GRADES 6-8
Overview
Middle school students can be characterized as curious, energetic, and enthusiastic. These students are moving from childhood to adolescence at various rates. They possess multiple learning styles, varied intellectual abilities, and are sensitive to peer perception. Teachers are challenged to incorporate effective classroom strategies that meet students’ growing needs as individual learners while helping students make the transition from learning concrete facts to making scientific applications. With a foundation based on inquiry, the middle school science curriculum affords students opportunities for exploration and an in-depth study of science concepts. The scientific process and application skills located on page 10 of this document should be integrated into the teaching of the required science content.
Earth and Space Science, Life Science, and Physical Science content and skills are best taught through a “hands-on,” “minds-on” approach to learning. In order to facilitate this process, the science classroom must extend beyond traditional boundaries while maintaining a primary focus on student safety. Students learn the “what” while being encouraged to seek the “why” and “how” behind natural phenomena. By designing a challenging curriculum, creating a supportive environment, stimulating student imagination, and providing opportunities for investigation, science teachers enable students to become actively involved in their own learning.
Success in science translates into the creation of productive, lifelong learners capable of meeting the needs and challenges of the twenty-first century. The goals of the middle school science program, therefore, are to meet the needs of the individual learner, to challenge all students to excel, and to provide students with the resources necessary to acquire science content and skills applicable both within and beyond the educational setting.
Cherokee County Schools: This Curriculum Guide shows one possible way that the Alabama Course of Study: Science standards may be presented over the time of a particular class. The guide also shows alignment with state mandated student assessment objectives as well as newly adopted county textbooks.
The 7th and 8th grade curriculum guides are based on a block schedule using 96 minutes of class time with the course being taught over approximately 19 weeks, or one semester. The 6th grade curriculum guide is based on a regular schedule with the class time being approximately 50 minutes and the class lasting all year or 37 - 38 weeks. The 7th and 8th grade guides can be used on a regular 50-minute class schedule if the suggested time frames are approximately doubled. (If one chapter is covered in one week on a block schedule, the same material will take approximately 2 weeks on a regular schedule.)
The resources that are included in the county’s newly adopted textbooks are an excellent source of materials. There are many hands-on activities, transparencies, PowerPoint presentations, and demonstrations that can be used in class to enhance your presentation of the particular subject being taught. The Lab Activities include instructions as well as needed materials to perform the activity. The activities found in the “Additional Resources” of the Curriculum guide are included as extra suggestions that may be used in addition to resources included with the new textbook material. They are not to be considered an exhaustive list of suggestions, but merely as a starting point.