Science - Grade Level Descriptions
Science Grades Tabs
Course Description
The sixth-grade course investigates core ideas and connections through study of the Earth, examining the processes by which scientists ask questions and study the world. Students explore the Earth and its history from the perspective of an astronomer, a seismologist, an evolutionary biologist, a physical oceanographer, and a population demographer. Throughout the year students learn about and practice the ways in which scientists study the world, collect and analyze data, and propose explanations based on observations and evidence, known as scientific inquiry.
Units of Study:
Unit 1 – What is Science?
The first unit is a brief introduction to the work of science. Through consumer product testing of different paper towel brands, the students learn to design controlled experiments, measure using the metric system, make detailed observations, and record, graph, and analyze data. The culmination of the unit is the student’s first scientific lab report, which follows a standard form throughout her three years in science at GMS.
Unit 2 – Earth in the Solar System
Students briefly explore current theories surrounding the beginning of the universe before focusing in on our solar system. Students read folktales and creation myths from around the world to help illustrate how human understanding of the Earth’s place in space has changed over time before discussing the most current understandings about the solar system.
Unit 3 – Life through Time
Students collect evidence about the changes and stability in life and earth processes through the past 4.6 billion years. Each session encourages students to explore the most common flora and fauna of a particular geologic time period, track the locations of the Earth’s tectonic plates, document major evolutionary events, and visualize the relationships among different organisms in the past and today. Students continue their study of the processes of evolutionary change in seventh grade through genetics and natural selection.
Unit 4 - Plate Tectonics
Students learn about plate tectonic theory and the relationship between plate motion, earthquakes, volcanoes, and mountain building, particularly in the Pacific Ring of Fire. Students learn to distinguish different types of volcanoes based on shape, tectonic setting, and lava viscosity through hands-on activities. They also differentiate between convergent, divergent, and transform plate boundaries to understand the role that plate tectonics plays in shaping the Earth.
Unit 5 - Ocean Currents
While studying the causes and patterns of ocean currents, students also explore the relationships between currents and pollution, climate, fisheries, and sailing. Through experimentation, students investigate the roles that wind, salinity, and temperature have on the density and motion of bodies of water. In their final project students research specific currents and practice geography skills by accurately tracing the path of a hypothetical message in a bottle tossed into the world’s ocean.
Unit 6 - Inquiry/Field Study
In teams and individually, students continue to practice their scientific inquiry skills, which include asking testable questions, formulating hypotheses, developing logical and repeatable procedures, collecting and analyzing data, measuring using the metric system, communicating scientific findings orally and in writing, and safely using field and lab equipment and techniques through a student-directed scientific field study conducted at a local park or refuge. Students create formal lab reports, scientific posters, and Powerpoint presentations, and the unit culminates in a scientific poster session open to the GMS community.
Course Description
In seventh-grade, students learn about Life Science. The major concepts explored include cell theory, Mendelian genetics, and evolution. Starting with a general overview of the structure and properties of matter, the scope of study focuses on cells, genetics and heredity, evolution, the human body’s different systems, and human health. Observational studies, model building, problem solving, and inquiry help students connect learning to the outside world.
Units of Study:
Unit 1 – Scientific Method
Review and Apply:
- Metric System: Scales and Conversions
- Scientific Method: Steps and Controls
- Classification Linnaeus System
Unit 2 – Chemistry
Each of the more than 100 elements of matter has distinct properties and a distinct atomic structure. All forms of matter are composed of one or more of the elements. As a basis for understanding this concept; students:
- Study the structure of the atom and learn it is composed of protons, neutrons, and electrons.
- Discover how compounds are formed (by combining two or more different elements) and that these compounds have properties that are different from their constituent elements.
- Understand the difference between chemical and physical changes in matter.
- Discern the states of matter (solid, liquid, gas) depend on molecular motion.
- Discover that in solids the atoms are closely locked in position and can only vibrate; in liquids the atoms and molecules are more loosely connected and can collide with and move past one another; and in gases the atoms and molecules are free to move independently, colliding frequently.
- Learn how to use the periodic table to identify elements in simple compounds.
Unit 3 – Cells
All living organisms are composed of cells, from just one to many trillions, whose details usually are visible only through a microscope. As a basis for understanding this concept; students:
- Learn why cells function similarly in all living organisms.
- Research the characteristics that distinguish plant cells from animal cells.
- Discover that the nucleus is the repository for genetic information in plant and animal cells.
- Explore how mitochondria liberate energy for the work that cells do and that chloroplasts capture sunlight energy for photosynthesis.
- Ascertain that cells divide to increase their numbers through a process of mitosis, which results in two daughter cells with identical sets of chromosomes.
- Discern that as multi-cellular organisms develop, their cells differentiate.
Unit 4 – Genetics and Heredity
A typical cell of any organism contains genetic instructions that specify its traits. Those traits may be modified by environmental influences. As a basis for understanding this concept; students:
- Learn the differences between the life cycles and reproduction methods of sexual and asexual organisms.
- Ascertain how sexual reproduction produces offspring that inherit half their genes from each parent.
