Year 8

Key Questions/Concepts

  • What is variation?

  • What happens during adolescence? 

  • How does reproduction occur in humans?

  • How does a fetus develop?

  • What is the menstrual cycle?

 

Timeframe

  • September - October

 

Key Vocabulary

Word/phrase

Definition

Variation

The differences within and between species

Adaptations

Characteristics that helps an organism survive in its environment

Adolescence

The period of time when a child changes into an adult

Gestation

The process where a baby develops during pregnancy

Menstruation

Loss of the lining of the uterus during the menstrual cycle

 

Wider Reading

  • Kerboodle Textbook: Activate 1, pg 198 - 217

  • Kay's Anatomy by Adam Kay

Key Questions/Concepts

  • What materials come from the Earth's crust?

  • Why do we have day & night?

  • Why do we have different seasons?

  • What is in our solar system?

  • Why does the moon appear to change?

 

Timeframe

  • September - October

 

Key Vocabulary

Word/phrase

Definition

Weathering

The process of rocks being broken up into small pieces called sediment

Erosion

The breaking of a rock into sediments and their movement away from the original rock

Uplift

Uplift happens when huge forces from inside the Earth push rocks upwards

Satellite

An small object that orbits a planet. They can be natural (like the moon) or arteficial

Heliocentric model

A model of the Solar System with the Sun at the centre

 

Wider Reading

  • Kerboodle Textbook: Activate 1, pg 136 - 157

  • Rosa and Galileo by Anne Cottringer

Key Questions/Concepts

  • How does sound travel?

  • How do our ears enable us to hear sounds?

  • How does light travel?

  • What makes an object a certain colour?

  • How do our eyes enable us to see objects?

 

Timeframe

  • November - December

 

Key Vocabulary

Word/phrase

Definition

Amplitude

The maximum amount of vibration, as measured from the middle position of a wave

Frequency

The number of waves produced in one second

Luminous

An object that gives out light, such as the sun

Reflection

The change in direction of light or sound when it hits a boundary and bounces back

Refraction

The change in the direction of light going from one material into another

 

Wider Reading

  • Kerboodle Textbook: Activate 1, pg 54 - 75

  • The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Key Questions/Concepts

  • What is an atom?

  • What is an element?

  • What is a compound?

  • What is the periodic table?

  • What is special about some groups of elements?

 

Timeframe

  • November - December

 

Key Vocabulary

Word/phrase

Definition

Compound

Pure substances made up of atoms of two or more elements, chemically joined together

Chemical formula

A formula that shows the elements present in a compound and their relative proportions

Polymer

A molecule made by joining up thousands of smaller molecules in a repeating pattern

Physical Property

Features of a substance that can be observered without changing the substance itself

Chemical Property

Features of the way a substance reacts with other substances

 

Wider Reading

  • Kerboodle Textbook: Activate 2, pg 66 - 87

  • Periodic Tales by Hugh Alderdey-Williams

Key Questions/Concepts

  • How does friction affect motion?

  • How can forces affect objects?

  • How do we use turning forces?

  • What is pressure?

  • How can pressure be used usefully?

 

Timeframe

  • January

 

Key Vocabulary

Word/phrase

Definition

Friction

A force opposing motion which is caused by the interaction of surfaces moving over one another

Compression

Force squashing or pushing togeether, which changes the shape of an object

Tension

Force extending or pulling apart

Moment

A measure of the ability of a force to rotate an object about a pivoty

Pressure

The ratio of force to surface area and how it causes stress in solids

 

Wider Reading

  • Kerboodle Textbook: Activate 2, pg 18 - 22

  • Unlocking The Universe by Stephan & Lucy Hawking

  • Horrible Science: Fatal Forces

Key Questions/Concepts

  • What happens during breathing?

  • How do different substances affect our bodies?

  • What are the components of a healthy diet?

  • What happens during digestion?

  • What factors affect digestion?

 

Timeframe

  • January - February

 

Key Vocabulary

Word/phrase

Definition

Gas exchange

The process in the lungs where oxygen enters the blood and carbon dioxide leaves the blood

Addiction

A need to keep taking a drug in order to feel normal

Depressant

A drug that slows down the body's reactions by slowing down the nervous system

Stimulant

A drug that speeds up the body's reactions by speeding up the nervous system

Deficiency

A lack of minerals that causes poor growth

 

Wider Reading

  • Kerboodle Textbook: Activate 2, pg 120 - 143

  • Horrible Science: Disgusting Digestion

  • Why Does Asparagus Make Your Pee Smell? By Andy Brumming

Key Questions/Concepts

  • What happens during a chemical reaction?

  • How can we represent chemical reactions?

  • What are some types of chemical reactions?

  • How energy is transferred in a chemical reaction?

  • How can we represent energy changes in chemical reactions?

 

Timeframe

  • February - April

 

Key Vocabulary

Word/phrase

Definition

Element

A substance that cannot be broken down into other substances

Compound

Substances made up of two or more elements chemically joined together

Chemical reaction

A change in which a new substance is formed. In a chemcial reaction, atoms are rearranged and joined together differently

Oxidation

A chemcial reaction in which a substance combined with oxygen

Thermal decomposition

A chemical reaction in which a compound breaks down on heating for form more than one product

 

Wider Reading

  • Kerboodle Textbook: Activate 2, pg 88 - 105

  • The Elements: A Visual Exploration of Every Known Atom in the Universe,  Theodore Gray 

  • The Kitchen Science Cookbook by Dr Michelle Dickinson

Key Questions/Concepts

  • What scientific equipment should you use for what purpose?

  • How should you write a scientific method?

  • Appropriate ways to record results

  • Appropriate ways to analyse results

  • How to form a scientific conclusion

 

Timeframe

  • April -  July

 

Key Vocabulary

Word/phrase

Definition

Independent variable

The one thing in an investigation that you change

Dependent variable

The thing in an investigation that you measure and write down in your results table

Control variable

The things that you need to keep the same so that your results are valid

Repeatable

If you repeat the experiment and get similar results

Precise

Results that are very close together

 

Wider Reading

  • Kerboodle Textbook: Activate 1, pg 2 - 11

  • Kerboodle Textbook: Activate 2, pg 2 - 17

  • Max Einstein: The Genius Experiment by James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein