8th Grade
California/OUSD’s Guiding Concept for Grade 8: The processes that change Earth’s systems at different spatial scales today also cause changes in the past.
Students will focus on 5 of the 7 crosscutting concepts (CCCs) of Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) to bridge disciplinary boundaries, uniting core ideas throughout the field of science and engineering. The purpose of the CCCs is to help students deepen their understanding of the disciplinary core ideas (DCIs), and develop a coherent and scientifically based view of the world.
Patterns
Cause and Effect
System and System Models
Scale, Proportion, and Quantity
Stability and Change
The 5 units students will engage with in the adopted curriculum, FOSS, are:
FOSS Units Anchor phenomenon & Diving question for phenomenon
Heredity and Adaptation Biodiversity on Earth; How can we explain the diversity of life that has lived on Earth?
Electromagnetic Force Force interactions and effects; What is the relationship between magnetic and electric forces?
Gravity and Kinetic Energy Falling objects and collisions; How can we explain the motion of objects?
Waves Energy transfer by waves; How is energy transferred through waves?
Planetary Science Earth as an object in space; What is my cosmic address?
Heredity and Adaptation
This course begins to explore the anchor phenomenon of the biodiversity that exists on Earth. The driving question for this course is how can we explain the diversity of life that has lived on Earth? Single-celled archaea that live in incredibly saline pools, an extravagantly feathered bird that courts a mate with song and dance, a fungus that covers over a square mile of forest, nudibranchs that glide along the seafloor, a leopard seal that shoots through Antarctic waters in pursuit of a penguin. Life on Earth is a dizzying array of diversity. Yet all life, no matter the diversity, shares common characteristics. All life is cellular, depending upon cellular processes for survival. And all life shares a genetic organization based on DNA and RNA.
Electromagnetic Force
Electricity and magnetism are some of the most fascinating physics phenomena to study in a middle school classroom. Students will measure the force of invisible magnetic fields, learn to build a circuit, design an electromagnet, and explain the energy transfers that make it all possible. The anchor phenomena for this course are force interactions and effects. The driving question for the course is what is the relationship between magnetic and electric forces?
Gravity and Kinetic Energy
How does gravity cause objects to move? What happens to an object’s energy when it moves faster? What happens when moving objects collide? How can humans protect themselves in collisions? These are the fundamental physics questions explored by students in this course as they explore the anchor phenomena of falling objects and collisions.
190314_C_HA_Overview.pdf190314_C_EF_Overview.pdf190314_C_GKE_Overview.pdfWaves
The course proceeds from the most concrete observations, those of physical properties of mechanical waves, to the most abstract concepts, by which students develop a model of electromagnetic waves. Students will also delve into engineering applications and real-life connections along the way. Students leave this course with a greater appreciation and understanding of modern communications technology and a solid foundation for high school and college physics. The driving question for the course is how is energy transferred through waves?
Planetary Science
The FOSS Planetary Science Course focuses on the anchor phenomenon of Earth as an object in space. The driving question for the course is what is my cosmic address? Astronomy is the study of everything we can observe and imagine beyond Earth—the Moon, the Sun, the solar system, the Milky Way, and the vastness of the cosmos. Astronomers ask fundamental questions: When and where did the universe start? Why is it expanding? What is its destiny? Astronomers endeavor to answer these questions by determining the kinds and numbers of objects in the cosmos, their composition, their motions, and their interactions with one another. Because Earth is part of this ultimate system, the science of astronomy includes the study of our own planet.
190314_C_Waves_Overview.pdf190314_C_PS_OVERVIEW.pdfFOSS has many resources that are online (FOSS on ThinkLink). Here are some resources that we want to highlight to support unit/lesson planning.
For Student Talk, look at the FOSS Language Development Chapter. In addition, ask yourself the following questions:
What opportunities are there in the lesson plan for students to talk, and in service of what? What is the purpose of the talk? How does the curriculum suggest this talk be structured?
What are the language demands of this lesson? Which talk routine will enhance access to the language and content goals of the lesson?
Have my students used this talk routine before? How might I need to prepare them for the routines?
How will you give students feedback on how the talk went? What did we want students to say?
For Check for Understanding, look at the following resources:
FOSS Crosscutting Concepts Chapter for each grade
Portfolio Checklists for each unit
All of the embedded assessments have “What to Look For[s]” named in the teacher guides.
In addition, ask yourself the following questions:
What opportunities are there in the lesson plan for checking for understanding? What specifically will I be looking for in these checks?
How might I capture what I notice in the checks for understanding? How will I use the information to inform next moves?
What might be some common misconceptions students will have? How will I address them as they come up?
What partial responses might I get? What questions can I ask to take students from an “almost there” answer to a grade-level answer?
What will feedback to students look like? Will it be individual, to small groups, or to the whole class?
