Missouri Grades 6–8 science standards

6-8.ESS1.A.3 Develop and use a model to describe the role of gravity in the motions within galaxies and the solar system.

Lessons: The Solar System: Gravity, Orbits and Scale (Why do planets go around the Sun and not fly away?) (partly)

Practice: The Solar System: Gravity, Orbits and Scale workbook

6-8.ESS1.B.1 Analyze and interpret data to determine scale properties of objects in the solar system.

Lessons: The Solar System: Gravity, Orbits and Scale (How big is the solar system, really?, What is each world like?)

Practice: The Solar System: Gravity, Orbits and Scale workbook · Sun, Earth and Moon workbook

6-8.ESS2.A.2 Construct an explanation based on evidence for how geoscience processes have changed Earth’s surface at varying time and spatial scales.

Lessons: Stone, Bamboo and Storms: Building in Vietnam (How did rain carve the islands of Hạ Long Bay?, Why do builders in Vietnam trust bamboo?, How can a roof survive a typhoon?)

Practice: Stone, Bamboo and Storms: Building in Vietnam workbook

6-8.ESS2.B.1 Analyze and interpret data on the distribution of fossils and rocks, continental shapes, and seafloor structures to provide evidence of the past plate motions.

Lessons: Restless Earth: Fossils, Soils, Volcanoes and Plates (Where do volcanoes and earthquakes happen?, What do moving plates do, and can a building survive?) (partly)

6-8.ESS2.C.1 Design and develop a model to describe the cycling of water through Earth's System driven by energy from the sun and the force of gravity.

Lessons: The Water Cycle, Start to Finish (Where has the water in your glass been?, Can you make a mini water cycle?) (partly)

Practice: The Water Cycle, Start to Finish workbook

6-8.ESS3.A.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 and human activity.

Lessons: Our Changing Planet: Resources and Human Impact (Where does your stuff come from?) (partly)

Practice: Our Changing Planet: Resources and Human Impact workbook

6-8.ESS3.B.1 Analyze and interpret data on natural hazards to forecast future catastrophic events and inform the development of technologies to mitigate their effects.

Lessons: Stone, Bamboo and Storms: Building in Vietnam (How did rain carve the islands of Hạ Long Bay?, Why do builders in Vietnam trust bamboo?, How can a roof survive a typhoon?)

Practice: Stone, Bamboo and Storms: Building in Vietnam workbook

6-8.ESS3.C.2 Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment.

Lessons: Our Changing Planet: Resources and Human Impact (How can a town use less and waste less?) (partly)

Practice: Our Changing Planet: Resources and Human Impact workbook

6-8.ESS3.D.1 Analyze evidence of the factors that have caused the change in global temperatures over the past century.

Lessons: Climate Clues (Is this winter colder than when your grandparents were kids?, What can a tree ring tell us?) (partly)

Practice: Climate Clues workbook

6-8.ETS1.A.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.

Lessons: Forces and Motion: Crash, Push and Stop (Can you design a crumple zone?)

Practice: Forces and Motion: Crash, Push and Stop workbook

6-8.ETS1.B.1 Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.

Lessons: Forces and Motion: Crash, Push and Stop (Can you design a crumple zone?) · Stone, Bamboo and Storms: Building in Vietnam (How did rain carve the islands of Hạ Long Bay?, Why do builders in Vietnam trust bamboo?, How can a roof survive a typhoon?)

Practice: Forces and Motion: Crash, Push and Stop workbook · Stone, Bamboo and Storms: Building in Vietnam workbook

6-8.ETS1.B.2 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.

Lessons: Test the Claim: Science Facts, Myths and AI Answers (Which source should we trust?) (partly) · Stone, Bamboo and Storms: Building in Vietnam (How did rain carve the islands of Hạ Long Bay?, Why do builders in Vietnam trust bamboo?, How can a roof survive a typhoon?)

Practice: Test the Claim: Science Facts, Myths and AI Answers workbook · Stone, Bamboo and Storms: Building in Vietnam workbook

6-8.LS1.A.2 Develop and use a model to describe the function of a cell as a whole and ways parts of the cells contribute to that function.

Lessons: Cells: The Smallest Living Things (How do things get in and out of a cell?, Can you pull DNA out of a strawberry?) (partly)

Practice: Cells: The Smallest Living Things workbook

6-8.LS1.C.1 Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for the role of photosynthesis and cellular respiration in the cycling of matter and flow of energy into and out of Organisms.

