Biography

This course asks students to continue to develop a passion for science and to build on the skills they have learned in sixth and seventh grade. Students construct meaning about the chemical, biological, and physical world by exploring and testing their current ideas, making new discoveries, and presenting their findings to peers for discussion. In eighth grade students further expand their ability to design and construct a scientific investigation; gather, analyze, and interpret data; communicate scientific processes and explanations; construct scientific models based on data; think critically, logically, and creatively; and establish the relationship between evidence and reasoning. Students strengthen their writing skills and flex their capacity to defend theories with evidence, while developing their own concepts of quality work, building communication skills, and improving analyses through examination of one another’s ideas.

Students build upon the rich content knowledge and skills established in sixth and seventh grade to delve deeper into the world of science. Throughout our studies of chemical reactions and chemistry, immunology and infectious diseases, physics of motion and forces, students use the scientific method to test their ideas about the world around them. Students then construct theories, which are tested further, analyzed by their peers, and addressed in class discussions. They will also examine controversial scientific issues and develop their skills of argumentation through organized debates. Individual topics will vary based on the questions raised by the students. Students will end the year with Innovations, a unit that challenges students to design and build contraptions for a specific purpose while exploring the intricacies and importance of design-thinking and technology.