8th Grade Science
Curriculum Document
2010-2011
Resources:
Technology
Labs
Activities
Videos
Simulations
Katie Sunseri
Designed: July, 2010
NELZ
Competency Goal 1: The learner will design and conduct investigations to demonstrate an understanding of scientific
inquiry.
OBJECTIVES
RESOURCES
1.01 Identify and create questions and hypotheses that
can be answered through scientific investigations.
Discovery Education: Hands on Lab – Food to Fuel
1.02 Develop appropriate experimental procedures for:
Discovery Education: Interactive Exploration – Properties of
Matter
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Given questions.
Student generated questions.
Science-class.net: Lab – Designing an Investigation
Science PowerPoints: The Basic Steps of the Scientific Method
1.03 Apply safety procedures in the laboratory and in
field studies:
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Recognize potential hazards.
Manipulate materials and equipment.
Conduct appropriate procedures
Discovery Education: Video – Safe Science – Lab Safety
Awareness
The Biology Corner: Lab Safety
1.04 Analyze variables in scientific investigations:
The Biology Corner: Activity – Controls and Variables
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Identify dependent and independent.
Use of a control.
Manipulate.
Describe relationships between.
Define operationally.
1.05 Analyze evidence to:
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Teachnet.com: Activity – Consumer Testing in the Classroom
Discovery Education: Video – Introduction to Representing and
Analyzing Data
Measurement.
Analysis of data.
Graphing.
Prediction models.
1.07 Prepare models and/or computer simulations to:
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Strange Matter: Interactive Exploration – “Improve Stuff”
Explain observations.
Make inferences and predictions.
Develop the relationship between evidence
and explanation.
1.06 Use mathematics to gather, organize, and present
quantitative data resulting from scientific
investigations:
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The Biology Corner: Lab – The Pendulum Project
Biology: The Scientific Method Information and Experiment
Test hypotheses.
Evaluate how data fit.
Make predictions.
Katie Sunseri
Designed: July, 2010
NELZ
1.08 Use oral and written language to:
The Biology Corner: Lap Report Template
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Communicate findings.
Defend conclusions of scientific
investigations.
Describe strengths and weaknesses of claims,
arguments, and/or data
The Biology Corner: Lab Report Rubric
1.09 Use technologies and information systems to:
Teachnet.com: Lab- Keeping Cool
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Research.
Gather and analyze data.
Visualize data.
Disseminate findings to others.
1.10 Analyze and evaluate information from a
scientifically literate viewpoint by reading, hearing,
and/or viewing:
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Internet-4-Classrooms: Lesson – Fast Food Fun
Science News: Magazine of the Society for Science and the
Public
Scientific text.
Articles.
Events in the popular press.
Competency Goal 2: The learner will demonstrate an understanding of technological design.
2.01 Explore evidence that "technology" has many
definitions.
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TeachersDomain.org: Video - Nanotechnology
Artifact or hardware.
Methodology or technique.
System of production.
Social-technical system.
2.02 Use information systems to:
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Identify scientific needs, human needs, or
problems that are subject to technological
solution.
Locate resources to obtain and test ideas.
National Engineers Week Foundation: Lab – “Mousetrap
Vehicle”
Lemelson Center: Interactive Exploration – “Invention at play”
Teachers Domain: Lab – Designing Balloon Cars
Katie Sunseri
Designed: July, 2010
NELZ
2.03 Evaluate technological designs for:
Science NetLinks: Designing a Space Station
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Application of scientific principles.
Risks and benefits.
Constraints of design.
Consistent testing protocols.
2.04 Apply tenets of technological design to make
informed consumer decisions about:
Science NetLinks: Lesson – Green Roof Design
Science NetLinks: Lesson- Communications Technologies
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Products.
Processes.
Systems.
Competency Goal 3: The learner will conduct investigations and utilize appropriate technologies and information systems to
build an understanding of the hydrosphere.
3.01 Analyze the unique properties of water including:
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Universal solvent.
Cohesion and adhesion.
Polarity.
Density and buoyancy.
Specific heat.
