SECTION 210:15-3-78. Standards for inquiry, physical, life, and earth/space science for grade 8

(a)   Physical Science. Standards for eighth (8th) grade students from the domain of Physical Science include all of the following topics:

(1)   Matter and its interactions. Standards for students include all of the following performance expectations:

(A)   Performance expectation one (1). Gather and make sense of information to describe that synthetic materials come from natural resources and impact society.

(B)   Performance expectation one (1) - Clarification statement. Emphasis is on natural resources that undergo a chemical process to form the synthetic material. Examples of new materials could include new medicine, foods, and alternative fuels.

(C)   Performance expectation two (2). Develop and use a model to describe how the total number of atoms does not change in a chemical reaction and thus mass is conserved.

(D)   Performance expectation two (2) - Clarification statement. Emphasis is on law of conservation of matter and on physical models or drawings, including digital forms, that represent atoms.

(E)   Performance expectation three (3). Undertake a design project to construct, test, and modify a device that either releases or absorbs thermal energy by chemical processes.

(F)   Performance expectation three (3) - Clarification statement. Emphasis is on the design, controlling the transfer of energy to the environment, and modification of a device using factors such as type and concentration of a substance. Examples of designs could involve chemical reactions such as dissolving ammonium chloride or calcium chloride.

(2)   Motion and stability: Forces and interactions. Standards for students include all of the following performance expectations:

(A)   Performance expectation one (1). Apply Newton's Third Law to design a solution to a problem involving the motion of two colliding objects.

(B)   Performance expectation one (1) - Clarification statement. Examples of practical problems could include the impact of collisions between two cars, between a car and stationary objects, and between a meteor and a space vehicle.

(C)   Performance expectation two (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.

(D)   Performance expectation two (2) - Clarification statement. Emphasis is on balanced (Newton's First Law) and unbalanced forces in a system, qualitative comparisons of forces, mass and changes in motion (Newton's Second Law), frame of reference, and specification of units.

(3)   Waves and their applications in technologies for information. Standards for students include all of the following performance expectations:

(A)   Performance expectation one (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.

(B)   Performance expectation one (1) - Clarification statement. Emphasis is on describing waves with both qualitative and quantitative thinking.

(C)   Performance expectation two (2). Develop and use a model to describe that waves are reflected, absorbed, or transmitted through various materials.

(D)   Performance expectation two (2) - Clarification statement. Emphasis is on both light and mechanical waves. Examples of models could include drawings, simulations, and written descriptions.

(E)   Performance expectation three (3). Integrate qualitative scientific and technical information to support the claim that digitized signals (sent as wave pulses) are a more reliable way to encode and transmit information.

(F)   Performance expectation three (3) - Clarification statement. Emphasis is on a basic understanding that waves can be used for communication purposes. Examples could include using fiber optic cable to transmit light pulses, radio wave pulses in Wi-Fi devices, and conversion of stored binary patterns to make sound or text on a computer screen.

(b)   Life Science. Performance expectations for eighth (8th) grade students from the domain of Life Science include all of the following topics:

(1)   From molecules to organisms: Structures and processes. Standards for students include all of the following performance expectations:

(A)   Performance expectation one (1). Develop a model to describe how food is rearranged through chemical reactions forming new molecules that support growth and/or release energy as this matter moves through an organism.

(B)   Performance expectation one (1) - Clarification statement. Emphasis is on describing that molecules are broken apart and put back together and that in this process, energy is released.

(2)   Biological unity and diversity. Standards for students include all of the following performance expectations:

(A)   Performance expectation one (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.

(B)   Performance expectation one (1) - Clarification statement. Emphasis is on finding patterns of changes in the level of complexity of anatomical structures in organisms and the chronological order of fossil appearance in the rock layers.

(C)   Performance expectation two (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 ancestral relationships.

(D)   Performance expectation two (2) - Clarification statement. Emphasis is on explanations of the ancestral relationships among organisms in terms of similarities or differences in the gross appearance of anatomical structures.

(c)   Earth and Space Science. Performance expectations for seventh (7th) grade students from the domain of Earth and Space Science include all of the following topics:

(1)   Earth's place in the universe. Standards for students include all of the following performance expectations:

(A)   Performance expectation one (1). Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence from rock strata for how the geologic time scale is used to organize Earth's geologic history.

