Grade Eight

Physical Science.
Students begin the Electricity and Magnetism unit by detecting static charges with electroscopes and differentiating between static and current electricity. Students create, operate, and analyze circuits, assembling bulbs, batteries, wires, and switches. They also build galvanometers to detect the presence, direction, comparative amount, and conservation of current in series and parallel circuits. Students convert electrical to kinetic energy to operate a motor and complete the unit with activities using three-way and dimmer switches.

In the Matter and Change unit, young chemists hypothesize, test, record, and draw conclusions about the nature of matter. Students calculate liquid densities and apply filtration and evaporation to suspensions and solutions. They measure gas volumes and pressures to demonstrate Boyle’s law. Students investigate atomic structure and learn to read the Periodic Table. With three-dimensional models and corresponding chemical equations, students explore the covalent and ionic molecular bonds of compounds, including double bonds of fats. Then they conduct three experiments: a neutralization reaction between bases and acids, an oxidation reaction that produces rust, and a double replacement reaction to form a precipitate.

Students end grade eight with the Forces and Motion unit. The path of a tossed baseball, the flip of a coin, and the motion of a pendulum demonstrate the concepts of inertia, gravity, acceleration, mass, force, and momentum. As they explain their observations, students prove Newton’s three laws of motion. Students examine linear motion, including position, distance, displacement, speed, velocity, and acceleration. They investigate gravity and electromagnetism during pushes, pulls, impacts, and falls. Interaction and outcomes are represented graphically to help students think mathematically about their observations. Investigations of opposing forces and additive forces help students understand that force produces motion and momentum.

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