On this page...
Notes:
- The science standards apply to students in grade 8.
- The standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects are a subset of the literacy standards and apply to students in the 6-12 grade span.
- Performance expectations marked with an asterisk (*) integrate traditional science content with engineering through a Practice or Disciplinary Core Idea.
MS-PS1 Matter and Its Interactions
Students who demonstrate understanding can:
MS-PS1-3. Gather and make sense of information to describe that synthetic materials come from natural resources and impact society.
Back to topMS-PS2 Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions
Students who demonstrate understanding can:
MS-PS2-1. Apply Newton’s Third Law to design a solution to a problem involving the motion of two colliding objects.*
MS-PS2-2. Plan an investigation to provide evidence that the change in an object’s motion depends on the sum of the forces on the object and the mass of the object.
Back to topMS-PS3 Energy
Students who demonstrate understanding can:
MS-PS3-1. Construct and interpret graphical displays of data to describe the relationships of kinetic energy to the mass of an object and to the speed of an object.
MS-PS3-3. Apply scientific principles to design, construct, and test a device that either minimizes or maximizes thermal energy transfer.*
Back to topMS-PS4 Waves and Their Applications in Technologies for Information Transfer
Students who demonstrate understanding can:
MS-PS4-1. Use mathematical representations to describe a simple model for waves that includes how the amplitude of a wave is related to the energy in a wave.
MS-PS4-2. Develop and use a model to describe that waves are reflected, absorbed, or transmitted through various materials.
MS-PS4-3. Integrate qualitative scientific and technical information to support the claim that digitized signals are a more reliable way to encode and transmit information than analog signals.
Back to topMS-LS2 Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
Students who demonstrate understanding can:
MS-LS2-5. Evaluate competing design solutions for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services.*
Back to topMS-LS4 Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity
Students who demonstrate understanding can:
MS-LS4-1. Analyze and interpret data for patterns in the fossil record that document the existence, diversity, extinction, and change of life forms throughout the history of life on Earth under the assumption that natural laws operate today as in the past.
MS-LS4-2. Apply scientific ideas to construct an explanation for the anatomical similarities and differences among modern organisms and between modern and fossil organisms to infer evolutionary relationships.
MS-LS4-3. Analyze displays of pictorial data to compare patterns of similarities in the embryological development across multiple species to identify relationships not evident in the fully formed anatomy.
MS-LS4-4. Construct an explanation based on evidence that describes how genetic variations of traits in a population increase some individuals’ probability of surviving and reproducing in a specific environment.
MS-LS4-5. Gather and synthesize information about the technologies that have changed the way humans influence the inheritance of desired traits in organisms.
MS-LS4-6. Use mathematical representations to support explanations of how natural selection may lead to increases and decreases of specific traits in populations over time.
Back to topMS-ESS2 Earth’s Systems
Students who demonstrate understanding can:
MS-ESS2-4. Develop a model to describe the cycling of water through Earth’s systems driven by energy from the sun and the force of gravity.
MS-ESS2-5. Collect data to provide evidence for how the motions and complex interactions of air masses results in changes in weather conditions.
MS-ESS2-6. Develop and use a model to describe how unequal heating and rotation of the Earth cause patterns of atmospheric and oceanic circulation that determine regional climates.
Back to topMS-ESS3 Earth and Human Activity
Students who demonstrate understanding can:
MS-ESS3-3. Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment.*
MS-ESS3-4. Construct an argument supported by evidence for how increases in human population and per-capita consumption of natural resources impact Earth’s systems.
MS-ESS3-5. Ask questions to clarify evidence of the factors that have caused the rise in global temperatures over the past century.
Back to topMS-ETS1 Engineering Design
Students who demonstrate understanding can:
MS-ETS1-1. Define the criteria and constraints of a design problem with sufficient precision to ensure a successful solution, taking into account relevant scientific principles and potential impacts on people and the natural environment that may limit possible solutions.
MS-ETS1-2. Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.
MS-ETS1-3. Analyze data from tests to determine similarities and differences among several design solutions to identify the best characteristics of each that can be combined into a new solution to better meet the criteria for success.
MS-ETS1-4. Develop a model to generate data for iterative testing and modification of a proposed object, tool, or process such that an optimal design can be achieved.
Back to top