenomenon.

C 5.  Students work in a team to observe, research, and study an issue related to their community and synthesize data derived from multiple perspectives.

C 6.  Students describe the steps in the development of a widely used technology (e.g., Teflon, sticky notes, nylon, penicillin, etc.)

C 7.  Students design concept webs that show how contributions across a variety of fields are used to produce inventions.

C 8.  Students show how acceptance of a new idea depends upon supporting evidence and how new ideas that conflict with beliefs or common sense are often resisted.

D 1.  Students research a local problem or issue and form a viewpoint that is supported by scientific evidence

D 2.  Students describe the unexpected effects, both positive and negative and short-and long-term, of a discovery, invention, or scientific breakthrough.

D 3.  Students identify a community problem or issue, collect information and secondary research, and propose a scientific solution.

D 4.  Students evaluate the scientific and societal impact of recent technologies.

D 5.  Students describe how public policy affects their lives and participate diplomatically in evidence-based discussions relating to their community.

D 6.  Students use scientific reasoning to design a solution to a problem or issue and evaluate the effectiveness of the solution.

 

 

COURSE CONTENT

 

Motion

·        Identify the role of energy in motion A.6,8,9;  B.1

·        Identify forms and sources of energy (e.g., light, heat, mechanical, nuclear, chemical)

·        Group examples of energy as either kinetic or potential

·        Demonstrate various energy movements (e.g. mechanical, heat, sound, light, electricity, and magnetism)

·        Demonstrate the role of motion in the particulate description of matter  A.6; B.1,3;

·        Summarize evidence that particles of matter move

·        Compare motion of particles in gas, liquid and solid

·        Generalize the effect of heat on the motion of particles

·        Design and conduct an experiment that illustrates the motion of particles (e.g., vanilla in a balloon, food coloring in water of different temperatures)

·        Describe the motion of an object based on its position, direction and speed   A.5,6; B.1

·        Apply Newton’s Laws of Motion to the way the world works A.4;  B. 1,2,3,4,5,6;  C. 1,2,4,8;  D.1,2;

·        Explain various motions using models  A.4,8;  B.1,2,3,4,5,6;  C.1,2,4,8;  D.1,2;

Forces

·        Demonstrate the result of forces A.5,6,8;  B.1,2,3;  C.2;  D.1;

·        Identify forces that result in motion

·        Investigate and measure propulsion, friction, gravity, and magnetism

·        Demonstrate and explain the effect of balanced and unbalanced forces

·        Measure and graph movement of an object to calculate velocity

Structure of Matter

·        Investigate the basic elements, compounds, and mixtures  A.1; B.1,6;

C. 1,2,4; D.1,2

·        Recognize that changes in mixtures affect the system  A.1; B.1,2; C.1,2,6,8; D.1,3

·        Discuss how mixtures change over time  A.1; B.1,4; C. 1, 2-6, 8; D.1,3

·        Examine the structure of the atom and know that it is composed of protons, neutrons, and electrons A.1;  B.1,3,6;  C.1,2;  D.1;

·        Examine how physical properties are affected by environmental influences  A.2,  B.1,3,5,6;  C.1,2,4,5,6,8;  D.1,2,3;

·        Know that substances have characteristic chemical properties such as pH and reactivity A.1,2,8;  B.1,2,3,5;  D.1;

Energy

·        Relate energy sources and transfers to heat and temperature A.6,9

·        Identify and describe sound changes in moving objects

·        Know that the sun is a major source of energy that emits wavelengths of visible light, infrared and ultraviolet radiation

·        Explain the conversion of one form of energy to another by applying knowledge of each form of energy

·        Explain the parts and functions in an electrical circuit

·        Heat/Thermal Energy A.6,9

·        Know that when fuel is consumed, most of the energy released becomes heat energy

·        Know that heat energy is also transferred between objects by radiation (radiation can travel through space)

·        Know that the sun is the major source of energy for phenomena on Earth’s surface; it powers winds, ocean currents, and the water cycle A.2,3,6;  B.1,4;  C.1,3,4,6,7;  D.1,3,6;

·        Know that solar energy reached Earth through radiation, mostly in the form of visible light A.5,6

Earth in the Solar System

·        Model changes in Earth’s surface A.3,4,7;  B.1,2;  C.1,2;  D.1;

·        Determine the factors involved in changing Earth’s surface (e.g., gravity, heat transfer, erosion, weathering, deposition)

·        Analyze evidence of geological change (e.g., fossils, strata, radioactive decay).

