SCIENCE BELLRINGERS
(ALSO SCIENCE REVIEW)
GRADE 8
1. Describe the Earth's layers in relation to density.
2. How do the divided plates in the Earth's upper mantle move? Describe the
processes of each.
3. What causes earthquakes? What causes volcanoes?
4. Define chemical weathering. Describe mechanical weathering.
5. Explain the process of weathering and decomposition.
6. What are the different types of rocks?
7. Explain the relationship between the different types of rocks to earthquakes and
volcanic activities.
8. Describe the various land forms.
9. Explain man-made and natural erosion.
10. Identify the types of coastal erosion. Identify the causes and effects.
11. Describe the topography of the ocean floor.
12. How do topographic features form above seal level? Below sea level?
13. Explain the water cycle. Explain the phases.
14. What is the relationship between photosynthesis and the water cycle?
15. Explain cloud formation.
16. Identify and explain the causes of severe weather.
17. How did animal species evolve over periods of time?
18. How is the Earth's past studied through fossils?
19. How do erosion and weathering affect the Earth?
20. Cite evidence that Earth's physical processes of weathering and erosion affect
landforms.
21. Identify the characteristics of the sun and other stars.
22. Describe the features of sun spots and other features of the sun.
23. Describe the way light and sound travel through space.
24. Describe the energy produced by the sun and other stars.
25. What are the chracteristics of each planet?
26. Distinguish and differentiate inner and outer planets and other minor members.
27. Describe the phenomena involved with the force of gravity.
28. Whcih principles of force of gravity keep planetary bodies in orbital paths?
29. What is meant by the statement that most objects in the solar system are in regular
and predictable motion?
30. Describe the characteristics of the different phases of the moon.
31. Describe the characteristics of solar/lunar eclipses.
32. What is the relationship of the motions of the Earth-moon-sun system to eclipses,
moon phases, tides, seasons, and their effects?
33. Explain the position of Earth and the relationship to the other planets and their
moons and other objects related to the sun.
34. How is the sun a source of energy?
35. How is the water cycle impacted by solar energy?
36. What is the effect of the water cycle on atmospheric pressure and heat
absorption?
37. How does the position of the sun cause a day, season, or year?
38. How do seasons result from variations in the amount of the sun's energy hitting
the surface, due to the tilt of the Earth's rotation on its axis?
39. How is the motion of the Earth and its position, with regard to the sun and the
moon, responsible for phases of the moon and chages of the seasons?
40. Compare and contrast space travel, past and present.
41. What is the history of the technology of heat shields and how have they been
affected by the sun's energy? (US SPACE PROGRAM)
42. Explain the time line depicting the use of reflecting and refracting telescopes to
the present use of radios and space telescopes.
43. Compare and contrast the abiotic and biotic factors in an ecosystem.
44. What two things do humans need to survive? How do people use resources to
supply those needs?
45. What impact does a natural disaster have on an ecosystem?
46. In what order did animals appear on Earth?
47. What limiting facts can influence carrying capacity?
48. How do limiting factors affect populations?
49. What is a pollutant? Identify forms of pollution.
50. Describe the effects that pollutants have on the environment (living and
nonliving).
51. Identify some natural and man-made methods of erosion.
52. Which human factors contribute to the extinction of species?
53. How do humans contribute to pollution problems?
54. What is the relationship of a food chain to a food web?
55. How does energy flow through an ecosystem?
56. What is the role of producers in an ecosystem? Consumers? Decomposers?
57. What is the origin anduse of renewable and nonrenewable resources?
58. What are some alternative sources of energy and their effects on the
environment?
59. How can energy be conserved?
60. Identify some materials that can be recycled.
61. Explain the water cycle in a system.
62. Explain the carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen cycles.
63. What are the effects of drugs and chemicals on humans and animals?
64. What is the effect of CO2 from automobiles, power plants, and factories on the
atmosphere?
65. What is the role of technology in extracting resources?
66. What are the long-term consequences of technological advances on the
destruction of living and nonliving things in the environment?
67. What is the relationship between the Mississsippi River, the building of deltas,
and soil types found in Louisiana?
68. Describe some agricultural practices as related to soil characteristics.
69. Identify types of soil erosion.
70. How have both natural and human influences caused the disappearance and
destruction of coastal wetlands in LA?
71. Identify, recognize, and define the parts of a cell.
72. What is the function of a cell membrane? Cell wall? Nucleus? Cytoplasm?
73. What are the life processes of the cell?
74. What is a food vacuole? Chloroplast? Contractile vacuole?
75. Describe the basic structure of plant and animal cells.
76. Define osmosis. Define diffusion.
77. How can organelles of plant cells be compared to animal cells?
78. Describe the growth and development of a seed plant.
79. Describe the growth and development of butterflies, tadpoles, etc.
80. How can photosynthesis and respiration be described as never-ending cycles?
81. What are the basic processes of photosynthesis and respiration? Why are they
important to life?
