Grade 8 Science Vermont standards Standards

Earth's Place in the Universe

Develop and use a model of the Earth-sun-moon system to describe the cyclic patterns of lunar phases, eclipses of the sun and moon, and seasons.

Develop and use a model to describe the role of gravity in the motions within galaxies and the solar system.

Analyze and interpret data to determine scale properties of objects in the solar system.

Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence from rock strata for how the geologic time scale is used to organize Earth's 4.6-billion-year-old history.

Earth's Systems

Develop a model to describe the cycling of Earth's materials and the flow of energy that drives this process.

Construct an explanation based on evidence for how geoscience processes have changed Earth's surface at varying time and spatial scales.

Analyze and interpret data on the distribution of fossils and rocks, continental shapes, and seafloor structures to provide evidence of the past plate motions.

Develop a model to describe the cycling of water through Earth's systems driven by energy from the sun and the force of gravity.

Collect data to provide evidence for how the motions and complex interactions of air masses results in changes in weather conditions.

Develop and use a model to describe how unequal heating and rotation of the Earth cause patterns of atmospheric and oceanic circulation that determine regional climates.

Earth and Human Activity

Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for how the uneven distributions of Earth's mineral, energy, and groundwater resources are the result of past and current geoscience processes.

Analyze and interpret data on natural hazards to forecast future catastrophic events and inform the development of technologies to mitigate their effects.

Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment.

Construct an argument supported by evidence for how increases in human population and per-capita consumption of natural resources impact Earth's systems.

Ask questions to clarify evidence of the factors that have caused the rise in global temperatures over the past century.

Engineering Design

Define the criteria and constraints of a design problem with sufficient precision to ensure a successful solution, taking into account relevant scientific principles and potential impacts on people and the natural environment that may limit possible solutions.

Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.

Analyze data from tests to determine similarities and differences among several design solutions to identify the best characteristics of each that can be combined into a new solution to better meet the criteria for success.

Develop a model to generate data for iterative testing and modification of a proposed object, tool, or process such that an optimal design can be achieved.

From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes

Conduct an investigation to provide evidence that living things are made of cells, either one cell or many different numbers and types of cells.

Develop and use a model to describe the function of a cell as a whole and ways parts of cells contribute to the function.

Use argument supported by evidence for how the body is a system of interacting subsystems composed of groups of cells.

Use argument based on empirical evidence and scientific reasoning to support an explanation for how characteristic animal behaviors and specialized plant structures affect the probability of successful reproduction of animals and plants respectively.

Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for how environmental and genetic factors influence the growth of organisms.

Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for the role of photosynthesis in the cycling of matter and flow of energy into and out of organisms.

Develop a model to describe how food is rearranged through chemical reactions forming new molecules that support growth and/or release energy as this matter moves through an organism.

Gather and synthesize information that sensory receptors respond to stimuli by sending messages to the brain for immediate behavior or storage as memories.

Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics

Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for the effects of resource availability on organisms and populations of organisms in an ecosystem.

Construct an explanation that predicts patterns of interactions among organisms across multiple ecosystems.

Develop a model to describe the cycling of matter and flow of energy among living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem.

Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations.

Evaluate competing design solutions for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services.

Heredity: Inheritance and Variation of Traits

Develop and use a model to describe why structural changes to genes (mutations) located on chromosomes may affect proteins and may result in harmful, beneficial, or neutral effects to the structure and function of the organism.

Develop and use a model to describe why asexual reproduction results in offspring with identical genetic information and sexual reproduction results in offspring with genetic variation.

Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity

Analyze and interpret data for patterns in the fossil record that document the existence, diversity, extinction, and change of life forms throughout the history of life on Earth under the assumption that natural laws operate today as in the past.

Apply scientific ideas to construct an explanation for the anatomical similarities and differences among modern organisms and between modern and fossil organisms to infer evolutionary relationships.

Analyze displays of pictorial data to compare patterns of similarities in the embryological development across multiple species to identify relationships not evident in the fully formed anatomy.

