8th Grade Science Overview

In WiloStar3D Academy 8th grade science, students continue to expand their range of inquiry skills and achieve proficiency with those skills for understanding scientific principles. The nature of science is developed and reinforced for students through planning and conducting investigations. WiloStar accomplishes meeting science benchmarks and objectives by addressing topics within each integrated module. We use a combination of the McREL Standards and the Florida Standards to meet all grade level benchmarks.

Students will investigate three key science strands in 8th grade science:

1. Earth and Space Science

FL.SC.8.E.Earth and Space Science

2. Life and Biological Sciences

FL.SC.8.L.Life Science

Ecology and Ecosystems

SC.8.L.18.4. Cite evidence that living systems follow the Laws of Conservation of Mass and Energy.

3. Writing for Science and Literacy

L.LACC.WHST.68.Writing Standards for Literacy in Science and Technical Subjects

Everglades Module

In this module students learn about the importance of the everglades and how this delicate ecosystem can easily be disrupted. Students explore the various plant and wildlife ecosystems in the everglades and investigate what steps scientists and national parks are doing secure the future of the everglades.

Objectives of this module include

• How human activities affect the everglades
• What can be done to protect and sustain wetland and everglades systems
• What can be done to protect and sustain everglades
• What services are provided by wetlands and the importance of maintaining wetland areas and the everglades.

Assessment

WiloStar3D online homeschool students complete a variety of written assignments and final projects to assess progress. All work is archived in individual student folders at the WiloStar3D site. Final multimedia projects are showcased at the WiloStar3D site and are archived into personal student portfolio at the end of the school year to document progress and demonstrate student growth.

WiloStar3D teachers provide written daily feedback on all student assignments. Students have password protected learning portals where assignment feedback is stored along with their e-Gradebook. Students have access to this area 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

These include:

• Everglades 3D Virtual World
•  Everglades Wildlife Knowledge Tower Exhibit
• Journal Writings

Resources Used

Flush by Carl Hiaasen

World Mysteries and Crypids

In this integrated modules, students will explore folklore, writings and information on some of the world’s biggest mysteries. They will investigate what science has to say about world mysteries and also learn the fictional aspect of folklore. Students will synthesize what they learn by creating their own 3D Cryptid Hunters zoo in Wiloworlds and assume the identity of a fictional archaeologist who has discovered a new world mystery. Gluing this all together is the fictional novel Cryptid by Roland Smith.

By the end of this module students should be able to:

• Gather data for research topics from interviews (e.g., prepares and asks relevant questions, makes notes of responses, compiles responses)
•  Use a variety of resource materials to gather information for research topics (e.g., magazines, newspapers, dictionaries, schedules, journals, surveys, globes, atlases, almanacs, websites, databases, podcasts)
• Organizes information and ideas from multiple sources in systematic ways (e.g., time lines, outlines, notes, graphic representations)
• Organize and write a simple character script

Volcano and Earthquakes Module

WiloStar3D’s online homeschooling Volcano and Earthquakes module addresses two key questions:

1. How do volcanoes and earthquakes affect human life?

2.  How do volcanoes and earthquakes form?

Objectives:

• The students will identify and compare local rocks.
• The students will explore volcanoes, volcanic activity, and the effect on the environment.
• The students will form conclusions about the level of danger to people and property posed by different eruptions.
• The students will be able to explain the theory of plate tectonics.
• The students will explore the types of volcanoes.
• The students will become aware of the dangers of earthquakes.
• Recognize that heat flow and movement of material within Earth causes earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, and creates
  mountains and ocean basins.

Assessment

WiloStar3D online homeschool students complete a variety of written assignments and final projects to assess progress. All work is archived in individual student folders at the WiloStar3D site. Final  projects are showcased at the WiloStar3D site and are archived into personal student portfolio at the end of the school year to document progress and demonstrate student growth.

