Got Force?
Students use various surfaces and a weighted car to see how far the car will travel using balanced and unbalanced forces.
Glaciologist in Action (Lab)
Students participate in a hands-on lab in which glacier (ice) effects on the Earth’s surface is demonstrated.
Communication in Space
Students will work in cooperative groups to create an accurate arrangement of mirrors that work together to relay a laser beam from a Mars space station to Earth’s Mission Control, which will model utilizing satellites in space for communication, an accommodation necessary for manned space exploration.
Teacher In Action
Prokaryotic and Eukaryotic Cells
Students will categorize cells as prokaryotic or eukaryotic by identifying the presence or lack of a nucleus.
Teacher Summing Up Lesson
Lights, Camera, Action!
Students compare and contrast potential and kinetic energy by creating a real-world model through a movie.
Does it have Potential?
Students will work with partners to investigate how mass, potential energy, and kinetic energy act on objects dropped from varying heights.
Video of the lesson being taught
Stages of Ecological Succession
Students will collaborate on a electronic slideshow presentation and observe, record, and describe the role of ecological succession including both primary and secondary succession.
Biodiversity
Students will explore biodiversity concepts through several activities including a video, a card sort, think-pair-shares, food webs, and four corners.
Consumers and Producers
Students will investigate various ecosystems to determine what producers and consumers are, as well as their needs within an ecosystem.
Biotic and Abiotic Factors of an Ecosystem
Students will explore abiotic and biotic factors in various ecosystems by working through stations. Students will be able to identify and describe abiotic and biotic factors within an ecosystem.
Building a Watershed
Students will model the effects of human activity on watersheds.
Save the Factory!
Students will design an experiment to test the outcome of friction in force and motion. The students will create an inclined plane demonstrating their knowledge of mechanical energy and the effects of gravity on an object. Students will use previous knowledge of friction to complete their task of stopping their object. Critical thinking skills will be the focus of the lesson as students will have to utilize their scientific problem-solving skills to make decisions regarding their experiment.
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) Vertical Alignment
Click below to learn about the TEKS related to the unit and Research Lesson. The highlighted student expectation(s) is the chosen focus for the Research Lesson.
Motion Pictures
In this lesson, students will be introduced to the concept of motion representation using distance vs. time graphs. Students will recognize labeling of axes, steepness related to speed, horizontal lines as non-motion, and downward slope as return to origin.
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills Related to the Unit
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Earth: A Tilted Affair
After a brief review of direct and indirect sunlight, students will arrange heat maps and globes around a drawing of the Sun based on the tilt of Earth and how it affects Earth’s temperature.
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) Related to the Unit
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Modeling the Path of Digestion
Students model the path of digestion using household items.
Gravity in Space
Students will participate in stations that reinforce their understanding of gravity, especially gravity in space.
Escaping the Nucleus
Students will work in groups to complete an escape room challenge that replicates the process of gene expression.
10 OnTRACK Grade 8 Science: Force, Motion, and Energy
Students will explore the relationship between force, motion, and energy.
What's going on with our plates?
The students will work collaboratively in small, ability-based groups in stations that will require them to use their academic vocabulary, academic language, and self-assessment to generate a product showing what they have learned.
Let's FIND Speed!
This research lesson requires students to distinguish between speed, distance, and time. Students will use formulas to calculate the three using a checklist. Students will also create their own speed, distance, or time word problem using the knowledge gained in this lesson.