Construct an explanation based on evidence that describes how genetic variations of traits in a population increase some individuals' probability of surviving and reproducing in a specific environment.

Gather and synthesize information about the technologies that have changed the way humans influence the inheritance of desired traits in organisms.

Use mathematical representations to support explanations of how natural selection may lead to increases and decreases of specific traits in populations over time.

Matter and Its Interactions

Develop models to describe the atomic composition of simple molecules and extended structures.

Analyze and interpret data on the properties of substances before and after the substances interact to determine if a chemical reaction has occurred.

Gather and make sense of information to describe that synthetic materials come from natural resources and impact society.

Develop a model that predicts and describes changes in particle motion, temperature, and state of a pure substance when thermal energy is added or removed.

Develop and use a model to describe how the total number of atoms does not change in a chemical reaction and thus mass is conserved.

Undertake a design project to construct, test, and modify a device that either releases or absorbs thermal energy by chemical processes.

Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions

Apply Newton's Third Law to design a solution to a problem involving the motion of two colliding objects.

Plan an investigation to provide evidence that the change in an object's motion depends on the sum of the forces on the object and the mass of the object.

Ask questions about data to determine the factors that affect the strength of electric and magnetic forces.

Construct and present arguments using evidence to support the claim that gravitational interactions are attractive and depend on the masses of interacting objects.

Conduct an investigation and evaluate the experimental design to provide evidence that fields exist between objects exerting forces on each other even though the objects are not in contact.

Energy

Construct and interpret graphical displays of data to describe the relationships of kinetic energy to the mass of an object and to the speed of an object.

Develop a model to describe that when the arrangement of objects interacting at a distance changes, different amounts of potential energy are stored in the system.

Apply scientific principles to design, construct, and test a device that either minimizes or maximizes thermal energy transfer.

Plan an investigation to determine the relationships among the energy transferred, the type of matter, the mass, and the change in the average kinetic energy of the particles as measured by the temperature of the sample.

Construct, use, and present arguments to support the claim that when the kinetic energy of an object changes, energy is transferred to or from the object.

Waves and Their Applications in Technologies for Information Transfer

Use mathematical representations to describe a simple model for waves that includes how the amplitude of a wave is related to the energy in a wave.

Develop and use a model to describe that waves are reflected, absorbed, or transmitted through various materials.

Integrate qualitative scientific and technical information to support the claim that digitized signals (sent as wave pulses) are a more reliable way to encode and transmit information.

Economics

Civics, Government and Society

Physical and Cultural Geography

History

Conducting Research

Research Plan

Hypothesis/Research Statement

Social and Historical Questioning

Inquiry

Students initiate an inquiry by…

Students show understanding of past, present and future time by…

Students interpret geography and solve geographic problems by…

Students show understanding of human interaction with the environment over time by…

Students analyze how and why cultures continue and change over time by…

Students act as citizens by…

Students show understanding of various forms of government by…

Students examine how different societies address issues of human interdependence by…

Students examine how access to various institutions affects justice, reward, and power by…

Students show an understanding of the interaction/interdependence between humans, the environment, and the economy by…

Students show understanding of the interconnectedness between government and the economy by…

Students develop a hypothesis, thesis, or research statement by…

Students make economic decisions as a consumer, producer, saver, investor, and citizen by…

Students design research by…

Students conduct research by…

Students develop reasonable explanations that support the research statement by…

Students make connections to research by…

Students communicate findings by…

Asking focusing and probing questions that will lead to independent research and incorporate concepts of personal, community, or global relevance (e.g., What are the causes of low voter turnout? What are the most effective ways to improve voter participation?).

Identifying why certain events are considered pivotal and how they cause us to reorder time (e.g., the explosion of the atom bomb and the beginning of the nuclear age; September 11, 2001).

Explaining transitions between eras that occurred over time (e.g. independence of African nations) as well as those that occurred as a result of a pivotal event (e.g., the invention of the automobile and the light bulb).