WiloStar3D teachers provide written daily feedback on all student assignments. Students have password protected learning portals where assignment feedback is stored along with their e-Gradebook. Students have access to this area 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

These include:

• Volcano 3D Virtual World
• Earthquake 3D Virtual World
• Hands on 3D Volcano Eruption Exhibit
• Journal Writings

Resources Used

Night of the Howling Dogs by  Graham Salisbury

Earthquake at Dawn by  Kristiana Gregory

Making of Modern America and Inventions Module

The late 19th century witnessed the birth of modern America. These years saw the advent of new technologies of communication, including the phonograph, the telephone, and radio. They also saw the rise of the mass media: of mass-circulation newspapers and magazines, best-selling novels, million dollar national advertising campaigns. These years witnessed the rise of commercialized entertainment, including the amusement park, the urban nightclub, the dance hall, and first motion pictures. Many modern sports, including basketball, bicycling, football, and golf were introduced to the United States, as were new transportation technologies, such as the automobile, electric trains and trolleys, and, in 1903, the airplane. They also saw the birth of the modern university.

In this module, students will explore these topics in depth and create a 3D “Modern America” virtual world to showcase what they learned.

Assessment

Students complete a variety of written assignments and final projects to assess progress. All work is archived in individual student folders at the WiloStar3D site. Final multimedia projects are showcased at the WiloStar3D site and are archived into personal student portfolios at the end of the school year to document progress and demonstrate student growth.

WiloStar3D teachers provide written daily feedback on all student assignments. Students have password protected learning portals where assignment feedback is stored along with their e-Gradebook. Students have access to this area 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

These include:

• Personal Invention Project
• Early Inventions Exhibit
• New Technologies Knowledge Tower

Resources and Novels Used

The Invention of Hugo Cabre by Brian Selznick

Robotics Module

In this module, students will explore basic concepts of robotics and build their own working robot or bot. Students will learn how to program and command their bot and understand the basics of programming for bots. Students will learn that they have the power to create and build new ideas; that invention is not something somebody else does, but something they can do.

Students will use specified materials to design and build a working robot.  Students will draw a sketch of their design prior to construction. Resulting robots are then tested and checked for range of motion and satisfaction of the given criteria.
Objectives

• Build knowledge on basic robotics and  movement commands.
• Have the opportunity to attempt a range of extension tasks.

Resources Used

Students will have the option of choosing from several inexpensive robotics kits from Amazon. Instructors will update the suggested kits four weeks before the module is started giving students and parents ample time to select their kits. Two suggested kits are

Pathfinders Robotic Arm

The Original Bristlebots Robotics Kit but others may be selected.

Science Fiction Module

This module is an introduction to science fiction as well as a unit designed to start students thinking about the future and their roles in it. Students will learn that science fiction concepts can be future-oriented, based on real scientific knowledge and predictions. The issues of family relationships, nuclear war, death, overpopulation, and others that appear to provide ample subject matter for a variety of creative activities. Students read a self-selected science fiction novel and are exposed to many possibilities for life in the future. More importantly, they become aware of the present, and how what we are doing right now will affect the future.

For the science aspect of this module, students conduct research on space exploration. After completing their research, students  create a 3D space colony world centered around their science fiction stories and real science facts. Students’ stories will incorporate elements of fact and fiction that they gather during their research.

By the end of this module, students will be able to:

• Understand the concepts of future and change.
• Understand how their own future effects of change upon their lives.
• Predict possible alternatives for the future.
• Examine themes of adventure, family, relationships, and technology and our responsibility to technology and change.
• Develop organizational skills through record keeping.
• Examine the impact of technology on the space program, in the past, and at present.
• Speculate on the direction that space exploration could (or should) take in the future.
•  Create a 3D Future World and society.

Gold Rush Module

8th graders finish out their middle school social studies sequence by learning about the consequences of United States westward
expansion and its growing diplomatic assertiveness. With a particular emphasis on the Gold Rush students also study the Compromise of 1850 and the Kansas Nebraska Act. Students are then able to see patterns and cause and effect in American History expansion.

Objectives:

• Compare how and why people traveled to California and the routes they traveled (e.g., James Beckwourth, John Bidwell, John C. Fremont, Pio Pico).
• Analyze the effects of the Gold Rush on settlements, daily life, politics, and the physical environment (e.g., using biographies of John Sutter, Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, Louise Clapp).