- Learn that inherited traits are determined by one or more gene.
- Discern how plant and animal cells contain many thousands of different genes and typically have two copies of every gene.
- Discover that DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) is the genetic material of living organisms and is located in the chromosomes of each cell.
Unit 5 - Evolution
Biological evolution accounts for the diversity of species developed through gradual processes over many generations. As a basis for understanding this concept; students:
- Learn why genetic variation and environmental factors are causes of evolution and diversity of organisms.
- Study the reasoning used by Charles Darwin in reaching his conclusion that natural selection is the mechanism of evolution.
- Discern how independent lines of evidence from geology, fossils, and comparative anatomy provide the bases for the theory of evolution.
- Discover how to construct a simple branching diagram to classify living groups of organisms by shared derived characteristics and how to expand the diagram to include fossil organisms.
- Find out that the extinction of a species occurs when the environment changes and the adaptive characteristics of a species are insufficient for its survival.
Unit 6 – Human Health and Biology
The anatomy and physiology of plants and animals illustrate the complementary nature of structure and function. As a basis for understanding this concept; students:
- Research why plants and animals have levels of organization for structure and function.
- Discover that organ systems function because of the contributions of individual organs, tissues, and cells. The failure of any part can affect the entire system.
- Inquire how bones and muscles work together to provide a structural framework for movement.
- Ascertain that the human body is comprised of many different systems that all work together to keep the body in good health.
- Study how the reproductive organs of the human female and male generate eggs and sperm and how sexual activity may lead to fertilization and pregnancy.
- Learn about the function of the umbilicus and placenta during pregnancy.
- Explore why proper nutrition and good health habits are essential to the optimal functioning of the body.
Ongoing – Investigation and Experimentation
Students learn why scientific progress is made through asking meaningful questions and conducting careful investigations. As a basis for understanding this concept and addressing the content in the other three strands, students should develop their own questions and perform investigations. Students will:
- Select and use appropriate tools and technology (including calculators, computers, balances, spring scales, microscopes, and binoculars) to perform tests, collect data, and display data.
- Use a variety of print and electronic resources (including the World-Wide Web) to collect information and evidence as part of a research project.
- Communicate the logical connection among hypotheses, science concepts, tests conducted, data collected, and conclusions drawn from the scientific evidence.
- Construct scale models, maps, and appropriately labeled diagrams to communicate scientific knowledge (e.g., atom and cell structure).
- Communicate the steps and results from an investigation in oral presentations and written reports.
Course Description
Eighth-grade science utilizes the core themes while introducing students to principles of physics and chemistry: forces, light, energy, chemical reactions, electricity, and motion. This course also incorporates engineering projects in several units, tying science concepts to real-world applications, as well as looking explicitly at the science research process that occurs in “the real world."
Units of Study:
Unit 1 – Engineering Bridges
Girls work in teams by building and testing a bridge made of popsicle sticks and glue, and learn how to create engineering drawings, examine ideas about load, and discern how structures distribute and carry loads. Teams then construct both a suspension bridge and a truss bridge. The suspension bridge project is evaluated by a rubric, and the truss bridge project is cast as a challenge to see which teams’ bridge can support the greatest load as compared to its own weight.
Unit 2 – Forces
This unit looks at forces from both a practical and a fundamental standpoint, covering how forces are measured and how to identify the different forces acting in a particular situation. Students learn about the four fundamental forces in nature and how those forces manifest themselves in our world.
Unit 3 – Light and the Universe
Students explore the basics of the electromagnetic spectrum, looking at the ways in which light behaves, then how astronomers use the information contained in light to learn about objects in space that cannot be explored directly. Students have the opportunity to research a space-related topic of interest.
Unit 4 – Compounds and Chemical Reactions
The study of chemistry principles continues as students look at how elements combine to form compounds and what happens during chemical reactions. This challenging unit introduces bonding chemical reactions, balancing chemical equations, and acid-base chemistry. While the ideas are complex, the daily labs and activities keep students engaged. The unit finishes with an Antacid Inquiry project and formal lab report.
Unit 5 – Energy and Energy Transfers
Students approach energy from many different directions – experimenting with roller coasters to master the concepts of kinetic and potential energy; observing the effects of mechanical, thermal, chemical, electrical, and electromagnetic energy; and building energy-transfer chain-reaction devices.
Unit 6 – Research Science
Each students has the opportunity to either take an experiment from last year further or to select a research question of interest and begin an independent study of what is going on related to current research “in the real world.” All students present the results of their study as part of the Science Exhibition in the second half of April.
Unit 7 – Electricity and Electrical Circuits
Students are introduced to the flow of electrical current in circuits. Students build and see the difference between closed, open, and short circuits, then move on to series and parallel circuits. They learn the relationship between voltage, current, and resistance and finish by using hand-cranked generators to power their circuits.
Unit 8 – Motion
Students explore ideas of force by looking at how forces acting on an object can affect its state of motion. They explore ways of representing motion graphically and with an exploration of the basic equations of kinematics. Problem-solving is be a key skill addressed in this unit.