(B)   Performance expectation one (1) - Clarification statement. Emphasis is on analyses of rock formations and fossils they contain to establish relative ages of major events in Earth's history. Major events could include the formation of mountain chains and ocean basins, adaptation and extinction of particular living organisms, volcanic eruptions, periods of massive glaciation, and the development of watersheds and rivers through glaciation and water erosion. The events in Earth's history happened in the past continue today. Scientific explanations can include models.

(2)   Earth's systems. Standards for students include all of the following performance expectations:

(A)   Performance expectation one (1). Develop a model to describe the cycling of Earth's materials and the flow of energy that drives this process.

(B)   Performance expectation one (1) - Clarification statement. Emphasis is on the processes of melting, crystallization, weathering, deformation, and sedimentation, which act together to form minerals and rocks through the cycling of Earth's materials.

(C)   Performance expectation two (2). Construct an explanation based on evidence for how geoscience processes have changed Earth's surface at varying time and spatial scales.

(D)   Performance expectation two (2) - Clarification statement. Emphasis is on how processes change Earth's surface at time and spatial scales that can be large (such as slow plate motions or the uplift of large mountain ranges) or small (such as rapid landslides or microscopic geochemical reactions), and how many geoscience processes usually behave gradually but are punctuated by catastrophic events such as earthquakes, volcanoes, and meteor impacts. Examples of geoscience processes include surface weathering and deposition by the movements of water, ice, and wind. Emphasis is on geoscience processes that shape local geographic features, where appropriate.

(E)   Performance expectation three (3). Analyze and interpret data on the distribution of fossils and rocks, continental shapes, and seafloor structures to provide evidence of the past plate motions.

(F)   Performance expectation three (3) - Clarification statement. Examples of data include similarities of rock and fossil types on different continents, the shapes of the continents (including continental shelves), and the locations of ocean structures (such as ridges, fracture zones, and trenches).

(3)   Earth and human activity. Standards for students include all of the following performance expectations:

(A)   Performance expectation one (1). Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for how the uneven distributions of Earth's mineral, energy, and groundwater resources are the result of past and current geoscience processes.

(B)   Performance expectation one (1) - Clarification statement. Emphasis is on how these resources are limited and typically non-renewable, and how their distributions are significantly changing as a result of removal by humans. Examples of uneven distributions of resources as a result of past processes include but are not limited to petroleum (locations of the burial of organic marine sediments and subsequent geologic traps), metal ores (locations of past volcanic and hydrothermal activity associated with subduction zones), and soil (locations of active weathering and/or deposition of rock).

(C)   Performance expectation two (2). Analyze and interpret data on natural hazards to forecast future catastrophic events and inform the development of technologies to mitigate their effects.

(D)   Performance expectation two (2) - Clarification statement. Emphasis is on how some natural hazards, such as volcanic eruptions and severe weather, are preceded by phenomena that allow for reliable predictions, but others, such as earthquakes, occur suddenly and with no notice, and thus are not yet predictable. Examples of natural hazards can be taken from interior processes (such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions), surface processes (such as mass wasting and tsunamis), or severe weather events (such as hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods). Examples of data can include the locations, magnitudes, and frequencies of the natural hazards. Examples of technologies can be global (such as satellite systems to monitor hurricanes or forest fires) or local (such as building basements in tornado-prone regions or reservoirs to mitigate droughts).

(E)   Performance expectation three (3). Construct an argument supported by evidence for how increases in human population and per-capita consumption of natural resources impact Earth's systems.

(F)   Performance expectation three (3) - Clarification statement. Examples of evidence include grade-appropriate databases on human populations and the rates of consumption of food and natural resources (such as freshwater, mineral, and energy). Examples of impacts can include changes to the appearance, composition, and structure of Earth's systems as well as the rates at which they change. The consequences of increases in human populations and consumption of natural resources are described by science, but science does not make the decisions for the actions society takes.

[Source: Added at 20 Ok Reg 159, eff 10-10-02 (emergency); Added at 20 Ok Reg 821, eff 5-15-03; Amended at 22 Ok Reg 1822, eff 6-25-05; Amended at 28 Ok Reg 2264, eff 7-25-11; Amended at 31 Ok Reg 1195, eff 9-12-14]