Assessment

WiloStar3D online homeschool students complete a variety of written assignments and final projects to assess progress. All work is archived in individual student folders at the WiloStar3D site. Final projects are showcased at the WiloStar3D site and are archived into personal student portfolios at the end of the school year to document progress and  demonstrate student growth.

WiloStar3D teachers provide written daily feedback on all student assignments. Students have password protected learning portals where assignment feedback is stored along with their e-Gradebook. Students have access to this area 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

These include:

• Gold Rush Town Virtual World
• Journal Writings

Resources Used

Seeds of Hope by Kristiana Gregory

Fantastic Voyage Life Science Module

In this integrated science module, students read (or listen to) the classic science fiction novel Fantastic Voyage by Issac Asimov. Students learn key principals of biological functions of the human body as they read this classic and then they recreate a virtual reality 3D journey by creating their own Fantastic Voyage 3D journey through the body.

By the end of this module student benchmarks include that students will know:

1. Knows that all organisms are composed of cells, which are the fundamental units of life; most organisms are single cells, but other organisms (including humans) are multicellular
2. Knows that cells convert energy obtained from food to carry on the many functions needed to sustain life (e.g., cell growth and division, production of materials that the cell or organism needs)
3. Knows the levels of organization in living systems, including cells, tissues, organs, organ systems, whole organisms, ecosystems, and the complementary nature of structure and function at each level
4. Knows that multicellular organisms have a variety of specialized cells, tissues, organs, and organ systems that perform specialized functions (e.g., digestion, respiration, reproduction, circulation, excretion, movement, control and coordination, protection from disease) and that the function of these systems affect one another
5. Knows that organisms have a great variety of body plans
6. Knows how an organism’s ability to regulate its internal environment enables the organism to obtain and use resources, grow, reproduce, and maintain stable internal conditions while living in a constantly changing external environment
7. Knows that organisms can react to internal and environmental stimuli through behavioral response (e.g., plants have tissues and organs that react to light, water, and other stimuli; animals have nervous systems that process and store information from the environment), which may be determined by heredity or from past experience
8. Knows that disease in organisms can be caused by intrinsic failures of the system or infection by other organisms
9. Knows that cells use inorganic compounds (e.g., vitamins, minerals, water) to make materials that the cell or organism needs.

Resources Used

Fantastic Voyage by Issac Asimov

Transcontinental Module

Considered one of the greatest technological achievements of the nineteenth century, the First Transcontinental Railroad joined together the eastern and western halves of the United States.  The WiloStar3D virtual world Transcontinental Railroad homeschooling unit  is based on the following pieces of literature: Death of the Iron Horse, The Transcontinental Railroad.

In this unit, students will:

• Read an overview of the history of the First Transcontinental Railroad.
• Read a short biography of Theodore Judah.
• Learn about the four famous men that financed the project.
• Recreate a 3D virtual world based on the route of the transcontinental lines by the 1880’s.
• Explore the “Golden Spike”.
•  Look at an early train schedule, hear first-hand accounts of the work and first trip across country.
• Create a 3D interactive account of the railroad.
• Create a 3D virtual world game called  the “Great Railroad Race” and work on a variety of railroad related projects.

Resources Used:

Stop the Train by by Geraldine McCaughrean

Industrial Revolution Module

The industrial revolution that took place between 1870 and 1920, brought many changes to the United States, including the mass production of consumer goods; large-scale migration from all parts of the world; and patterns of social change that reshaped workplace. Students will explore the impact this revolution had on the developing areas of the United States.

Objectives

• Understand the consequences of the expansion of industry that took place after Reconstruction, including the influx of new workers from both abroad and rural areas into the nation’s cities.
• Explore the reasons why various immigrant groups came to the United States, including both economic opportunity and political and religious freedoms.
• Understand how poor industrial working conditions led to nationwide labor unrest and how it contributed to major movements for social change.

Big Ideas to this module include:

1.) What was the most important invention to emerge from the Industrial Revolution?
2.) Was the Industrial Revolution a blessing or a curse for European and American societies?

Resources Used

The National Museum of National History Digital Collections