Grade 8 Science: how to help at home
What your child learns in Grade 8 science in the Prince Edward Island Curriculum, and simple things to try at home.
The Big Ideas this year
- Water Systems.
- Fluids.
- Optics.
- Cells, Tissues, Organs, and Systems.
Easy ways to practise science at home
- Turn everyday questions into investigations: “Which paper towel holds the most water?”
- Read a science news story together and ask what evidence it gives.
- Look up how a household machine works, such as a bike gear, a lamp or a fridge.
- Have your child draw and label a diagram of something they just learned.
What each unit covers
Water on Earth
Practises where water is found on Earth, how it moves through the water cycle and watersheds, and how people use and protect it.
Oceans, Currents & Climate
Practises features of the ocean, such as salinity, currents, waves and tides, and how oceans and large bodies of water affect climate and shape coastlines.
Viscosity & Flow
What viscosity is, how temperature and other factors change how fluids flow, and how to find a flow rate by dividing volume by time.
Density & Buoyancy
Calculating density from mass and volume, explaining why solids, liquids and gases differ in density using the particle theory, and predicting whether objects float or sink in different fluids.
Pressure & Pascal's Law
Why gases compress easily and liquids do not, how heating or compressing a fluid changes its pressure and volume, and how a hydraulic press uses Pascal's law to multiply a force.
Hydraulics & Pneumatics
How hydraulic systems (liquids) and pneumatic systems (compressed air) work, where each is used, and how valves, pumps and tubes in machines compare with the heart, lungs and blood vessels.
Fluids, Spills & Society
The benefits and risks of technologies that use fluids, such as pipelines and hydroelectric dams, how spills affect wildlife, the economy and communities (including Indigenous communities who rely on the land and water), and why cleanup is costly and difficult.
Light & Radiation
Wavelength and frequency, the electromagnetic spectrum from radio waves to gamma rays and what each is used for, reflection, refraction and colour, and staying safe from UV radiation.
How Light Behaves
Light as rays that travel in straight lines, how materials reflect, absorb or transmit it, the law of reflection and why light bends (refracts) between materials.
Lenses, Eyes & Optical Devices
How lenses form images, how the eye and a camera are alike, how microscopes and telescopes extended what scientists could see, and how technology helps vision and stores images.
Cells & Life Processes
The cell theory, what organelles do in plant and animal cells, how photosynthesis and respiration are connected, osmosis, and how cells form tissues, organs and organ systems.
Cells, Tissues & Organs
Why cells are the basic unit of life, how plant and animal cells differ, how materials move into and out of cells, and how cells form tissues, organs and systems. Includes working out microscope magnification.
Human Body Systems
The main jobs of the respiratory, circulatory, digestive, excretory and nervous systems, how they work together, and what affects healthy function, such as exercise and air quality.
Heart & Blood
The heart, blood vessels and blood, how the circulatory system delivers oxygen and removes waste, and how it helps the body stay in balance.
What the report card levels look like at home
- Beginning
- Just getting started with this idea. Short, regular practice with lots of support helps most.
- Approaching
- Understands parts of it and is building confidence. Keep practising the tricky parts.
- Meeting
- Has it! Mixed review now and then keeps it strong.
- Exceeding
- Applies it confidently, even in new or harder situations. Try challenge mode and real-life problems.
Your child’s teacher decides the level on the report card. Read the PEI report card guide.
Common questions
Turn everyday questions into investigations: “Which paper towel holds the most water?” Read a science news story together and ask what evidence it gives. Keep sessions short, about 10 to 15 minutes, and stop on a success.
The Prince Edward Island Curriculum Grade 8 science units include water on earth, oceans, currents & climate, viscosity & flow, density & buoyancy, pressure & pascal's law, hydraulics & pneumatics.
Free printable Grade 8 science practice sheet
Questions from every unit, with an answer key.