8th GRADE SCIENCE
SUMMER PACKET
DUE: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2016
NAME: ____________________________
PERIOD: _____ TEACHER: ___________
William Penn School District
Penn Wood Middle School
121 Summit Street, Darby, Pennsylvania 19023
Phone: 610-586-1804
Dear Parents/Guardians,
As we move towards summer vacation, it is imperative that the students do not forget the skills
they have acquired over the past year. We have prepared summer packets to ensure that their
Science skills remain strong over the summer so that they will be better prepared for the new
school year. This summer packet consists of 8 activities designed for your child to complete 1
activity a week for the course of 8 weeks. We will provide opportunities the first few days of
class for students to ask questions. The completed summer packet will be due to your child’s
Science teacher by Friday, September 9, 2016 and it will be counted as their first quiz grade.
Our department has taken the initiative to make changes to the Science curriculum in order to
meet the rigorous Science standards. We will be using the Integrated Science textbooks by
McGraw-Hill which will be age-appropriate and engaging so that students can build on their
prior knowledge and attain the necessary background to participate. All components and content
from the textbook are accessible online and your child will have access to all of this with their
personalized student login and password. We will be assigning homework assignments and
practice quizzes through this website. If online access is not available to you at home, our local
public libraries provide the general public free online access. If you would like a hard copy of
the textbook, please contact your child’s teacher in September to make arrangements.
In addition, to ensure that we are off to a great start, please have the following for both 7th and 8th
Grade Science:
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One (1) – 2 inch binder
One (1) – Marble-Composition Notebook
One (1) packet of 3-holed graphed paper
One (1) packet of loose-leaf paper
Two (2) highlighters (any color)
One (1) pack of Pencils
One (1) pack of Markers
One (1) pack of Colored pencils
One (1) Sharpener
One (1) bottle of hand soap
One (1) box of tissue
One (1) container of Clorox or Lysol wipes
Lastly, we believe that it is essential to build a strong parent-teacher relationship. We welcome
your questions, concerns, and suggestions throughout the school year. Please do not hesitate to
contact your child’s Science teacher throughout the school year. Once you receive your child’s
schedule and you would like to contact your child’s assigned Science teacher before the school
year, please feel free to do so. The following are the Science teacher’s emails:
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Michelle Beech – [email protected]
Susan Chan-Peter – [email protected]
Lauren Douglas – [email protected]
Mark Keeys – [email protected]
Michelle Pajerski – [email protected]
Thank you and we look forward to a wonderful year together.
Best,
Science Department
Standards of Measurement
Every type of measurement in the SI System has a BASE UNIT assigned to it and all other
measurements of that type are a variation of that base unit. By adding a prefix to the base unit we
change the meaning of the base unit and the size of our measurement.
For example in the Imperial System of measurement that we are used to using, the measurements
of distance we had to commit to memory the meanings of INCHES, FOOT, YARD, MILES,
and LEAGUES. To measure volume, you had to remember the difference between, FUILD
OUNCES, CUPS, PINTS, QUARTS, and GALLONS. For measuring mass, you had to know
OUNCES, POUNDS, and TONS.
However, in the SI System you only have to remember the METER, LITER, and GRAM and
what happens to them when you attach one of the standard prefixes to it. (The same prefixes will
be used for all measurements; distance, volume, and mass).
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1 Mega (M) = 1 million = 1,000,000
1 kilo (k) = 1 thousand = 1,000
1 unit
1 deci (d) = 1 tenth = 0.1
1 centi (c) = 1 one-hundredth = 0.01
1 milli (m) = 1 one-thousandth = 0.001
1 micro (μ) = 1 one-millionth = 0.000001
Activity 1 – Circle the larger unit in each pair of units:
1. millimeter or kilometer
4. Centimeter or millimeter
2. decimeter or centimeter
5. Megagram or kilogram
3. gram or decigram
6. Milligram or kilogram
Chemical Changes
A chemical change occurs when one or more substances change into new substances with new
properties. There are several clues that a chemical change has taken place such as bubbling,
fizzing, color change, and a change in temperature.
Activity 2 – Baking soda and Vinegar
Materials:
 Clear container such as drinking glass or cup
 1 tbsp of baking soda
 ½ cup of white vinegar
Procedure:
*Note: It is best to do this experiment in a sink because the reaction can make quite a mess!
1. Describe the physical properties of each substance BEFORE you mix them together.
Physical properties describe how a substance looks (color), its state (solid, liquid, or
gas), its texture (smooth or rough), and its smell (or lack thereof).
Baking Soda
Vinegar
2. Put 1 tbsp of baking soda in the cup. Carefully add ½ cup of vinegar and describe what
happens.
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Analysis:
1. What clues that a chemical change took place did you observe?
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2. What change in temperature do you notice after the reaction finished?
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Extension:
1. What other questions or experiments could you investigate using these materials?
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Activity 3 – The Rusty Nail
Rust (Fe2O3) forms when iron (Fe) reacts with oxygen (O). There are many ways an object can
become rusty. Your challenge is to cause the most rust to form on an iron object such as a nail.
You will need to list all additional materials that you used and describe the procedure you used
to make your nails rusty.
