Grade+8

T1: Motion and Forces
Essential Questions


 * How can you describe objects in motion?
 * How do forces affect an object's motion?
 * How do machines accomplish work? (T2)
 * How do systems of forces interact?
 * How do systems and external forces interact?
 * How are mechanical energy, force and motion related?
 * How do we know an object has energy?
 * How do scientists use measurement

Competencies


 * An unbalanced force acting on an object changes its speed or direction of motion, or both.
 * Changes in speed or direction of motion are caused by forces.
 * The greater the force is, the greater the change in motion will be. The more massive an object is, the less effect a given force will have.
 * How fast things move differs greatly. Some things are so slow that their journey takes a long time; others move too fast for people to even see them.
 * Every object exerts gravitational force on every other object. The force depends on how much mass the objects have and on how far apart they are. The force is hard to detect unless at least one of the objects has a lot of mass. 4G/M1
 * The earth's gravity pulls any object on or near the earth toward it without touching it.

T2: Simple Machines/Energy and Physical Sytems
Essential Questions


 * How do simple machines make work easier?
 * When is work being done on an object?
 * How is energy transferred through a system?

Content

1) thermally, when a warmer object is in contact with a cooler one 2) mechanically, when two objects push or pull on each other over a distance 3) electrically, when an electrical source such as a battery or generator is connected in a complete circuit to an electrical device 4) by electromagnetic waves.
 * Whenever energy appears in one place, it must have disappeared from another. 4E/M1*
 * Energy can be transferred from one system to another (or from a system to its environment) in different ways:
 * Thermal energy is transferred through a material by the collisions of atoms within the material.
 * Over time, the thermal energy tends to spread out through a material and from one material to another if they are in contact.
 * Thermal energy can also be transferred by
 * means of currents in air, water, or other fluids.
 * some thermal energy in all materials is transformed into light energy and radiated into the environment by electromagnetic waves;
 * that light energy can be transformed back into thermal energy when the electromagnetic waves strike another material.
 * a material tends to cool down unless some other form of energy is converted to thermal energy in the material.
 * Energy appears in different forms and can be transformed within a system.
 * Motion energy is associated with the speed of an object.
 * Thermal energy is associated with the temperature of an object.
 * Gravitational energy is associated with the height of an object above a reference point.
 * Elastic energy is associated with the stretching or compressing of an elastic object.
 * Chemical energy is associated with the composition of a substance.
 * Electrical energy is associated with an electric current in a circuit.
 * Light energy is associated with the frequency of electromagnetic waves. 4E/M4*

Final Assessment Plan
Unit Plans