6-8 Science

CURRICULUM

The Corte Madera Science curriculum is developed based on the California Next Generation Science Standards, in alignment with PVSD's goals and priorities. All of our students are provided a high-quality program that motivates, engages, and challenges them to be critical thinkers and problem solvers.

 

6th Grade Science

Human Body Unit - students start with the driving question "What is going on inside me?" They will view various cells and learn their basic function, learn about the systems of the body including the nervous and digestive systems, understand how the various body systems work together and incorporate the brain's very important and delicate functions and features. 

Genetics Unit - students explore the basic elements of genetics in the module called "Why Do Organisms Look The Way They Do?" They explore how DNA and genetics sets the stage for how life continues on our planet. 

Weather - students learn about the basic elements of weather and its causes. But, the engineering project in which they design the tallest freestanding tower with given materials will likely be their favorite.

Climate Change and Human Impact - In the final module, "How Do Humans Affect The World Around Us?" students will delve into some of the issues around Climate Change, and will work on coming up with possible solutions to this global problem.

Castellanos Syllabus SY23-24

Curriculum used:  IQWST, FOSS, StemScopes, and other activities brought in to highlight current events or to make the content relevant and engaging. 

7th Grade Science

Chemical Interactions -  Basic substances, when combined in certain proportions, produce all the forms of matter on Earth. Today, we understand matter on Earth to be composed of 90 elements. We accept that the nature of matter depends on the number and arrangement of atoms of those elements and the particular energy load carried by that association of atoms at a particular time. We will explore these concepts and see how chemistry is the basis of life on this planet.

Earth History - Rock cycle, rock types, earthquakes, types of earth movements, stories in the rocks.

Disruptions in Ecosystems - Students will investigate how organisms depend on each other as well as how they can be affected by events that disrupt ecosystem function.

Health Curriculum - Alcohol, Tobacco and Drug Resistance, presented in the Spring.

Rusch 2023-'24/ 7th Grade Syllabus

Castellanos Syllabus SY23-24 

Curriculum used:  IQWST, FOSS, Open SciEd, and other activities brought in to highlight current events or to make the content relevant and engaging.

8th Grade Science

Electricity and Magnetism -  Students will measure the force of invisible magnetic fields, learn to build a circuit, design an electromagnet, and explain the energy transfers that make it all possible. The anchor phenomena for this course are force interactions and effects. The driving question for the course is what is the relationship between magnetic and electric forces?

Gravity and Kinetic Energy - How does gravity cause objects to move? What happens to an object’s energy when it moves faster? What happens when moving objects collide? How can humans protect themselves in collisions? These are the fundamental physics questions explored by students in this course as they explore the anchor phenomena of falling objects and collisions.

Planetary Science - The driving question for the course is- "What is my cosmic address?" Astronomy is the study of everything we can observe and imagine beyond Earth—the Moon, the Sun, the solar system, the Milky Way, and the vastness of the cosmos. 

Heredity and Adaptation - This course begins to explore the anchor phenomenon of the biodiversity that exists on Earth. The driving question for this course is how can we explain the diversity of life that has lived on Earth?

Sexuality Education and Reproductive Health - This will happen in the Spring. More information to follow.

Rusch 2023-'24/ 8th Grade Syllabus

Curriculum used:  IQWST, FOSS, Open SciEd, and other activities brought in to highlight current events or to make the content relevant and engaging.