8th Grade Pacing Guide

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This is based on California’s Grade 8 Integrated Science Storyline .

First Weeks

Week 1: Letter to Me , Mystery Bag Challenge

Week 2: Integrating Mindfulness Within the Classroom , The Science Behind a Growth Mindset

Week 3: Science Fact or Fiction? , Metric Conversions

Week 4: Interpreting Graphs

Week 5: Experimental Design & Lab Conclusions

Instructional Segment 1: Objects move & collide

Week 1: Describing Motion, Speed and Velocity, Acceleration

Week 2: Balanced vs Unbalanced Forces, Mass vs Weight, Types of Friction Comic, Bill Nye Friction Video Notes

Weeks 3-5: Newton’s 3 Laws of Motion, The Egg Cart Challenge , Study Guides & Extra Practice

Weeks 6-8: Marshmallow Towers , The Paper Roller Coaster Project

Week 9: Kinetic & Potential Energy, KE and PE Worksheet , Collisions Lab

Instructional Segment 2: Non-contact forces influence phenomena locally and in the solar system

Week 1: Understanding Scale: How to Visualize One Billion , Solar System to Scale

Weeks 2-3: Earth in Space Notes, Foucault Pendulum Lab, Reasons for the Seasons Lab

Week 4: Observing Patterns of Sun, Moon, and Stars’ Movement (Reading), Seasons Notes

Week 5: Simulating Moon Phases & Eclipses , Lunar Phases Station Lab, Eclipses Station Lab

Weeks 6-7: Tides Virtual Lab, Exploring Gravity in the Solar System (Reading)

Week 8: Pull of the Planets Lab, Formation of the Solar System (Reading)

Week 9: Build an Electromagnet Lab

Instructional Segment 3: Evolution explains life’s unity and diversity

Week 1: Geologic Time Period Travel Brochures , Index Fossils Activity

Week 2: Relative and Absolute Dating, The Half-Life of Pennies Lab

Week 3: Relative and Absolute Dating Quiz, The Great Fossil Find

Week 4: How Fossils Form, Earth’s Mass Extinctions

Week 5: Bird Beaks Lab, Natural Selection Notes, Darwin Natural Selection Game

Week 6: Design Your Own Animal, Is It Natural Selection?

Weeks 7-8: Fish or Mammals (Evidence of Evolution), Pigeonetics , NOVA Evolution Lab

Weeks 9-10: DNA Transcription and Translation, Gattaca (Movie)

Instructional Segment 4: Human activities help sustain biodiversity and ecosystem services in a changing world

Week 1: Socratic Seminars on Bioethics

Weeks 2-3: Biomimicry Research Project

Weeks 4-5: Ecological Footprint Calculator, Vanishing: The 6th Mass Extinction , The Martian (Movie)