In this activity, students will work in small groups to take vocabulary words and concepts about solutions and phase changes and break them down to the level of lower elementary age children. This will be done by writing and illustrating a children's book. Students will learn by teaching the subject and working with peers. Students are expected to come away with a solid understanding of solutions and phase changes that they were largely responsible in building themselves.

These hands-on activities help students to understand that the total weight of an object is equal to the sum of its parts using modeling clay and connecting toys like Legos. Students estimate and measure total weight, then the weight when disassembled or divided into smaller pieces and then again when the object is reassembled. Students record and share their experiences and data.

For this unit plan, see the old unit calendar (link on left sidebar, click ALT7 tab at the bottom).  Once we update this unit to the new Doc template, we will post it here. This is now unit 7, but it used to be unit 4 (we will update file and folder numbering as we continue to revise the units). Thanks for your patience as we work hard this year to update all of the materials to the new unit template and unit/standards arrangements.

8th Grade Integrated Science textbook for the 2019-2020 school year. This textbook was developed to align to the Utah Science Core Curriculum. (Updated: May 29, 2019)

This article assembles free resources from the Water, Ice, and Snow issue of the Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears cyberzine into a unit outline based on the 5E learning cycle framework. Outlines are provided for Grades K-2 and 3-5.

In this activity students model the cycles of matter by creating an ecosystem in a jar and observing how it changes over time. Students will also research the nitrogen, water, and carbon cycles and prepare presentations to share information with their peers.