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Course Description

It is a comprehensive study of the Pennsylvania state standards for science and common core.
Students will work on enhancing academic skills to be used on future science and other courses.
Students will participate in LiveLesson sessions, portfolio assignments, class discussions,
enrichment LiveLessons related to the topics covered. The evaluation methods may include, but
are not limited to: tests, quizzes, essay writing, portfolio projects, and lab reports.

The course will be split into two semesters. The units that make up the first semester are:
Introduction to Science, Our Solar System, Earths History, and Human Impact on the
Environment. The units that make up the second semester are: Matter and Energy in
Organisms and Ecosystems, The Human Body, Interaction of Forces, and Energy and the
Environment.

Textbooks

We will be using the Pearson Interactive Science program for this year. The books are available
online and you should have hardcopies of the textbooks. There are three series of books that
concentrate on the three main branches of science (Life Science, Physical Science, and Earth
Science). I will also have supplemental resources on my website to help explain the topics.






Science 8
Class Syllabus Mr. Micco
2014-2015 School Year 724-741-2689 (Ofce), 724-498-5994 (After-Hours)
Work Hours: 7:00-3:00 (Wednesday - Friday)
7:00-3:30 (Monday & Tuesday)
Course Requirements

The following are requirements to ensure your success in the course this year:

Website: I have created a website for our class where you will find valuable information. The
website will have links to websites that will help you with the topics that we are studying. Im
also going to post videos and resources that will benefit you. Please make an effort to visit the
website everyday. The website is www.mmicco.com. If you are having trouble accessing the
website, please let me know as soon as possible.

Class Calendar: Please refer to the class calendar that is located on the website. This calendar
will have important information as well as my LiveLesson schedule.

Weekly Agenda Videos: Each week I will be recording an agenda video. This video will
contain all of the information that you will need to know about the class that particular week.
It is important that you watch these videos so that you are informed about any changes also.

LiveLesson attendance: Attending LiveLessons will bring the content to life. The
LiveLessons will be a place where you can apply what you are learning. I will be utilizing a
new interactive way to get you engaged with the material and other students in the class. The
software I'm going to be using is called Class Craft. There is a section located on my
website for more information.

Portfolios: You will be responsible for completing a portfolio assignment for each unit. I
know that we all have different talents and I want you to be able to showcase those. I will send
out a menu of projects that you can complete to receive credit for the assignment. There will
be 8 predetermined projects and one where you can request your own idea. I feel that this will
give you a choice to complete a project of your liking to display your mastery of the content.
The field trips this year will have activities that can be counted as credit for portfolios. More
information will be sent out later

Tests & Quizzes: You will have quizzes and a test in each unit. You are required to complete
all of those assignments. If you dont do well on a test or quiz, you will have the opportunity
to take an alternative quiz or test. I'm also going to give you a choice to come up with a way to
show me that you have mastered the material. This is something we would have to agree on.

Phone Calls: We are required to talk every 9 weeks or twice a semester. The phone calls are
very important because it will help me know if you are understanding the material. Im going
to try to come up with a system where you can sign up for phone calls. You will get an email
on how to do this very soon.




Course Objectives
Students will be able to.....
Unit 1: Introduction to Science
Define science & give examples of what different scientists study.
Evaluate, design, and explain the use of models and experimental design in science.
Summarize the differences between a scientific theory and scientific law.
Analyze the tools scientists use and when and how to use them appropriately.
Explain how science and technology influences everyday life.

Unit 2: Our Solar system
Construct explanations for the occurrences of day/night cycles, seasons, tides, eclipses, and
lunar phases based on patterns of observed motions of celestial bodies.
Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the expansion and scale of the
universe to support the big bang theory.
Construct and use models to describe the location of Earth with respect to the size and
structure of the solar system, Milky Way Galaxy, and universe.
Use models to support explanations of the composition, structure, and formation of the
solar system from a disk of dust and gas drawn together by gravity.

Unit 3: Earths History
Construct explanations for patterns in geologic evidence to determine relative ages of a
sequence of events that have occurred in the Earths past.
Use models of the geologic time scale in order to organize major events in Earths
history.
Construct explanations from evidence for how different geologic processes shape the
Earths evolution over widely varying scales of space and time.
Use empirical evidence from rock and fossil records to investigate how geologic events
have caused major extinctions of life forms on Earth and ho these extinctions have
subsequently allowed other life forms to flourish.
Construct explanations of the Earths structure: The geosphere, hydrosphere,
atmosphere, and biosphere. Use models of the geosphere and biosphere that highlight a
system on interactions to explain how the geosphere and biosphere co-evolve over
geologic time.

Unit 4: Human Impact on the Environment
Generate and revise qualitative explanations from data for the impacts on Earths
systems that result from increases in human population and rates of consumption.
Design engineering solutions stabilizing changes to communities by (1) using water
efficiently, (2) minimizing human impacts on the environments and local landscapes by
reducing pollution, and (3) reducing the release of greenhouse gases.
Ask questions to refine and develop an explanation for the way technological
monitoring of Earths systems can provide the means of informing the public of ways to
modify human impacts on Earths systems.
Use empirical evidence to evaluate technologies that utilize renewable energy
resources.
Use system models and representations to explain how human activities significantly
impact (1) the geosphere, (2) the hydrosphere, (3) the atmosphere, (4) the biosphere,
and (5) global temperatures.

Unit 5: Matter and Energy in Organisms and Ecosystems
Develop an explanation for the role of photosynthesis in the cycling of matter and flow
of energy on Earth.
Investigate the cycling of matter among living and nonliving parts of ecosystems to
explain the flow of energy and conservation of matter.
Use models to explain the transfer of energy into, out of, and within ecosystems.
Construct and communicate models of food webs that demonstrate the transfer of
matter and energy among organisms within an ecosystem.
Use evidence to support an explanation that matter is conserved when molecules from
food react with oxygen in the environment and cycle repeatedly between living and
non-living components of the ecosystem.
Use evidence to support arguments that changing any physical or biological component
of an ecosystem may result in shifts in the populations of species in the ecosystem.

Unit 6: Human Body & Disease
Describe and explain how the human body is organized.
Explain how organs and structures make up major systems of the human body and
describe what these systems do.
Describe and explain how the major systems in the human body work together.
Investigate what causes disease.
Use evidence to support arguments on how ideas about what causes diseases have
changed over time.

Unit 7: Interaction of Forces
Collect data and generate evidence to answer scientific questions or test design
solutions under a range of conditions.
Pose models to describe mechanisms at unobservable scales.
Use/or construct models to predict, explain, and/or collect data to test ideas about
phenomena in natural or designed systems, including those representing inputs and
outputs.
Modify models - based on their limitations - to increase detail or clarity, or to explore
what will happen if a component is changed.
Use and construct models of simple systems with uncertain and less predictable factors.
Time, space, and energy phenomena can be observed at various scales using models to
study systems that are too large or too small. The observed function of natural and
designed systems may change with scale.
Relationships can be classified as casual or correctional, and correlation does not
necessarily imply causation. Cause and effect relationships may be used to predict
phenomena in natural or designed systems. Phenomena may have more than one cause,
and some cause and effect relationships in systems can only be described using
probability.

Unit 8: Energy and the Environment
Use oral and written arguments supported by empirical evidence and reasoning to
support or refute an argument for a phenomenon or a solution to a problem.
Use qualitative and quantitative relationships between variables to construct
explanations for phenomena.
Construct explanations from models or representations.
Use and/or construct models to predict, explain, and/or collect data to test ideas about
phenomena in natural or designed systems, including those representing inputs and
outputs.
Matter is conserved because atoms are conserved in physical and chemical processes.
Within a natural or designed system, the transfer of energy drives the motion and/or
cycling of matter.
Energy may take different forms (e.g. energy in fields, thermal energy, energy in
motion). The transfer of energy can be tracked as energy flows through a designed or
natural system


LiveLesson Schedule:
Monday = Ofce Hours: 2:00 - 3:00
Targeted LL: 3:00-3:30

Tuesday = Content LL: 2:00-3:00,
Enrichment LL: 3:00-3:30

Wednesday = Content LL: 2:00-3:00

Thursday = Content LL: 2:00-3:00

Friday = Content LL: 2:00-3:00