Materials:
 3 metal nails
 ______________________
 ______________________
 ______________________
 ______________________
Describe the procedure you used to make your nails rusty:
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Analysis
1. What causes the most rust to form on a nail?
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2. Where does the rust come from?
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Gravity
Gravity is a force that pulls things down. When you jump, gravity pulls you down. When you
throw a ball, gravity eventually causes it to fall to the ground. Gravity is what keeps the moon
in orbit around the Earth and the Earth in orbit around the sun. But does gravity pull on all
things equally?
Activity 4 – Gravity Drop
Materials: ***Please don’t use breakable objects!!!
Objects of different sizes and masses such as a piece of paper, a book, a paper clip, a
basketball, etc.
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 ______________________
 ______________________
 ______________________
Procedure:
1. Hold two different items at the same height above the ground (shoulder height works
well).
2. Drop both items at the same time and observe which hits the ground first.
3. Experiment with dropping items of different sizes and masses at the same time and
observe which objects hit the ground first.
4. Extension: Try dropping the items from different heights. How does the height affect
which objects hit the ground first?
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Analysis:
1. Did all of the objects fall at the same speed? Propose an idea to explain why or why not.
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Newton’s Laws/Inertia
Sir Isaac Newton’s 3 Laws of Motion apply to any object in motion, including you. They
explain how and why things move (or don’t move). In this activity, you’ll be observing the
motion of a ball as it rolls around on a moving object.
Activity 5 – Inertia
Materials:
 1 small ball (ex: tennis ball, golf ball, etc.)
 Car with an adult driver
Procedure:
***CAUTION!!! Only perform this experiment under adult supervision. Use common
sense and good judgment when following these procedures.
1. Place the ball on the floor of the passenger side or back seat of a stopped car. The ball
should be at rest when the car is at rest. DO NOT ALLOW THE BALL TO ROLL
ONTO THE FLOOR OF THE DRIVER’S SIDE!
2. Observe the motion of the ball as the car moves. Complete the questions below:
a. Which way does the ball roll when the car moves forward?
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b. Which way does the ball roll when the car moves backward?
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c. Which way does the ball roll when the car turns right?
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d. Which way does the ball roll when the car turns left?
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e. Which way does the ball roll when the car stops?
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Magnetism
Magnetism is one of those forces that is easy to overlook and easy to take for granted. In
addition to sticking papers to our refrigerators, magnets are responsible for allowing speakers to
produce sound and for generating nearly all of the electricity we use every day. In this activity
you will be determining what kinds of objects are magnetic and non-magnetic.
Activity 6 – Magnetic or Not?
Materials:
 1 refrigerator magnet
Procedures:
1. Use the refrigerator magnet to make a list of things that are magnetic (attracted to the
magnet) and non-magnetic (not attracted to the magnet).
Magnetic
Non-magnetic
Analysis:
1. What do all of the materials that were magnetic have in common?
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2. What do all of the materials that were non-magnetic have in common?
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Identifying Controls and Variables
An experiment that has 2 set-ups:
1) Experimental Group (Only ONE independent variable is changed)
2) Control Group (No variables are changed)
Control (Control groups)
 A test group that does not have any variables changed (Kept at “normal”
conditions)
 Why have a Control Group?
a. It is used as a standard for comparison with experimental group
b. To see what would happen “naturally”
VARIABLE: Any factor that could change in the experiment
ALL VARIABLES MUST BE DESECRIBED WITH AT LEAST TWO WORDS!!!!!
Independent Variable (IV)
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Also Known As
Variable that causes the change
The variable that is manipulated by the scientist
What is being tested
Found on the x-axis of a graph
Manipulated Variable
Dependent Variable (DV)
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The effect of the independent variable
The variable that is being observed and measured
The data that is collected (results)
Found on the y-axis of graph
Variables Held Constant (VHC)
 Factors that are not changed in the experiment (stay the same)
 Allows only one variable to be tested
 Should NOT BE the independent or dependent variable
Also Known As
Responding Variable
Activity 7 – Answer the Following Questions
Smithers thinks that a
special juice will increase the
productivity of workers. He
creates two groups of 50
workers each and assigns
each group the same task (in this case, they're
supposed to staple a set of papers). Group A is
given the special juice to drink while they work.
Group B is not given the special juice. After an
hour, Smithers counts how many stacks of
papers each group has made. Group A made
1,587 stacks, Group B made 2,113 stacks.
Identify the:
Homer notices that his
shower is covered in a
strange green slime. His
friend Barney tells him
that coconut juice will get
rid of the green slime.
Homer decides to check this out by
spraying half of the shower with coconut
juice. He sprays the other half of the
shower with water. After 3 days of
"treatment" there is no change in the
appearance of the green slime on either
side of the shower.
6. What was the initial
observation?
1. Control Group
2. Independent Variable
3. Dependent Variable
4. What should Smithers'
conclusion be?
5. How could this experiment be
improved?
7. Control Group
8. Independent Variable
9. Dependent Variable
10. What should Homer's
conclusion be?
Lab Safety
Activity 8 – List as many PROPER and IMPROPER lab procedures as you can in
this picture
PROPER Lab Procedures
IMPROPER Lab Procedures