STANDARD 5.1 ALL STUDENTS WILL LEARN TO IDENTIFY SYSTEMS OF INTERACTING COMPONENTS AND UNDERSTAND HOW THEIR INTERACTIONS COMBINE TO PRODUCE THE OVERALL BEHAVIOR OF THE SYSTEM.

Cumulative Progress Indicators

Building upon knowledge and skills gained in the preceding grades, by the end of Grade 8,
students:

*   Describe components of a system and how they influence one another.
*   Recognize that most systems are components of larger systems and that the output of one component can become the input to other components.
*   Disassemble and reassemble the components of a system, analyzing how they interact with each other.

STANDARD 5.2 ALL STUDENTS WILL DEVELOP PROBLEM-SOLVING, DECISION-MAKING, AND INQUIRY SKILLS REFLECTED BY FORMULATING USABLE QUESTIONS AND HYPOTHESES, PLANNING EXPERIMENTS, CONDUCTING SYSTEMATIC OBSERVATIONS, INTERPRETING AND ANALYZING DATA, DRAWING CONCLUSIONS, AND COMMUNICATING RESULTS.

Cumulative Progress Indicators

Building upon knowledge and skills gained in the preceding grades, by the end of Grade 8,
students:

*  Identify problems that can be solved by conducting experiments.
*  Collect and organize data to support the results of an experiment.
*  Communicate experimental findings using words, charts, graphs, pictures, and diagrams.
*  Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of claims, arguments, and data.
*  Assess the risks and benefits associated with alternative actions.

STANDARD 5.4 ALL STUDENTS WILL DEVELOP AN UNDERSTANDING OF TECHNOLOGY AS AN APPLICATION OF SCIENTIFIC PRINCIPLES.

Cumulative Progress Indicators

Building upon knowledge and skills gained in the preceding grades, by the end of Grade 8,
students:
*  Describe how tools of today are different from those of the past but may be modifications of ancient tools.
*  Describe how technology expands the ability of scientists and others to make measurements and observations.
*  Design and build simple mechanical devices to demonstrate scientific principles.
*  Explain how engineers and others apply scientific knowledge to solve practical problems.
*  Compare the advantages and disadvantages of alternative solutions to practical problems.
 

STANDARD 5.5 ALL STUDENTS WILL INTEGRATE MATHEMATICS AS A TOOL FOR
PROBLEM-SOLVING IN SCIENCE, AND AS A MEANS OF EXPRESSING AND/OR MODELING SCIENTIFIC THEORIES.

Cumulative Progress Indicators

Building upon knowledge and skills gained in the preceding grades, by the end of Grade 8,
students:

*  Recognize and comprehend the orders of magnitude associated with large and small physical quantities.
*  Express experimental data in several equivalent forms such as integers, fractions, decimals, and percents.
*  Infer mathematical relationships among variables using graphs, tables, and charts.
*  Express the output units of the calculation in terms of the input units.
*  Select appropriate measuring instruments based on the degree of precision needed.
*  Find the mean and median of a set of experimental data.

STANDARD 5.9  ALL STUDENTS WILL GAIN AN UNDERSTANDING OF NATURAL LAWS AS THEY APPLY TO MOTION, FORCES, AND ENERGY TRANSFORMATIONS.

Cumulative Progress Indicators

Building upon knowledge and skills gained in the preceding grades, by the end of Grade 8,
students:
 

*  Describe the various forms of energy, including heat, light, sound, chemical, nuclear,
mechanical, and electrical energy, and that energy can be transformed from one form to another.
*  Explain how heat flows through materials or across space from warmer objects to cooler ones until both objects are at the same temperature.
*  Explain that the sun is a major source of the earth's energy and that energy is emitted in various forms, including visible light, infrared and ultraviolet radiation.
*  Show how light is reflected, refracted, or absorbed when it interacts with matter and how colors appear as a result of this interaction.
* Show how vibrations in materials can generate waves which can transfer energy from
one place to another.
 

STANDARD 5.12 ALL STUDENTS WILL DEVELOP AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE ENVIRONMENT AS A SYSTEM OF INTERDEPENDENT COMPONENTS AFFECTED BY HUMAN ACTIVITY AND NATURAL PHENOMENA.
 

Cumulative Progress Indicators

Building upon knowledge and skills gained in the preceding grades, by the end of Grade 8,
students:

*  Evaluate the impact of personal and societal activities on the local and global environment.

*Compare and contrast practices that affect the use and management of natural resources.