LEARN NC

1 Overview

By Daniell DiFrancesca

Provided by Kenan Fellows Program.

Fundamental understanding

Students will understand that science is a cyclic process of research, experimentation, and application. Students will increase their critical-thinking skills by participating in this process while learning various contents in eighth grade science.

Essential questions

How do you answer a question or solve a problem?

Knowledge and skills

  • Students will understand the pieces of an experiment and use their knowledge to design experiments to answer self- and teacher-generated questions.
  • Students will collect and organize various types of data.
  • Students will analyze the collected data.
  • Students will use experimental and research-based data to answer questions, make predictions, and create an organized content guide.
  • Students will communicate their findings through various means.
  • Students will use their findings for the “what next” portion of science.

Standards

National science content standards: Grades 5–8

  • Content Standard A: Science as Inquiry
  • Content Standard B: Physical Science
  • Content Standard C: Life Science
  • Content Standard D: Earth and Space Science
  • Content Standard F: Science in Personal and Social Perspectives
  • Content Standard G: History and Nature of Science

State Standards

This unit applies to Goals 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 of the North Carolina Standard Course of Study for eighth-grade science.

Assessment

Students will take a pre- and post-survey on their attitudes and opinions about scientists, science-based careers, and the role of science in their lives.

Student science survey
Open as PDF (29 KB, 2 pages; also available as Microsoft Word document)
Student survey response organizer
Open as PDF (78 KB, 1 page; also available as Microsoft Word document)

Learning will be assessed based on various ability and performance factors:

  • Student’s ability to design an experiment
  • Student’s ability to analyze data
  • Student’s ability to apply learned information from an experiment to a new situation
  • Student’s performance on assigned projects
  • Student’s performance on formative assessments throughout each lesson