Identifying important events in the United States and/or world, and describing multiple causes and effects of those events.

Making predictions and/or decisions based on an understanding of the past and the present (e.g., after analyzing past events, determining what steps can impact the future).

Understanding a variety of calendars (e.g., Islamic, Jewish, Chinese) and reasons for their organizational structures (e.g., political, historic, religious).

Measuring and calculating calendar time by days, weeks, months, years, decades, centuries, and millennia (e.g., How long ago did people first come to North America?).

Interpreting data presented in time lines.

Constructing time lines of significant historical developments in the nation and world, designating appropriate equidistant intervals of time and recording events according to the order in which they occurred.

Identifying the beginning, middle, and end of an historical narrative or story.

Comparing and contrasting spatial patterns or landforms using geographic resources (e.g., comparing water usage between nations).

Using grid systems to locate places on maps and globes (e.g., longitude and latitude).

Identifying and using basic elements of a variety of maps.

Interpreting a variety of effective representations of the earth such as maps, globes, and photographs and project future changes (e.g., physical, political, topographic, computer generated, and special purpose maps).

Using absolute and relative location to identifying major mountain ranges, major rivers, and major climate and vegetation zones and the effects of these on settlement patterns (e.g., Appalachian Mountain's effect on westward movement; overgrazing; Palestinian/Israeli conflict).

Locating and using absolute and relative location, and explaining why selected cities are of historical and current importance (e.g., Palestine; Moscow).

Locating the physical, political, and cultural regions of the United States and the world (e.g., Sub-Sahara, Middle East, Eurasia).

Observing, comparing, and analyzing patterns of national, and global land use (e.g., agriculture, forestry, industry) to understand why particular locations are used for certain human activities.

Identifying characteristics of states, countries, and continents using resources such as landmarks, models, different kinds of maps, photographs, atlases, internet, video, reference materials, GIS and mental mapping.

Using information to make predictions about future migration.

Recognizing patterns of voluntary and involuntary migration in the U.S. and world.

Examining multiple factors in the interaction of humans and the environment (e.g., population size, farmland, and food production).

Evaluating different viewpoints regarding resource use in the U.S. and world (e.g., debating drilling for oil in a national wildlife refuge).

Generating information related to the impact of human activities on the physical environment (for example, through field studies, mapping, interviewing, and using scientific instruments) in order to draw conclusions and recommend actions (e.g., damming the Yangtze River).

Describing how human activity and technology have changed the environment in the U.S. and world for specific purposes (e.g., development of urban environments, genetic modification of crops, flood control, reforestation).

Identifying ways in which culture in the United States and the world has changed and may change in the future (e.g., the spread of Islam).

Analyzing how location and spatial patterns influence the spread of cultural traits (e.g., comparing clothing, food, religion/values, government, and art across four ancient cultures in relation to location).

Describing the contributions of various cultural groups to the world, both past and present.

Identifying and comparing expressions of culture in Vermont, the U.S., and the world through analysis of various modes of expression such as poems, songs, dances, stories, paintings, and photographs (e.g., identifying how the Japanese art of Gyotaku [fish printing] reflects history and culture).

Establishing rules and/or policies for a group, school, or community, and defending them (e.g., dress code policies, establishing a skate board park).

Demonstrating how identity stems from beliefs in and allegiance to shared political values and principles, and how these are similar and different to other peoples (e.g. Northern Ireland/Republic; socialism; capitalism).

Illustrating how individuals and groups have brought about change locally, nationally, or internationally (e.g., interview someone involved in civil union legislation).

Giving examples of ways in which political parties, campaigns, and elections provide opportunities for citizens to participate in the political process.

Explaining and critically evaluating views that are not one's own.

Explaining and defending their own point of view on issues that affect themselves and society, using information gained from reputable sources (e.g. communism vs. democracy; war vs. economic sanctions).

