Physical Science Course Description:

8th grade Physical Science is a full-year course that investigates the fundamentals of Physics and Chemistry. Physical science is a branch of natural science that studies non-living systems, in contrast to life science. This course focuses on providing students with hands-on activities connecting with real world experiences to create opportunities for individual and group discovery through cooperative experiential learning, internet research, laboratory investigation and projects-based learning.

Physical Science Course Outline:

 Students should expect to find the curriculum rigorous and engaging as the course will include collaborative work, project-based learning. Throughout this school year, students will learn about: 

• Force and Motion

  • Newton's Law of Motion
  • Speed and Velocity
  • Acceleration
  • Measuring Speed and Velocity
  • Friction
  • Mass and Weight
  • Gravitational Force
  • Buoyant Forces

• Kinetic and Potential Energy

  • Forms of Energy
  • Potential Energy in Systems
  • Electromagnetic Forces
  • Magnetic Forces
  • Electric Forces
  • Simple Circuits
  • Electromagnetism

• Waves

  • Introduction to waves
  • Wave properties
  • Types of Waves
  • Wave Interactions
  • Sound Waves
  • Light Waves
  • Properties of Light Waves

• Matter

  • Properties of matter
  • Physical Properties
  • Calculating volume or regular/irregular objects
  • Matter of Density
  • Chemical Changes
  • The Motion of Particles
  • Heat, Temperature, and State Changes
  • State of Matter
  • Solid, liquids and Gases
  • Molecular structure
  • Thermal Energy Transfers and conductivity

• Chemical Reactions

  • Elements
  • Compounds
  • Atoms
  • Periodic table
  • Groups Families
  • Introduction to Atomic Bohr Models
  • Identifying Chemical Reactions
  • Properties changes in chemical reactions
  • Atoms and Molecules in Chemical Reactions
  • Balancing Chemical Equations
  • Introductions to Acid and Bases
  • pH balance