3.02 Explain the structure of the hydrosphere including:
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Water distribution on earth.
Local river basin.
Local water availability.
3.03 Evaluate evidence that Earth's oceans are a reservoir
of nutrients, minerals, dissolved gases, and life forms:
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Estuaries.
Marine ecosystems.
Upwelling.
Behavior of gases in the marine environment.
Value and sustainability of marine resources.
Deep ocean technology and understandings
gained.
3.04 Describe how terrestrial and aquatic food webs are
interconnected.
Discovery Education: Video – “How Stuff Works: Water”
Discovery Education: Video – “MythBusters: Walking on
Water”
USGS Science for a Changing World: Water Science For
Schools
Discovery Education: Video – “Our Wondrous Ocean: Planet
Water”
Discovery Education: Lesson – Water, Water Everywhere
Discovery Education: Video – “Estuaries”
Discovery Education: Video – “Production in Tropical and
Polar Regions”
Discovery Education: Video – “The food chain and
adaptations for defense” (Beneath: The Carribean)
Food Chains and Food Webs
Katie Sunseri
Designed: July, 2010
NELZ
3.05 Analyze hydrospheric data over time to predict the
health of a water system including:
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Temperature.
Dissolved oxygen.
pH.
Nitrates.
Turbidity.
Bio-indicators.
Exploring the Environment: Interactive Exploration – Water
Quality
Discovery Education: Interactive Exploration – “Breathing
Underwater”
3.06 Evaluate technologies and information systems used
to monitor the hydrosphere.
Eco- Connections: Online Module – Testing the Waters
3.07 Describe how humans affect the quality of water:
TeachersDomain.org: Video – Liquid Assets: Wastewater
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Point and non-point sources of water pollution
in North Carolina.
Possible effects of excess nutrients in North
Carolina waters.
Economic trade-offs.
Local water issues.
3.08 Recognize that the good health of environments and
organisms requires:
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Monitoring of the hydrosphere.
Water quality standards.
Methods of water treatment.
Maintaining safe water quality.
Stewardship
NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources:
Storm water and Runoff Pollution
Discovery Education: Video- Go Green : Waste Water
Prevention
Discovery Education: Video – Water Contamination
Discovery Education: Video – Ocean Contamination
Discovery Education: Video – The green earth club – Down the
drain
Competency Goal 4: The learner will conduct investigations and utilize technology and information systems to build an
understanding of chemistry.
4.01 Understand that both naturally occurring and
synthetic substances are chemicals.
4.02 Evaluate evidence that elements combine in a
multitude of ways to produce compounds that account for
all living and nonliving substances.
4.03 Explain how the periodic table is a model for:
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Classifying elements
Identifying the properties of elements
Discovery Education: Video – Bromine: Fighting Fire
Discovery Education: Reading – Labs Create Elements they
Have Never Seen Before
Discovery Education: Interactive Exploration – Molecules
and Compounds
Science-class.net: Presentation – Periodic Table Questions
Science-class.net: Periodic Table with pictures and words
Los Alamos National Laboratory: Interactive Periodic Table
Learner.org/ interactive: Periodic Table Web Lesson
Katie Sunseri
Designed: July, 2010
NELZ
4.04 Describe the suitability of materials for use in
technological design:
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Electrical Conductivity.
Density.
Magnetism.
Solubility.
Malleability.
4.05 Identify substances based on characteristic physical
properties:
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Density.
Boiling/Melting points.
Solubility.
Chemical reactivity.
Specific heat.
4.06 Describe and measure quantities related to
chemical/physical changes within a system:
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Temperature.
Volume.
Mass.
Precipitate.
Gas production.
4.07 Identify evidence supporting the law of conservation
of matter.
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Science-class.net: Lab – “Mystery Powders”
Science-class.net: Interactive Exploration: “What properties
do elements have?”
Science-class.net: Lab – Comparing Properties
Science-class.net: Lab – Properties of Matter
Discovery Education: Inquiry Problem – Atoms and
Elements
Discovery Education: Interactive Video – “States and
Properties of Matters”
Physical Sciences – Matter: Conservation of Matter Lab
During an ordinary chemical reaction matter
cannot be created or destroyed.
