Grade 8
The grade 8 program in the suggested sequence below progressively builds students’ abilities to meet all the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) grade-level performance expectations, as outlined by the NYC DOE, through a three-dimensional instructional sequence. The following is an overview of the sequence of units, a description of each unit’s phenomena and student role, and the NYP-12SLS addressed in them.
Scroll down to see the phenomenon, student role, and performance expectations by unit.
Sequence of units
- Geology on Mars
- Earth, Moon, and Sun
- Force and Motion
- Force and Motion Engineering Internship
- Magnetic Fields
- Light Waves
- Traits and Reproduction
- Natural Selection
- Evolutionary History
Geology on Mars
Analyzing data about landforms on Mars can provide evidence that Mars may have once been habitable.
As planetary geologists, students analyze data about geoscience processes on the surface of Mars, in order to decide whether Mars could have been habitable.
- ESS1-3: Scale in the Solar System
Earth, Moon, and Sun
An astrophotographer can only take pictures of specific features on the Moon at certain times.
Students play the role of student astronomers who must learn about the Earth, Moon, Sun system, including phases and eclipses, in order to advise an astrophotographer who is photographing Moon features.
- ESS1-1: Earth, Sun, Moon System
- ESS1-2: Gravity
- ESS1-3: Scale in the Solar System
Force and Motion
The asteroid sample-collecting pod failed to dock at the space station as planned.
As student physicists at the fictional Universal Space Agency, students must analyze what went wrong in a space station docking failure. To do so, they need to apply what they learn about forces, changes in motion, and collisions.
- PS2-1: Newton's 3rd Law (Equal and Opposite Forces)
- PS2-2: Sum of Forces
- PS3-1: Kinetic Energy: Mass and Speed
Force and Motion Engineering Internship
Designing emergency supply delivery pods with different structures can maintain the integrity of the supply pods and their contents.
As mechanical engineering interns, students apply ideas about force and motion, as well as engineering and design concepts, to design supply pods to be dropped in disaster areas.
- PS2-1: Newton's 3rd Law (Equal and Opposite Forces)
- PS2-2: Sum of Forces
- PS2-4: Gravity Depends on Mass
Magnetic Fields
During a test launch, a spacecraft traveled much faster than expected.
In their role as student physicists, students must analyze why the new magnet-driven space jet launcher is not working as expected. They apply ideas about non-touching forces and potential energy.
- PS2-4: Gravity Depends on Mass
- PS3-1: Kinetic Energy: Mass and Speed
- PS3-2: Potential energy
- PS3-5: Motion and Energy Transfer
- PS3-1: Kinetic Energy: Mass and Speed
- PS3-5: Motion and Energy Transfer
Light Waves
The rate of skin cancer is higher in Australia than in other parts of the world.
In their role as spectroscopists, students learn about light waves and how they interact with matter, and apply this knowledge to investigate Australia’s elevated skin cancer rate.
- PS4-1: Amplitude and Waves
- PS4-2: Waves Interact with Materials
- PS4-3: Digitized Signals and Waves
Traits and Reproduction
Darwin’s bark spider offspring have different silk flexibility traits, even though they have the same parents.
Working as student genetic researchers, students investigate the causes of surprising variation in spider silk flexibility. Students learn why organisms — even parents, offspring, and siblings — vary in their traits.
- LS1-4: Behaviors and Structures: Reproduction
- LS1-5: Growth
- LS3-1: Gene, Protein, Trait, and Mutations
- LS3-2: Sexual vs. Asexual Reproduction
- LS4-5: Artificial Selection and Genetic Engineering
Natural Selection
The newt population in Oregon State Park has become more poisonous over time.
In the role of biologists, students investigate how a population of rough-skinned newts in Oregon State Park become incredibly poisonous. They learn about variation, adaptation, and the mechanism of natural selection.
- LS3-1: Gene, Protein, Trait, and Mutations
- LS4-4: Genetic Variation in Populations
- LS4-5: Artificial Selection and Genetic Engineering
- LS4-6: Natural Selection
Evolutionary History
A mystery fossil at the Natural History Museum has similarities with both wolves and whales.
In the role of paleontologists, students investigate a fossil recently excavated in Egypt that could be more closely related to whales or to wolves. They learn how the fossil record helps provide evidence for evolutionary relationships.
- LS4-1: Fossils
- LS4-2: Comparative Anatomy
- LS4-3: Embryonic Development