Motion and Forces: Students will be incorporating their math skills to learn about speed, velocity, and acceleration. There will be a trip (exact location to be decided) to see how all occur in application and real life. Students will also learn about everyday forces, including gravity and Newton's laws of motion. Students will be doing a lot of hands on learning in order to understand what the forces are and how they occur in everyday life.
Machines: How do we create machines in order to work most efficiently? Students will utilize their knowledge from their last unit as well as energy in order to study the 'work'. Students will apply their knowledge of machines and work to create a simple Rube Goldberg Machine in order to help in an everyday activity.
It's all about Matter: In our first unit students will discuss matter. What matter is actually made out of, and how to describe it based on physical and chemical characteristics, Students will also learn about how matter is classified and apply the law of conservation of mass. Students will be completing many labs throughout the unit in order to apply their knowledge.
Introduction to Chemistry: Students will learn about the nature of the atom. They will focus on the different parts that make up an atom, how they interact with one another, and how they join together to form the fabric of all matter. Students will learn about chemical equations and reactions and how energy plays a role in reactions. They will also learn about properties of solutions and review pH.
Energy: Energy is always conserved, but their are many forms and changes between types of energy. Students will explore the various types of energy, how they are transformed and transferred. Students will be reviewing prior knowledge of weather and temperature to understand what is happening at a molecular level.
Earth Science: Students will learn about earth formation as it relates to plate tectonics and earthquakes. Students will learn about different parts of the earth and how concepts in energy relate to the movement of the earth.
Space Science: Students will review the major components of the solar system, moon phases, and how mass affects gravity in space.