In a chemical reaction, the total mass of the
reactants equals the total mass of the products
mass of the products.
4.08 Identify evidence that some chemicals may contribute
to human health conditions including:
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Strange Matter: Interactive Exploration – “Transform
Stuff”
Strange Matter: Interactive Exploration – “Improve
Equipment”
Strange Matter: Interactive Exploration – “Crush Stuff”
Cancer.
Autoimmune disease.
Birth defects.
Heart disease.
Diabetes.
Learning and behavioral disorders.
Kidney disease.
Internet Activities: Heavy Metals Webquest
Discovery Education: Video – Pesticide Exposure: A Case
Study
ChemicalBodyBurden.org : Reading and Case Studies –
Body Burden
Katie Sunseri
Designed: July, 2010
NELZ

Asthma.
4.09 Describe factors that determine the effects a chemical
has on a living organism including:
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Exposure.
Potency.
Dose and the resultant concentration of chemical
in the organism.
Individual susceptibility.
Possible means to eliminate or reduce effects.
4.10 Describe risks and benefits of chemicals including:
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Medicines.
Food preservatives.
Crop yield.
Sanitation.
National Institute of Environment and Health Services:
Interactive Exploration: Chemicals, the Environment and
You
Discovery Education: Video- Toxic Chemicals
Discovery Education: Video - Radiation
Discovery Education: Video- Behind the News – Making
Medicines
Yahoo Health: Article – Dangerous Supplements
TraditionalOven.com: Nasty Food Additives
Eco- connections: Lesson – Household Hazards
Yale-New Haven Teacher Institute: Lesson – The RiskBenefit Factors Facing Our Environment
Competency Goal 5: The learner will conduct investigations and utilize appropriate technologies and information systems to
build an understanding of evidence of evolution in organisms and landforms.
5.01 Interpret ways in which rocks, fossils, and ice cores
record Earth's geologic history and the evolution of life
including:
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Geologic Time Scale.
Index Fossils.
Law of Superposition.
Unconformity.
Evidence for climate change.
Extinction of species.
Catastrophic events.
Discovery Education: Video – “Earth Science: The Basics:
Earth’s Geologic History”
Discovery Education: Reading – “The Golden Age of
Dinosours”
Discovery Education: Interactive Exploration – “A Whale of a
tale”
Discovery Education: Interactive Exploration – “Evidence of
Evolution”
Discovery Education: Video- “Fossils and the Study of
Evolution”
Discovery Education: Interactive Video- “Climate Changes”
Discovery Education: Video – “Polar Bear: Surviving in a
Changing Environment”
5.02 Correlate evolutionary theories and processes:
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Biological.
Geological.
Technological.
5.03 Examine evidence that the geologic evolution has had
significant global impact including:
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Distribution of living things.
Major geological events.
Mechanical and chemical weathering.
Exploring Earth: Interactive Exploration- What caused the K-T
mass extinction?
Exploring Earth: Interactive Exploration – What stories do
rocks tell?
Exploring Earth: Interactive Exploration – How can one
Volcano Change the World?
Discovery Education: Interactive Video- “Weathering and
Erosion”
Discovery Education: Interactive Exploration – “Forces that
shape the Earth”
Discovery Education: Interactive Simulation- “Beach Erosion”
Katie Sunseri
Designed: July, 2010
NELZ
5.04 Analyze satellite imagery as a method to monitor Earth
from space:
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Spectral analysis.
Reflectance curves.
5.05 Use maps, ground truthing and remote sensing to make
predictions regarding:
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Changes over time.
Land use.
Urban sprawl.
Resource management.
Exploring Earth – Interactive Exploration- How can getting
further away from Earth help us to see it more clearly?
Exploring Earth – Visualization – Examine Earth from a new
Perspective
Exploring Earth – Visualizations – Observe many
representations of a single place
Exploring Earth – Interactive Exploration – What
Environmental Changes can we see from satellites?