Identifying problems, proposing solutions, and considering the effects of a course of action in the local community, state, nation, or world.

Demonstrating positive interaction with group members (e.g., working with a group to design a lesson teaching younger students about rights and responsibilities).

Giving examples of ways people act as members of a global community (e.g., collecting used textbooks for countries in need).

Identifying the various ways people become citizens of the U.S. (e.g., birth, naturalization).

Comparing the rights and responsibilities of citizenship in another country to those of the U.S (e.g., after reading accounts of elections in news articles, compare voting rights)

Defining criteria for selecting leaders at the school, community, state, national and international levels.

Describing the basic principles of American democracy (e.g., right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; responsibility for the common good; equality of opportunity and equal protection of the law; freedom of speech and religion).

Identifying the basic functions, structures and purposes of governments within the United States.

Describing how government decisions impact and/or relate to their lives.

Identifying key documents on which U.S. laws are based and where to find them (e.g., Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, U.S. Constitution).

Describing how rules and laws are created (e.g., participating in a simulation about creating a new law).

Explaining ways in which conflicts can be resolved peacefully (e.g., assimilation /separatism; affirmative action; diplomacy).

Explaining conditions, actions, and motivations that contribute to tensions and/or conflict within and among individuals, communities, and nations (e.g., investigating the relationship between poverty and conflict).

Analyzing behaviors that foster global cooperation among groups and governments (e.g., lowering trade barriers).

Identifying examples of interdependence among states and nations (e.g., transportation systems).

Citing examples, both past and present, of how diversity has led to change. (e.g., immigration of Cubans into Miami).

Analyzing differences and similarities among people that arise from factors such as cultural, ethnic, racial, economic, and religious diversity, and describing their costs and benefits.

After examining issues from more than one perspective, defining and defending the rights and needs of others in the community, nation, and world (e.g. AIDS in Africa; One Child Policy in China; nuclear waste disposal).

Describing the purposes and functions of governmental and nongovernmental international organizations (e.g., the United Nations, NATO, International Red Cross, Amnesty International).

Analyzing how shared values and beliefs can maintain a subculture (e.g., political parties, religious groups).

Analyzing a current or historic issue related to human, rights, and explaining how the values of the time or place influenced the issue (e.g. Kosovo, China, Vietnam).

Identifying and describing examples of tensions between belief systems and government policies and laws, and identifying ways these tensions can be reduced (e.g., Gambling on reservations; neutrality of Switzerland; humanitarian aid).

Comparing how different groups gain or have been denied access to various institutions, and describing the impact this has had on these groups in the US and other countries (e.g., Property ownership for voting, ageism, access to education; affirmative action, due process, petition).

Drawing conclusions about how choices within an economic system affect the environment in the state, nation, and/or world (e.g., decisions to build "box" stores and new roads).

Examining how producers in the U.S. and/or world have used natural, human, and capital resources to produce goods and services, and predicting the long term effects of these uses (e.g., describing how the use of petroleum products will impact the production of hybrid vehicles; examining how the use of human resources in the U.S. has changed over time).

Explaining how goods and services around the world create economic interdependence between people in different places (e.g., writing a persuasive essay about the effects of importing oil, exporting labor, etc.).

Recognizing that a change in exchange rates changes the relative price of goods and services between two countries (e.g., track the cost in dollars of ordering a Big Mac in Paris over a three week period).

Recognizing that governments around the world create their own currency for use as money (e.g., examining foreign currency for cultural and political symbols).

Explaining the relationship between taxation and governmental goods and services in the U.S. and/or world (e.g., how much of the federal budget is devoted to international aid?).

Evaluating the costs and benefits of government economic programs to both individuals and groups (e.g., debate the pros and cons of welfare programs).

Identifying goods and services provided by local, state, national, and international governmental and/or nongovernmental organizations (e.g., Red Cross, UN peacekeeping efforts, etc.).

Predicting results, proposing a choice about a possible action, or exploring relationships between facts and/or concepts.

