Syllabus

West Lyon Junior High 8th Grade Science!

This course provides students with the necessary knowledge and skills as an integrated science class. The concepts are Earth’s systems, Earth and human activity, ecosystem, matter and its interactions, motion and stability, forces and interactions, energy, waves, biological evolution, engineering design. The concepts are investigated through observing, collecting, summarizing, analyzing, and presenting the results of replicated scientific investigations for students to develop the appropriate skills in science as inquiry.

Given the Iowa teaching standards and the West Lyon curriculum, the objectives are understanding and applying skills used in scientific inquiry, the processes and skills of scientific inquiry, understanding changes in and around Earth. These objectives will be accomplished through classroom instruction, homework, laboratory activities, and testing.

Earth Science Topics/Outline:

Matter and Its Interactions

Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions

Energy

Waves and Their Applications

Earth’s System

Earth and Human Activity

Ecosystems

Biological Evolution

Engineering Design

West Lyon Junior High 7th Grade Science!

This course is designed for students to study living things in their world, through ecology and genetics. Students will learn how different forces interact, as well as the relationship between energy and forces. Students will learn how physical principles function in living systems. Students will learn Earth’s place in the universe. Students will learn to understand the scientific process, including investigation and experimentation.

Given the Iowa teaching standards and the West Lyon curriculum, the objectives are understanding and applying skills used in scientific inquiry, the processes and skills of scientific inquiry, analyze and interpret scientific information, concepts and relationships in ecosystems, inheritance and variation of traits, motion and stability, energy, Earth’s place in the universe. These objectives will be accomplished through classroom instruction, homework, laboratory activities, and testing.

Integrated Science Topics/Outline:

Motion & Stability: Forces and Interaction of forces

Energy: Relationship between energy and forces, energy transfer/conservation

Earth’s Place in the Universe

Ecosystems: Interaction, Energy, Dynamics

Heredity: Inheritance and Variation of Traits

Engineering Design