Science, Grade 8

Unit 1: Scientific Skills and Inquiry

The hands-on doing of Grade 8 science - selecting tools including the microscope, constructing and evaluating graphs, and building a prototype.

• Construct a prototype
• Construct graphs to display data, and interpret and evaluate
• Select and use tools to observe, measure, and construct.
• Estimate and measure accurately using SI and other standard

Unit 2: Cells and Systems

Characteristics of living things, cell theory, plant and animal cells, movement across membranes, the heart and blood, and body-system interdependence.

• Use appropriate vocabulary related to their investigations of cells
• Identify characteristics of living things, and describe how different
• Describe cell theory. Include: all living things are composed
• Identify major events and technological innovations that have enabled

• Identify and compare major structures in plants and animal
• Demonstrate proper use and care of the microscope to
• Describe the movement of nutrients and wastes across cell
• Differentiate between unicellular and multicellular organisms

• Describe why cells and tissues are specialized in multicellular
• Describe structural and functional relationships among cells, tissues, organs,
• Describe the structure and function of the heart and
• Compare and contrast the structure and function of arteries,

• Identify components of blood and describe the function of
• Describe, using examples, how individual systems in the human
• Compare heart rate and respiratory rate before, during, and
• Identify components of the primary and secondary defence systems

• Identify medical advances that enhance the human body’s defence
• Research and describe disorders/diseases that affect body systems, and
• Describe functional similarities and differences of comparable structures and

Unit 3: Optics

Light sources, the visible spectrum, additive and subtractive colour, electromagnetic radiation, reflection and refraction, mirrors and lenses, and the eye.

• Use appropriate vocabulary related to their investigations of optics.
• Differentiate between incandescent and luminescent sources of light. Include:
• Demonstrate that light is a form of energy, that
• Explain, using the additive theory, how colours are produced,

• Explain how the human eye detects colour, and how
• Demonstrate, using the subtractive theory, how colours are produced,
• Compare and contrast various types of electromagnetic radiation, with
• Provide examples of technologies that use electromagnetic radiation, and

• Conduct experiments to determine the law of reflection, and
• Conduct experiments to compare the refraction of light through
• Explain how reflection and refraction produce natural phenomena
• Investigate to determine how light interacts with concave and

• Demonstrate the formation of images using a double convex
• Compare the functional operation of the human eye to

Unit 4: Fluids

Fluids and viscosity, density and buoyancy, pressure, the particle theory applied to fluids, and hydraulic and pneumatic systems.

• Use appropriate vocabulary related to their investigations of fluids.
• Distinguish between fluids and non-fluids
• Explore and compare the viscosity of various liquids
• Identify products in which viscosity is an important property,

• Plan and conduct experiments to determine factors that affect
• Measure, calculate, and compare densities of solids, liquids, and
• Illustrate, using the particle theory of matter, the effects
• Compare fluids of different densities to determine how they

• Recognize that pressure is the relationship between force and
• Explain, using the particle theory of matter, the relationships
• Compare the relative compressibility of water and air, and
• Identify a variety of natural and constructed hydraulic and

• Compare hydraulic and pneumatic systems, and identify advantages and
• Use the design process to construct a prototype that

Unit 5: Water Systems

Water's high heat capacity, fresh and salt water, ocean currents and climate, the water cycle, drainage systems, erosion, tides, flooding, and water treatment.

• Use appropriate vocabulary related to their investigations of water
• Demonstrate that water, as compared to other substances, has
• Compare and contrast characteristics and properties of fresh water
• Identify factors that can work individually or in combination

• Describe how the heat capacity of large bodies of
• Describe the components of the global water cycle and
• Describe features of the North American drainage system. Include:
• Describe how erosion and deposition are influenced by the

• Describe how wave action and ice movement in large
• Explain how tides are caused and describe their effects
• Describe examples of human interventions to prevent riverbank or
• Identify factors that can cause flooding either individually or

• Provide examples of the way in which technology is
• Identify sources of drinking water and describe methods for
• Explain how and why water may need to be
• Compare the waste-water disposal system within their communities to

• Identify substances that may pollute water, related environmental and
• Identify environmental, social, and economic factors that should be
• Use the design process to develop a system to