Lessons: How Plants Make Food: Photosynthesis and Respiration (Where does a tree's mass come from?, What happens to the food a plant makes?)

Practice: How Plants Make Food: Photosynthesis and Respiration workbook

6-8.LS2.A.1 Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for the effects of resource availability on individual Organisms and populations of Organisms in an ecosystem.

Lessons: Ecosystems and Biomes: Who Depends on Whom (What happens to a population when food runs out?)

Practice: Ecosystems and Biomes: Who Depends on Whom workbook

6-8.LS2.B.1 Develop a model to describe the cycling of matter and flow of energy among living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem.

Lessons: How Plants Make Food: Photosynthesis and Respiration (How does energy from the Sun move through a whole ecosystem?)

Practice: How Plants Make Food: Photosynthesis and Respiration workbook

6-8.LS2.C.1 Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that explains how changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations.

Lessons: Ecosystems and Biomes: Who Depends on Whom (What happens to a population when food runs out?, How can we protect an ecosystem's services?) (partly)

Practice: Ecosystems and Biomes: Who Depends on Whom workbook

6-8.LS4.B.1 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.

Lessons: Natural Selection: How Living Things Change Over Time (Why do some animals survive and others don't?, What did the Grants find on the Galápagos?)

Practice: Natural Selection: How Living Things Change Over Time workbook

6-8.LS4.B.2 Gather and synthesize information about the technologies that have changed the way humans influence the inheritance of desired traits in Organisms.

Lessons: Natural Selection: How Living Things Change Over Time (How fast can people change a species?) (partly)

Practice: Natural Selection: How Living Things Change Over Time workbook

6-8.LS4.C.1 Interpret graphical representations to support explanations of how natural selection may lead to increases and decreases of specific traits in populations over time.

Lessons: Natural Selection: How Living Things Change Over Time (Why do some animals survive and others don't?, What did the Grants find on the Galápagos?, How fast can people change a species?)

Practice: Natural Selection: How Living Things Change Over Time workbook

6-8.PS1.A.2 Analyze and interpret data on the properties of substances before and after the substances interact to determine if a chemical reaction has occurred.

Lessons: Kitchen Chemistry (Is it a new substance?, Can red cabbage tell acid from base?)

Practice: Kitchen Chemistry workbook

6-8.PS1.A.4 Develop a model that describes changes in particle motion, temperature, and state of a pure substance when thermal energy is added or removed.

Lessons: Hot and Cold: Particles on the Move (Why do bike tires go soft in winter?, Why does food colouring spread faster in hot water?, How does a thermometer know?) (partly)

Practice: Hot and Cold: Particles on the Move workbook

6-8.PS1.B.1 Develop and use a model to describe how the total number of atoms remains the same during a chemical reaction and thus mass is conserved.

Lessons: Kitchen Chemistry (Where does the mass go?)

Practice: Kitchen Chemistry workbook

6-8.PS2.A.2 Plan and conduct 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.

Lessons: Forces and Motion: Crash, Push and Stop (Why do you lurch forward when a bus stops?, Why does a heavier cart hit harder?)

Practice: Forces and Motion: Crash, Push and Stop workbook

6-8.PS3.A.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.

Lessons: Forces and Motion: Crash, Push and Stop (How fast is a toy car really going?, Why does a heavier cart hit harder?) (partly)

Practice: Forces and Motion: Crash, Push and Stop workbook

6-8.PS3.A.3 Apply scientific principles to design, construct, and test a device that either minimizes or maximizes thermal energy transfer.

Lessons: Hot and Cold: Particles on the Move (Can you keep an ice cube frozen the longest?) · Steppe Science: Staying Warm on the Kazakh Steppe (How does a felt yurt keep a family warm at −30 °C?)

Practice: Hot and Cold: Particles on the Move workbook · Steppe Science: Staying Warm on the Kazakh Steppe workbook · Hot Stuff: Heat, Temperature and Cooling workbook

6-8.PS3.A.4 Plan and conduct an investigation to determine the relationships among the energy transferred, the type of matter, the mass, and the change in the temperature of the sample.

Lessons: Hot and Cold: Particles on the Move (Why does food colouring spread faster in hot water?, Can you keep an ice cube frozen the longest?) (partly)

Practice: Hot and Cold: Particles on the Move workbook · Hot Stuff: Heat, Temperature and Cooling workbook