Fresno Unified School District

Eighth Grade Course of Study

(REVISION IN PROCESS - PLEASE CONTACT SCIENCE OFFICE FOR INFORMATION)

FUSD Grade Eight Science Course of Study

The California Science Content Standards include Earth Science, Life Science, and Physical Science.    In the middle school grades students should have developed and enhanced their formal reasoning abilities that reflect science as a way of knowing, and acquiring new science content knowledge.   In grade 6-8 they connect concrete observations of a rich array of phenomena and unify models that help to simplify the ever-expanding body of science content knowledge. Students in grade eight study topics in physical sciences, such as motion, forces, and the structure of matter, by using a quantitative, mathematically based approach similar to the procedures they will use in high school.

Earth, the solar system, chemical reactions, the chemistry of biological processes, the periodic table, and density and buoyancy are additional topics that will be treated with increased mathematical rigor, again in anticipation of high school courses. Students should begin to grasp four concepts that help to unify physical sciences: force and energy; the laws of conservation; atoms, molecules, and the atomic theory; and kinetic theory. Those concepts serve as important organizers that will be required as students continue to learn science.

Although much of the science called for in the standards is considered “classical” physics and chemistry, it should provide a powerful basis for understanding modern science and serve students as well as adults. Mastery of the eighth-grade physical sciences content will greatly enhance the ability of students to succeed in high school science classes. Modern molecular biology and earth sciences, as well as chemistry and physics, require that students have a good understanding of the basics of physical science.