·        Determine events involved in changing Earth’s surface (e.g., earthquakes, volcanoes, floods)

·        Determine chances on Earth caused by climate variation A.14;  B.1,2,3,4;  C.1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8;  D.1;

·        Describe the difference between climate and weather

·        Explain how climatic changes have affected Earth’s history

·        Explain how climatic changes have affected Earth’s crust

·        Analyze the processes involved in rock formation A. 15;  B.1,2,3,4;  C. 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8;  D.1;

·        Diagram and explain the rock cycle

·        Correlate Earth processes to the rock cycle (e.g., volcanoes, erosion)

·        Categorize samples of rocks (e.g., sedimentary, metamorphic, igneous)

·        Model sedimentation and fossil formation

·        Evaluate the relationships between biological and Earth’s changes A.15;  B.1,2,3,4,5,6,7;  C.1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8;  D.1,2,3,4,5,6,7;

·        Describe succession after a volcano, earthquake, or landslide

·        Relate ocean up-welling of nutrients and growth or organisms

·        Research the impact of atmospheric changes on biological processes (e.g., global warming, carbon, cycle, acid rain, production of oxygen in atmosphere)

Chemical Bonds

·        Chemical Bonds

·        Describe the arrangement of electrons in an atom

·        Interpret the arrangement of electrons in terms of their energy

·        Explain the relationship between the arrangement of electrons in an atom and that atom’s location in the periodic table

·        Describe ionic and covalent bonds

·        Distinguish polar and nonpolar covalent bonds

·        Use chemical shorthand

Chemical Reactions

·        Chemical reactions are processes in which atoms are rearranged into different combinations of molecules  A.2,8;  B.1,2;  C.1,2,6,8;  D.1;

·        Describe how reactant atoms and molecules interact to form products with different chemical properties

·        Understand the idea of atoms explains the conservation of matter: in chemical reactions the number of atoms stays the same no matter how they are arranged, so their total mass stays the same

·        Know chemical reactions usually liberate heat or absorb heat

·        Describe physical processes include freezing and boiling, in which a material changes form with no chemical reaction

·        Determine whether a solution is acidic, basic or neutral

·        Determine whether a chemical reaction has occurred

·        Describe how to read and understand a balanced equation

·        Distinguish reactions that absorb energy from those that release energy

·        Describe and explain how to describe and measure the speed of a chemical reaction

·        Explain how chemical reactions can be speeded up or slowed down

Periodic Table

·        Know how to use the periodic table to identify elements in simple compounds A.1;  B.1,2,3;  C.1,5,6,7;  D.1;

·        Explain the composition of the periodic table A.1;  B.1,2,3;  C.1,5,6,7;  D.1;

·        Use the periodic table to obtain information A.1

·        Explain what the terms metal, nonmetal, and metalloid mean

·        Know each element has a specific number of protons in the nucleus (the atomic number) and each isotope of the element has a different but specific number of neutrons in the nucleus  A.1;  B.1,3,6;  C.1,2;  D.1;

·        Know substances can be classified by their properties, including their melting temperature, density, hardness, and thermal and electrical conductivity  A.1;  B.1,3,6;  C.1,2;  D.1;

Density and Buoyancy

·        Know density is mass per unit volume

·        Know how to calculate the density of substances (regular and irregular solids and liquids) from measurements of mass and volume

·        Know how to predict whether an object will float or sink

·        Explain Archimedes’ principle  A.2;  B.1,3,6;  C.1,4,8;  D.1;

·        Know the buoyant force on an object in a fluid is an upward force equal to the weight of the fluid the object has displaced

·        Explain Pascal’s principle

·        Demonstrate Bernoulli’s principle and explain how we use it A.4;  B.1;  C.1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8;  D.1,2;

World to Work

·        Survey parents on how they use science at home and at work

·        Develop questions to ask about job responsibilities in science related areas

·        Brainstorm a list of careers in science; research and report on these careers

·        Keep a daily assignment notebook

·        Do a self-evaluation on quarterly individual goals based on work habits, attendance, and attitudes

 

 

Textbook:
ISBN#:
Publisher:
Life's Structure & Function 0-07-825553-8 Glencoe
From Bacteria to Plants 0-07-825560-0 Glencoe
Human Body Systems 0-07-825574-0 Glencoe
Ecology 0-07-825588-0 Glencoe
Animal Diversity 0-07-825567-8 Glencoe
Intro to Physical Science 0-07-826880-x Glencoe