Nevada Administrative Code
Chapter 389 - Examinations, Courses, Standards and Diplomas
PREKINDERGARTEN, ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, MIDDLE SCHOOL AND JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL
Instruction: Sixth Through Eighth Grades
Section 389.411 - Eighth grade: Science
Universal Citation: NV Admin Code 389.411
Current through February 27, 2024
By the beginning of the sixth grade, pupils must know and be able to do everything required in the previous grades for science offered in public schools. Instruction in the sixth , seventh and eighth grades in science must be designed so that pupils meet the following performance standards by the completion of the eighth grade:
1. For the area of physical science, understand:
(a)
Matter and its interactions, as demonstrated by the ability of the pupil to:
(1) Develop models to demonstrate the atomic
composition of simple molecules and extended structures.
(2) Analyze and interpret data on the
properties of substances before and after the substances interact to determine
if a chemical reaction has occurred.
(3) Gather and analyze information to describe that synthetic mate
rials are derived from natural resources and impact society.
(4) Develop a model that demonstrates
predictions and changes in the particle motion, temperature and state of a pure
substance when thermal energy is added or removed.
(5) Develop and use a model to demonstrate
that the total number of atoms does not change in a chemical reaction and that
mass is therefore conserved.
(6)
Undertake a design project to construct, test and modify a device that either
releases or absorbs thermal energy by chemical processes.
(b) The forces and interactions which affect
motion and stability, as demonstrated by the ability of the pupil to:
(1) Apply Newton's third law of motion to
design a solution to a problem involving the motion of two colliding
objects.
(2) Plan 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.
(3) Ask questions about data to determine the
factors that affect the strength of electrical and magnetic forces.
(4) Construct and present arguments using
evidence to support the claim that gravitational interactions are at tractive
and depend on the masses of interacting objects.
(5) Conduct an investigation and evaluate
the experimental design to provide evidence that fields exist between objects
exerting forces on each other even though the objects are not in contact.
(c) Energy, as
demonstrated by the ability of the pupil to:
(1) Construct and interpret graphical displays of data to describe
the relationship of kinetic energy to the mass of an object and to the speed of
an object.
(2) Develop a model to
demonstrate that, when the arrangement of objects interacting at a distance
changes, different amounts of potential energy are stored in the
system.
(3) Apply scientific
principles to design, construct and test a device that either minimizes or
maximizes the transfer of thermal energy.
(4) Plan an investigation to determine the relationships among the
energy transferred, the type of matter, the mass and the change in the average
kinetic energy of particles as measured by the temperature of the
sample.
(5) Construct, use and
present arguments to support the claim that when the kinetic energy of an
object changes, energy is transferred to or from the
object.
(d) Waves and
their application in technology for the transfer of information, as
demonstrated by the ability of the pupil to:
(1) Use mathematical representations to describe a simple model
for waves that includes how the amplitude of a wave is related to the energy in
the wave.
(2) Develop and use a
model to demonstrate that waves are reflected, absorbed or transmitted through
various materials.
(3) Integrate
qualitative scientific and technical information to support the claim that
digitized signals are a more reliable way to encode and transmit information
than analog signals.
2. For the area of life science, understand:
(a) The structures and processes from
molecules to organisms, as demonstrated by the ability of the pupil to:
(1) Conduct an investigation to provide
evidence that living things are made of cells and that some living things
consist of one cell while others consist of many different numbers and types of
cells.
(2) Develop and use a model
to demonstrate the function of a cell as a whole and the ways in which the
parts of a cell contribute to that function.
(3) Use arguments supported by evidence for
how the body is a system of interacting subsystems composed of groups of
cells.
(4) Use arguments based on
empirical evidence and scientific reasoning to explain how characteristic
animal behaviors and specialized plant structures affect the probability of
successful reproduction of animals and plants , respectively.
(5) Construct a scientific explanation based
on evidence for how environmental and genetic factors influence the growth of
organisms.
(6) Construct a
scientific explanation based on evidence for the role of photosynthesis in the
cycling of matter and the flow of energy into and out of organisms.
(7) Develop a model to demonstrate how food
is rearranged through chemical reactions by forming new molecules that support
growth or release energy as this matter moves through an organism.
(8) Gather and synthesize information that
sensory receptors respond to stimuli by sending messages to the brain for
immediate behavior or storage as memories.
(b) The interactions, energy and dynamics of
ecosystems, as demonstrated by the ability of the pupil to:
(1) Analyze and interpret data to provide
evidence of the effects of resource availability on organisms and populations
of organisms in an ecosystem.
(2)
Construct an explanation that predicts patterns of interactions among organisms
across multiple ecosystems.