82. What are the parts and functions of the circulatory system?
83. What are the parts and function of the digestive system?
84. What are the parts and functions of the skeletal system?
85. What are the parts and function of the respiratory system?
86. Which factors affect the length and quality of life?
87. How does the body change with age?
88. What is the difference between communicable and non-communicable diseases?
Give examples of each.
89. Describe "mitosis."
90. Describe "meiosis."
91. What is the difference between mitosis in plants and animals?
92. What changes occur when a cell divides by mitosis and meiosis? What happens
to the chromosomes?
93. Which genes are located in the chromosome of the cell? What does the gene
contain?
94. How are heredity and traits passed from parents to offspring?
95. What is the outcome of the punnet square concerning distribution of parental
traits?
96. What are the characteristics of organisms as they relate to the five kingdoms?
97. What are the basic levels of classification.
98. Describe the basic levels of classification.
99. How is food and the food web interdependent?
100. How does energy move from one organism to another?
101. How do changes in one member of the food web impact the other members and
what are some of those changes?
102. What is the role of producers and consumers in a food chain?
103. What is the importance of organisms at each of the steps in the flow of energy
through ecosystems? (USE A FOOD PYRAMID MODEL)
104. How do habitats, populations, and communities relate to ecosystems? How do
they change over time?
105. What are different types of consumers? (Herivores, etc.)
106. What are scavengers and decomposers?
107. What are the characteristics of major forest and aquatic ecosystems?
108. What are some limiting factors for a population in the environment?
109. What is a habitat? Niche?
110. What are the basic needs of living things? How are they provided in an
ecosystem?
111. What features of plants and animals allow them to survive in a given
environment?
112. How do species acquire many of their unique characteristics?
113. How does a species need to change to adapt to a new environment?
114. How do the senses, nerves, and brain interact to make it possible for human
beings to cope with changes in their environment?
115. How does one group of organisms evolve into many different groups in
conjunction with environmental changes?
116. Name the three states of matter that substances can be grouped into?
117. Compare and contrast elements, compounds, mixtures.
118. Identify the structure of an atom.
119. What is the purpose of the periodic table?
120. What are the characteristics of acids and bases? How are indicators used?
121. Compare the characteristics of metals to nonmetals.
122. Describe the perpetual motion of atoms and molecules.
123. Define "concentrated." Define "dilute."
124. Define and give examples of "evaporation" and "boiling process."
125. Define "solvent" and "solute."
126. How would one classify substances as conductors or insulators?
127. What is a physical change? What is a chemical change?
128. Explain the Law of Conservation of Matter.
129. Which factors influence chemical reactions?
130. Identify elements and compounds found in common foods, clothing, household
materials, and automobiles.
131. Describe the motion of objects.
132. What are the different types of forces?
133. How is gravitaional force measured?
134. How can materials be classified as magnetic or nonmagnetic?
135. How would the acceleration of a falling object be calculated?
136. How do action and reaction affect the motion of objects?
137. What is the effect of forces on moving objects?
138. How can the speed of moving objects be calculated?
139. What are "balanced forces?" What are "unbalanced forces?"
140. How can unbalanced acting on an object change its speed or path of motion, or
both?
141. What evidence do we have that light is energy?
142. Give an example of heat and light occurring together.
143. What is the relationship among heat, light, sound, magnetism, and electricity?
What are the characteristics?
144. Describe energy transformation from one kind to another.
145. Explain the LAW OF CONSERVATION OF ENERGY.
146. How is vision and hearing a result of energy transfer?
147. Describe the colors in sunlight.
148. What are the uses of solar energy?
149. How is a beam of light reflected from the surface of a flat mirror?
150. How does a filter change the color of light that passes through it?
151. What happens when white light strikes particles?
152. What is the difference between objects that create light and those that reflect it?
153. Compare and contrast opaque, translucent, and transparent materials?
154. What is the behavior of light in terms of scattering, transmission, and
absorption?
155. Why do some objects absorb light while others reflect it?
156. How will light interact with the following matter?
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prisms
convex-concave lenses,
convex and concave mirrors
water
paper
smooth-rough surfaces
various filters
157. Define and give examples of evaporation and boiling processes.
158. What is the effect of heat on matter?
159. How are colors emitted from a flame related to temperature?
160. Describe electrical circuits that depict other types of energy.
161. How do electrical circuits provide a means of converting electrical energy into
heat, light, sound, chemical, or other forms of energy?
162. In chemical reactions, how is energy released or added to the system in the form
of heat, light, electrical, or mechanical energy?
163. What are energy sources and the effects of their use on the environment?