Science 8

By the end of this course, you will be able to do the following:

· Investigate patterns of inheritance, and identify the causes and effects of genetic mutations.
· Explain how some traits increase an individual’s probability of surviving.
· Gather and use information to explain how technology has changed the way humans influence the traits of organisms.
· Explain why genetic diversity allows a species to adapt to its environment, and create an explanation to show the causes and effects of shifting genetic diversity.
· Model the geological process that makes fossils from leaves.
· Explain how the characteristics of living and extinct organisms can be used to construct an evolutionary lineage.
· Classify organisms based on their shared characteristics.
· State why embryos and certain anatomies of different species provide evidence of evolution.
· Classify organisms based on their shared characteristics.
· Describe the interactions of energy between the four spheres of Earth.
· Explain particle motion of matter and the composition of substances.
· Use evidence to explain that natural geological processes result in uneven distribution of Earth’s natural resources.
· Investigate patterns of inheritance and identify the causes and effects of genetic mutations.
· Model the greenhouse effect using temperature as a dependent variable.
· Explain how current trends in carbon dioxide levels affect Earth’s climate.
· Determine the effectiveness of different methods of addressing climate change.
· Classify waves based on their characteristics, and use mathematics to model them.
· Interpret models of interactions of light and matter.
· Assess how light from objects in space provides information about their temperature, composition, and distance.
· Compare and contrast the use of digital and analog signals in communication.
· Analyze data from a seismograph and design a model building that can withstand an earthquake.
· Analyze data to explain how technology can limit the risk of damage from natural hazards.