How to learn Grade 8: Science

North Carolina academic standards: Science, Grade 8

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1. Earth and Human Activity · Understand the environmental implications associated with the various methods of obtaining, managing, and using energy resources.

1. Renewable vs non-renewable energy: Distinguish between renewable energy resources (solar, wind, hydroelectric, tidal, geothermal, biomass) and non-renewable resources (coal, oil, gas, nuclear), comparing their advantages, disadvantages, and environmental impacts
2. Earth's Atmosphere & CO2: Describe the composition of Earth's atmosphere (mainly nitrogen and oxygen, with small amounts of CO₂ and other gases), explain how human activity increases CO₂, and describe the impact on global climate
3. Human impact on environments: Use vocabulary for human impact on the environment — pollution, habitat destruction, deforestation, biodiversity, conservation, renewable energy, non-renewable energy, fossil fuel, carbon footprint, sustainability, endangered, extinct — and apply these when discussing environmental issues and human choices

2. Earth and Human Activity · Understand the reciprocal relationship between the hydrosphere and humans.

1. Biodiversity & Resilience: Explain what biodiversity means, why high biodiversity makes ecosystems more resilient, and describe the ways human activity threatens biodiversity (habitat destruction, pollution, invasive species, climate change)

3. Earth’s Systems · Understand the hydrosphere including freshwater, estuarine, ocean systems.

1. Ocean Ecosystems: Understand ocean ecosystems as interconnected systems where living things (producers, consumers, decomposers) and non-living factors (temperature, salinity, light, currents) all interact, and that changes to one part affect the whole system
2. Earth's atmosphere: Develop a model to describe ways the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere interact as connected Earth systems

4. Biological Evolution- Unity and Diversity · Understand the evolution of organisms over time based on evidence and processes.

1. How Natural Selection Works: Explain natural selection as the mechanism of evolution: heritable variation + competition for resources + differential survival and reproduction = change in allele frequency over generations
2. Evidence for Evolution: Describe the main types of evidence for evolution: the fossil record (change over time), comparative anatomy (homologous structures), and the geographic distribution of related species

5. Ecosystems- Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics · Understand how organisms interact with and respond to the biotic and abiotic factors in their environment.

1. Food Webs & Interdependence: Construct and interpret food webs showing the interdependence of organisms in an ecosystem, explaining how a change in one population affects others

6. From Molecules to Organisms- Structures and Processes · Understand the hazards caused by agents of diseases that affect living organisms.

1. Pathogens & the Immune System: Explain how pathogens (bacteria, viruses, and fungi) cause disease and describe how the immune system responds, including the roles of white blood cells (phagocytosis, antibody production) and the concept of immunity

7. Matter and its Interactions · Understand the properties of matter and changes that occur when matter interacts in open and closed systems.

1. Atoms, Elements & Compounds: Explain the differences between atoms, elements, and compounds; describe the simple Bohr model of the atom (nucleus with protons and neutrons, electrons in shells); and write and interpret chemical symbols and simple formulae
2. Physical vs Chemical Changes: Distinguish between physical changes (reversible, no new substances formed) and chemical changes (new substances formed, often irreversible), using conservation of mass to understand both types
3. Metals vs Non-Metals: Compare the physical and chemical properties of metals and non-metals, explaining metallic properties (malleability, lustre, conductivity) and how position in the periodic table predicts reactivity