Grade 8: Science Essential Learning Outcomes FINAL REVISED 5-15
Students will be able to... / I can...
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Trimester One
Identify some of the limiting biotic and abiotic factors and interactions in the environment that can affect population size.
Explain how organisms must adapt to changes over time in their ecosystem in order to live and reproduce.
Distinguish between the various cycles of matter and energy in an ecosystem.
Identify a cause and predict possible effects of human resource use in the environment.
Construct an argument concerning a contemporary environmental issue and support your position using supplementary
informational text for evidence.
Apply the knowledge, skills, and application of tools and equipment to perform scientific investigations.
Trimester Two
Measure and graphically describe the motion of objects in terms of speed, velocity, and acceleration.
Predict, measure, and analyze the motion of objects and the forces acting on the objects according to Newton’s Laws.
Investigate the nature of energy in its different forms, and model how it can be transformed and conserved.
Model the components of a mechanical wave and explain how changes in energy can affect a wave.
Describe the changes in the characteristics of waves throughout the electromagnetic spectrum.
Demonstrate knowledge both of simple machines and scientific work as they relate to both potential and kinetic energy.
Trimester Three
Compare and contrast the physical and chemical properties of matter including changes it can undergo.
Recognize how changes in molecular movement are the result of temperature and/or pressure changes.
Use the atomic structure of elements, molecules, and compounds to predict some chemical properties of substances.
Explain that a chemical change is a chemical reaction that can be written as a chemical equation where the total
number of atoms interacting does not change.