(3)
Develop a model to demonstrate the manner in which matter cycles and energy
flows among living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem.
(4) Construct an argument supported by
empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an
ecosystem affect populations.
(5)
Evaluate competing design solutions for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem
services.
(c) The
inheritance and variation of traits of heredity, as demonstrated by the ability
of the pupil to:
(1) Develop and use a model
to demonstrate why structural changes to genes located on chromosomes, known as
mutations, may affect proteins and may result in harmful, beneficial or neutral
effects to the structure and function of the organism.
(2) Develop and use a model to demonstrate
why asexual reproduction results in offspring with identical genetic
information and sexual reproduction results in offspring with genetic
variation.
(d) The unity
and diversity of biological evolution, as demonstrated by the ability of the
pupil to:
(1) Analyze and interpret data for
patterns in the fossil record that document the existence, diversity,
extinction and change of life forms throughout the history of life on earth,
assuming that natural laws operate the same today as in the past.
(2) Apply scientific concepts to construct
explanations for the anatomical similarities and differences among modern
organisms and between modern and fossil organisms to infer evolutionary
relationships.
(3) Analyze displays
of pictorial data to compare patterns of similarities in the embryological
development across multiple species to identify relationships not evident in
the fully formed anatomy.
(4)
Construct an explanation based on evidence that describes how genetic
variations of traits in a population increase the probability that some members
of the population will survive and reproduce in a specific
environment.
(5) Gather and
synthesize information about technologies that have changed the way humans
influence the inheritance of desired traits in organisms.
(6) Use mathematical representations to
support explanations of how natural selection may lead to increases and
decreases of specific traits in populations over
time.
3. For the area of earth science, understand:
(a)
The earth's place in the universe, as demonstrated by the ability of the pupil
to:
(1) Develop and use a model of the
earth-sun-moon system to demonstrate the cyclical patterns of lunar phases,
eclipses of the sun and moon and the seasons.
(2) Develop and use a model to demonstrate the role of gravity in
the way in which things move within galaxies and the solar system.
(3) Analyze and interpret data to determine
scale properties of objects in the solar system.
(4) Construct a scientific explanation based
on evidence from rock strata for how the geologic time scale is used to
organize the 4.6 - billion-year-old history of earth.
(b) The earth's systems, as demonstrated by
the ability of the pupil to:
(1) Develop a
model to demonstrate the cycling of the earth's materials and the flow of
energy that drives this process.
(2) Construct an explanation based on evidence for how
geoscientific processes have changed the earth's surface at varying times and
spatial scales.
(3) Analyze and
interpret data regarding the distribution of fossils and rocks, continental
shapes and seafloor structures to provide evidence of past plate motions.
(4) Develop a model to demonstrate
the cycling of water through the earth's systems driven by energy from the sun
and the force of gravity.
(5)
Collect data to provide evidence for how the motions and complex interactions
of air masses result in changes in weather conditions.
(6) Develop and use a model to demonstrate
how unequal heating and rotation of the earth cause patterns of atmospheric and
oceanic circulation that determine regional climates.
(c) The earth and human activity on earth,
as demonstrated by the ability of the pupil to:
(1) Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for how
the uneven distributions of the mineral, energy and ground water resources of
the earth are the result of past and current geoscientific processes.
(2) Analyze and interpret data
regarding natural hazards to forecast future catastrophic events for use in the
development of technologies to mitigate the effects of such hazards and events.
(3) Apply scientific principles
to design a method for monitoring and minimizing human impacts on the
environment.
(4) Construct an
argument supported by evidence for how increases in the human population and
per capita consumption of natural resources impact the earth's systems.
(5) Ask questions to clarify
evidence of the factors that have caused the rise in global temperatures over
the past century.
4. For the area of engineering technology , understand design, as demonstrated by the ability of the pupil to:
(a) Define the criteria and constraints of a design problem with
sufficient precision to ensure a successful solution, taking into account
relevant scientific principles and the potential impacts on humans and the
natural environment that may limit possible solutions.
(b) Evaluate competing design solutions
using a systematic process to determine how well the solutions meet the
criteria and constraints of the problem.
(c) Analyze data from tests to determine similarities and
differences among several design solutions to identify the best characteristics
of each solution that can be combined into a new solution to better meet the
criteria for success.
(d) Develop
a model to generate data for iterative testing and modification of a proposed
object, tool or process, such that an optimal design can
beach
Added to NAC by Bd. of Education by R075-99, eff. 11-4-99; A by R041-05, 10-31-2005; A by R084-13, eff. 6/23/2014; A by R141-14, eff. 10/27/2015
NRS 385.080, 385.110, 389.0185, 389.520
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