# Grade 8: Science

A course roadmap (science). Language: en. By @si. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0. 0 of 15 concepts ready. In the app: https://ai.page/roadmap/tn-sci-grade-8

Part of: [Tennessee: Science](https://ai.page/roadmap/tn-sci.md)

Goal: Tennessee academic standards: Science, Grade 8

## 1. Earth and Human Activity

- [How Tectonic Plates Move](https://ai.page/c/how-tectonic-plates-move/index.md): Understand that convection currents in the molten mantle drive the movement of rigid tectonic plates; distinguish between convergent (collision/subduction), divergent (spreading ridges), and transform (sliding) plate boundaries; explain why volcanoes, earthquakes, and mountain chains cluster at boundaries; introduce the Wilson cycle of supercontinent assembly and breakup

## 2. Earth's Systems

- [The Rock Cycle](https://ai.page/c/the-rock-cycle/index.md): Explain the rock cycle: how igneous rocks form from magma, sedimentary rocks from compressed sediment, and metamorphic rocks from heat and pressure, and how all rock types can transform into one another over geological time
- [Extinction & Rapid Change](https://ai.page/c/extinction-and-rapid-change/index.md): Explain how environmental change can outpace a species' ability to adapt through natural selection, leading to extinction, using historical and contemporary examples

## 3. Earth's Place in the Universe

- [Universal Gravitation](https://ai.page/c/universal-gravitation/index.md): Describe gravity as a universal attractive force between all masses, explain that orbital motion arises because gravity provides the centripetal force keeping objects in orbit, and compare gravitational field strengths on different planets
- [Galaxies and the universe](https://ai.page/c/galaxies-and-the-universe/index.md): Describe the scale of the universe, including the structure of galaxies, the position of the Sun in the Milky Way, and the use of light years as a unit of distance, and appreciate why space exploration requires enormous timescales

## 4. Biological Change: Unity and Diversity

- [How Natural Selection Works](https://ai.page/c/how-natural-selection-works/index.md): Explain natural selection as the mechanism of evolution: heritable variation + competition for resources + differential survival and reproduction = change in allele frequency over generations
- [Evidence for Evolution](https://ai.page/c/evidence-for-evolution/index.md): 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. Waves and Their Applications in Technologies for Information Transfer

- [Wave Properties & Types](https://ai.page/c/wave-properties-and-types/index.md): Describe waves in terms of amplitude, wavelength, frequency, and wave speed; distinguish transverse waves (oscillation perpendicular to direction of travel) from longitudinal waves (oscillation parallel); and use the wave equation v = fλ
- [Waves & Different Materials](https://ai.page/c/waves-and-different-materials/index.md): Explain how waves can be absorbed, transmitted, or reflected by different materials, and apply these interactions to explain colour perception, sight, communication technologies, and the effects of different surfaces on wave behaviour

## 6. Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions

- [Resultant Forces](https://ai.page/c/resultant-forces/index.md): Describe forces as vector quantities with both magnitude and direction, distinguish between balanced forces (zero resultant, no change in motion) and unbalanced forces (non-zero resultant, causes acceleration or deceleration)
- [Investigating Forces](https://ai.page/c/investigating-forces/index.md): Plan and carry out investigations into forces, including measuring force with a newton meter, investigating Hooke's Law, and collecting and interpreting motion data to test Newton's laws
- [Relative Motion](https://ai.page/c/relative-motion/index.md): Explain relative motion — how the apparent speed and direction of an object depends on the observer's own motion — using everyday examples such as trains and cars passing
- [Electromagnets](https://ai.page/c/electromagnets/index.md): Describe the magnetic effect of an electric current (a current-carrying wire produces a magnetic field), and investigate how the strength of an electromagnet depends on current, number of coil turns, and core material

## 7. Matter and Its Interactions

- [Where Elements Come From](https://ai.page/c/where-elements-come-from/index.md): Explain stellar nucleosynthesis: the Big Bang produced mainly hydrogen and helium; main-sequence fusion builds elements up to iron; and supernovae produce elements heavier than iron and scatter them into space — meaning the atoms in our bodies were forged in ancient stars
- [Atoms, Elements & Compounds](https://ai.page/c/atoms-elements-and-compounds/index.md): 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

## Health: 0 of 100

Of its 15 own concepts: 0 have an explanation, 0 have practice, 0 have a measurement question, 0 have a checked version.

Findings (each is a task for anyone's AI):

- How Tectonic Plates Move has no explanation yet
- The Rock Cycle has no explanation yet
- Extinction & Rapid Change comes before How Natural Selection Works, which it needs
- Extinction & Rapid Change has no explanation yet
- Universal Gravitation has no explanation yet
- Galaxies and the universe has no explanation yet
- How Natural Selection Works has no explanation yet
- Evidence for Evolution has no explanation yet
- Wave Properties & Types has no explanation yet
- Waves & Different Materials has no explanation yet
- Resultant Forces has no explanation yet
- Investigating Forces has no explanation yet
- Relative Motion has no explanation yet
- Electromagnets has no explanation yet
- Where Elements Come From has no explanation yet
- Atoms, Elements & Compounds has no explanation yet

Credit: The structure of Tennessee academic standards: Science (https://www.tn.gov/assets/entities/sbe/attachments/TNScienceStandards_FinalApproved.pdf); concepts from the Marble Skill Taxonomy (v1), © Generative Spark, Inc. (withmarble.com), text CC BY-SA 4.0, database ODbL 1.0: https://github.com/withmarbleapp/os-taxonomy, mapped to its standards by Marble.