Analyzing factors involved in the production of a product or service (e.g., developing a business plan for community fundraising).

Analyzing influences on buying and saving (e.g., media, peers).

Examining the causes and long-term effects of people's needs and/or wants exceeding their available resources, and proposing possible solutions (e.g., examining long term effects of population issues in China and India).

Define and apply basic economic concepts such as supply and demand, price, market and/or opportunity cost in an investigation of a regional, national, or international economic question or problem (e.g., In Colombia, what could be an alternative agricultural product to coca?).

Determining possible ways to present data (e.g., PowerPoint, hypercard, report, graph, etc.).

Identifying tools and procedures needed for collecting, managing, and examining information, including a plan for citing sources (e.g., establishing a time line or schedule for research, identifying places to find possible sources).

Identifying the quality and quantity of information needed, including primary and secondary sources.

<ul><li>Referring to and following a detailed plan for an inquiry.</li><li>Locating relevant materials such as print, electronic, and human resources.</li><li>Applying criteria from the plan to analyze the quality and</li><li>quantity of information gathered (e.g., judging the accuracy of different accounts of the same event).</li><li>Describing evidence and recording observations using notecards, videotape, tape recorders, journals, or databases.</li><li>Revising the research plan and locating additional materials and/or information, as needed.</li><li>Citing sources.</li></ul>

<ul><li>Organizing and display information in a manner appropriate to the research statement through tables graphs, maps, dioramas, charts, narratives, posters timelines, models, simulations, and/or dramatizations. </li> <li>Determining the validity and reliability of the document or information.</li> <li>Choosing and using appropriate methods for interpreting information, such as comparing and contrasting, summarizing, illustrating, generalizing, sequencing, synthesizing, analyzing, and/or justifying (e.g., analyzing information to determine why two historical accounts of the same event might differ.)</li> <li>Revising explanations as necessary based on personal reflection, peer critique, expert opinion, etc.</li> </ul>

<ul><li>Formulating recommendations and/or making decisions based on evidence. </li> <li>Using their research results to support or refute the original research statement.</li> <li>Proposing solutions to problems based on their findings, and asking additional questions.</li> <li>Identifying problems or flaws with the research plan and suggesting improvements (e.g., identifying additional types of information that could strengthen an investigation).</li> <li>Proposing further investigations.</li></ul>

<ul><li>Developing and giving oral, written, or visual presentations for various audiences.</li> <li>Soliciting and responding to feedback.</li> <li>Pointing out possibilities for continued or further research.</li></ul>

Investigating and evaluating how events, people, and ideas (democracy, for example) have shaped the United States and the world, and hypothesizing how different influences could have led to different consequences (e.g., How did the ideals of Greek democracy impact the world? How has European colonialism influenced race relations in Africa?).

Describing ways that life in the United States and/or the world has both changed and stayed the same over time, and explaining why these changes have occurred (e.g., In what ways would the life of a teenager during the American Revolution be different from the life of a teenager today? What factors have contributed to these differences?).

Explaining differences between historic and present day objects in the United States and/or the world, and evaluating how the use of the object and the object itself changed over time (e.g., comparing modes of transportation used in past and present exploration in order to evaluate impact and the effects of those changes).

Identifying how technology can lead to a different interpretation of history (e.g., DNA evidence, forensic analysis of a battle site).

Evaluating attitudes, values, and behaviors of people in different historical contexts (e.g., examining how religious values have influenced historic events).

Evaluating the credibility of differing accounts of the same event(s) (e.g., account of the Revolutionary War from a colonist's perspective vs. British perspective; the bombing of Hiroshima from the perspective of a Japanese citizen vs. an American soldier).

Reading and interpreting historic maps.

Identifying different types of primary and secondary sources (for example, visual, literary, and musical sources), and evaluating the possible biases expressed in them (e.g., analyzing Paul Revere's engraving of the Boston Massacre).

Students connect the past with the present by…

Students show understanding of how humans interpret history by…