8th grade Science
9 units matched to the Arizona Academic Standards.
Focus areas
- Chemical reactions and identifying substances
- Waves and energy transfer
- Heredity, natural selection and Earth's history
Units
Unit 1
Chemical Reactions
Practices signs of chemical reactions, how properties change when new substances form, conservation of mass, and devices that release or absorb thermal energy through reactions.
Learning standard: 8.P1U1.1 · atoms rearranging in chemical reactions
Unit 2
Mixtures & Solutions
Telling pure substances from mixtures, mechanical mixtures from solutions, solutes and solvents, comparing concentration, and choosing separation methods like filtering, evaporation, magnets and distillation.
Learning standard: 8.P1U1.2 · identifying substances by their physical properties
Unit 3
Particles & Mixtures
The particle theory of matter, the states of matter, pure substances versus mixtures, and homogeneous versus heterogeneous mixtures.
Learning standard: 8.P1U1.2 · pure substances and mixtures, and how scientists tell them apart
Unit 4
Work, Energy & Efficiency
Using the scientific terms force, displacement, work, energy and efficiency, calculating work as force times displacement, finding efficiency, and how friction and design affect the energy lost from machines.
Learning standard: 8.P4U1.3 · how energy moves from one store to another
Unit 5
Light & Radiation
Wavelength and frequency, the electromagnetic spectrum from radio waves to gamma rays and what each is used for, reflection, refraction and color, and staying safe from UV radiation.
Learning standard: 8.P4U1.4 · wave properties and how waves interact with matter
Unit 6
Genes & Heredity
Practices how genes on chromosomes code for proteins that shape traits, how mutations can be harmful, helpful or neutral, and how sexual and asexual reproduction differ in passing on genes.
Learning standard: 8.L3U1.9; 8.L3U3.10 · genetic variation in offspring, and technology in genetic research
Unit 7
Natural Selection
Practices how variation in traits leads some individuals to survive and reproduce more, how populations change over generations, and how artificial selection works.
Learning standard: 8.L4U1.11; 8.L4U1.12 · natural selection and how new species arise
Unit 8
Earth's History & Fossils
Practices how rock layers are used to build Earth's 4.6-billion-year history, patterns in the fossil record, and anatomical and embryo evidence that living things share ancestors.
Learning standard: 8.E1U1.6 · the relative ages of rock layers and the fossils in them
Unit 9
Resources & Hazards
Why Earth's mineral, energy and water resources are spread unevenly, how scientists forecast natural hazards, and how using limited resources affects living things, with Arizona examples: copper, groundwater and Colorado River water, and monsoon forecasts.
Learning standard: 8.E1U3.7; 8.E1U3.8 · predicting natural hazards from data, and how using limited resources affects the biosphere
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