META24 CORE · PROJECT-BASED · SCIENCE · MIDDLE SCHOOL · GRADE 8 · 1 CREDIT · NGSS
Science 8 · Motion, Energy, Charge, Waves
Speed and acceleration, Newton’s three laws, friction; work, power, the six machines; charge and the circuit; the wave, the sound, the light, the heat. The builds are the runway, the ramp, the sled, the string that all goes out, the echo map.
THE MIX · HOW MUCH OF EACH CORE SUBJECT THIS COURSE CARRIES · IN ORDER
SCIENCEMATHREADING & WRITINGTECHNOLOGY & TRADES
The squares are a picture of a course — how much of each core subject its own rooms carry, read from the rooms’ text — never a score of a student. Every course in a lab is graded to the core across the board; the squares say which columns it feeds most.
WHAT YOU WILL BE ABLE TO DO
- Measure speed and acceleration and apply Newton’s laws to a push, a sled, a cart
- Compute work and power and explain mechanical advantage with a machine you built
- Build series and parallel circuits (battery power only) and predict them
- Measure a wave’s speed, map a room with sound, trace a beam of light
AT A GLANCE · 36 WEEKS
Q1 Motion and the laws — Same Push, Different Load
Q2 Energy and machines — All Six, Built and Measured
Q3 Charge and the circuit — The Prediction Everybody Gets Wrong
Q4 Waves, light, heat — Map the Building With Echoes
Semester 1
WEEKS 1–18 · QUARTERS 1 AND 2Motion and the laws
WEEKS 1–9THE WEEKS · THE ROOMS EACH ONE OPENS
WK 1–3Speed and acceleration
The ten-metre runway; the ramp that proves the squared second.
WK 4–7Newton’s three laws
The tablecloth; the sled; two carts, one push.
WK 8–9Friction
Measure μ for this building.
THE PROJECT · WHAT THE QUARTER IS FOR
Same Push, Different Load
The question. Same push, different load: what does the cart do when you double the mass?
The make. Same Push, Different Load — the build on the Science Floor, in the Fab Shop: the number, the count, the sheet.
The evidence. The F = ma sheet with three loads measured, handed in through the Science Floor
MS-PS2-1HS-PS2-1
Energy and machines
WEEKS 10–18THE WEEKS · THE ROOMS EACH ONE OPENS
WK 10–12Work and power
The joules in a lift; same work, different watts.
WK 13–15Kinetic, potential, conserved
The square in ½mv²; the second hill.
WK 16–18The six machines
All six built; the mechanical advantage; the efficiency.
THE PROJECT · WHAT THE QUARTER IS FOR
All Six, Built and Measured
The question. All six machines, built and measured: which one gives the most for the least?
The make. All Six, Built and Measured — the build on the Science Floor, in the Fab Shop: the number, the count, the sheet.
The evidence. The six-machine sheet with each advantage measured, handed in through the Science Floor
MS-PS3-5MS-ETS1-2
Semester 2
WEEKS 19–36 · QUARTERS 3 AND 4Charge and the circuit
WEEKS 19–27 · IN THIS OFFERINGTHE WEEKS · THE ROOMS EACH ONE OPENS
WK 19–21Charge and Ohm
What a device actually draws; V = IR on your own line.
WK 22–25Series and parallel
The string that all goes out; the prediction everybody gets wrong — battery power only.
WK 26–27The magnet and the motor
The electromagnet that lifts scrap; the motor run backwards.
THE PROJECT · WHAT THE QUARTER IS FOR
The Prediction Everybody Gets Wrong
The question. Add a branch and the current goes UP — predict it, then measure it.
The make. The Prediction Everybody Gets Wrong — the build on the Science Floor, in the Cyber Lab: the number, the count, the sheet.
The evidence. The parallel-circuit sheet with the prediction and the measurement side by side, handed in through the Science Floor
MS-PS2-3HS-PS3-5
Waves, light, heat
WEEKS 28–36THE WEEKS · THE ROOMS EACH ONE OPENS
WK 28–30The wave and its speed
A wave you can stand next to; the speed of sound with a camera.
WK 31–33Sound and resonance
Map the building with echoes; the twelfth fret.
WK 34–36Light and heat
The optical bench; the three modes; why water is stubborn.
THE PROJECT · WHAT THE QUARTER IS FOR
Map the Building With Echoes
The question. Map the building with echoes: how far is the far wall, from the delay alone?
The make. Map the Building With Echoes — the build on the Science Floor, in the Studio: the number, the count, the sheet.
The evidence. The echo map with the distances computed from the delays, handed in through the Science Floor
MS-PS4-1MS-PS4-2HS-PS4-1
A course is a quarter, a semester or a year — nine, eighteen or thirty-six weeks — a project a quarter. Offered as the year, a semester or a quarter, it is the same course seen through a window. A lab is a family: its year, each of its tracks as a course, and its rooms. The evidence is what a student hands in through the room; the Report reads it from there. Nothing in the catalog is a grade.
THE PASS · THIS COURSE AND EVERY OTHER ONE
One pass includes Science 8 · Motion, Energy, Charge, Waves and every course in the catalog. Pick a pass, or enter a school code; checkout stays on this page.