Grade 8 Curriculum


SCIENCE
This course attempts to understand matter through intensive investigation. Laboratory work is an integral part of the course. Some of the significant conclusions at which students arrive in the laboratory do not appear explicitly in the text. It is assumed that students have found laboratory facts or laws on which the subsequent sections of the text are based.

The laboratory instructions provide a minimum of directions and call students' attention to the important points in an experiment by raising questions. Sometimes the answers to these questions merely require thought; at other times further experimentation is needed. The students must decide what to do.

Experimental data are collected by teams of students working in the laboratory. Students then quantify these data, often in the form of tables, graphs, or histograms, from which they can draw generalizations. Students must also analyze the data using a variety of Systems tools.

A major part of this course is the development of critical thinking, and we devote much time to pre- and post-lab discussions and write-ups. We require students to rigorously prepare laboratory investigations prior to the actual experiment. This demands detailed and intensive reading, summation, and cross-checking of facts. Oftentimes students must examine science reference books located in the lab and school library for alternative opinions to a write-up.

We quiz students periodically on their level of lab preparation, as well as their understanding of an experiment's major theme. We check students' notebooks every day when lab work is assigned. Unit exams are given after each chapter in the text.

Nightly homework assignments may include laboratory write-ups, standardized questions found throughout the text, generalized essays on an experiment's observed results, mathematical problems dealing with mass/ratio propositions and constants, review of class lecture notes for an oral or written quiz the next day, and conclusion statements about a student's recorded data as compared to the theoretical ideal. The homework assignments vary with the units being discussed during the year. The text used is: Haber-Schaim, U., et al., Introductory Physical Science, sixth edition, Science Curriculum Inc., Belmont, Mass.

In addition to the above, the following teacher-developed units have been added to the curriculum:

1. Aerodynamics Unit - Students begin with a boomerang throwing contest. The unit continues until students have learned about lift, drag, thrust and gravity.

2. Physics of Motion Unit - Students experiment with cars rolling down a ramp to discover Newton's laws of motion and terms like acceleration, inertia and momentum. This unit is integrated with math classes. Systems models are also used in this unit.

3. Students write a research paper on an ecology related topic. In the spring, each student does additional research on their ecology topic and prepares a presentation for our annual "Ecology Fair."