Exploring Earth – Visualization - Observe and Animation of an
Asteroid Impact on Earth
Competency Goal 6: The learner will conduct investigations, use models, simulations, and appropriate technologies and
information systems to build an understanding of cell theory.
6.01 Describe cell theory:
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All living things are composed of cells.
Cells provide structure and carry on major
functions to sustain life.
Some organisms are single cell; other organisms,
including humans, are multi-cellular.
Cell function is similar in all living things.
Discovery Education: Interactive Video – “Characteristics of
Cells”
Discovery Education: Video – “Introduction to Cells”
Discovery Education: Reading – “Formed for Function”
Discovery Education: Reading – “Some Tough Cells”
Glencoe Science: Webquest – “New Research on Cells”
6.02 Analyze structures, functions, and processes within
animal cells for:
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Capture and release of energy.
Feedback information.
Dispose of wastes.
Reproduction.
Movement.
Specialized needs.
6.03 Compare life functions of protists:
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Euglena.
Amoeba.
Paramecium.
Volvox
Cells Alive! Interactive Exploration – Eukaryotic Cells
Biology Corner: Activity – Cell City Analogy
Biology Corner: Interactive Exploration - Mitosis in Real Cells
Discovery Education: Video- “Organisms Found in Pond Water:
Protozoa”
Discovery Education: Interactive Exploration – “Oddballs”
Microscopy-UK.org: Interactive Exploration - A Virtual Pond
Dip
Middleschoolscience.com: Lab - Protists
Katie Sunseri
Designed: July, 2010
NELZ
6.04 Conclude that animal cells carry on complex chemical
processes to balance the needs of the organism.
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Cells grow and divide to produce more cells.
Cells take in nutrients to make the energy for the
work cells do.
Cells take in materials that a cell or an organism
needs.
Discovery Education: Video – “From Food to ATP”
Discovery Education: Reading – “Water: Too much of a good
thing”
Competency Goal 7: The learner will conduct investigations, use models, simulations, and appropriate technologies and
information systems to build an understanding of microbiology.
7.01 Compare and contrast microbes:
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Size, shape, structure.
Whether they are living cells
7.02 Describe diseases caused by microscopic biological
hazards including:
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Digital Learning Center for Microbial Ecology: Interactive
Exploration – “Microbe Zoo”
Viruses.
Bacteria.
Parasites.
Contagions.
Mutagens
National Institute of Environment and Health Services:
Interactive Exploration – Emerging and
Re-emerging Infectious Diseases
Cells Alive! Reading – Oh Goodness, my E. Coli has a Virus!
Cells Alive! Reading – Protozoan Parasites
7.03 Analyze data to determine trends or patterns to
determine how an infectious disease may spread including:
Against the Odds: Lesson – Preventing the Spread of Disease
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Carriers.
Vectors.
Conditions conducive to disease.
Calculate reproductive potential of bacteria.
Cells Alive! Reading – Bacteria Divide and Multiply
7.04 Evaluate the human attempt to reduce the risk of and
treatments for microbial infections including:
Glencoe Virtual Labs: “What Kills Germs?”
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Solutions with anti-microbial properties.
Antibiotic treatment.
Research
Cells Alive! Reading- How Penicillin Kills Bacteria
Cells Alive! Reading – Helicobacter Pylori
7.05 Investigate aspects of biotechnology including:
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Specific genetic information available.
Careers.
Economic benefits to North Carolina.
Ethical issues.
ActionBioScience.org: Article- The Human Genome Project
ActionBioScience.org: Article – Looking for Mr. or Ms. Right
Gene
ActionBioScience.org: Article – Ethical Issues in
Pharmacogenetics
Northwest Association for Biomedical Research: Case
Studies in BioEthics
Katie Sunseri
Designed: July, 2010
NELZ
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Impact for agriculture.
ActionBioScience.org: Article – The Debate over Genetically
Modified Foods
ActionBioscience.org: Article – The Ecological Impacts of
Agricultural Biotechnology
Interactive Notebook
Katie Sunseri
Designed: July, 2010
NELZ