Science and Technology/Engineering
26 Grade 8
Lauren Weiss and Margaret Krone
Cause and Effect
Grade 8 students use more robust abstract thinking skills to explain causes of complex phenomena and systems. Many causes are not immediately or physically visible to students. An understanding of cause and effect of key natural phenomena and designed processes allows students to explain patterns and make predictions about future events. In grade 8 these include, for example, causes of seasons and tides; causes of plate tectonics and weather or climate; the role of genetics in reproduction, heredity, and artificial selection; and how atoms and molecules interact to explain the substances that make up the world and how materials change. Being able to analyze phenomena for evidence of causes and processes that often cannot be seen, and being able to conceptualize and describe those, is a significant outcome for grade 8 students.[1] [2]
LS1. From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes
- 8.MS-LS1-5. Construct an argument based on evidence for how environmental and genetic factors influence the growth of organisms.
Falcon Curriculum Core Categories
Anatomy and Life Cycle
Geography
Falcon Curriculum Essential Question
What environmental and genetic factors influence the growth of peregrine falcons, and how?
Materials
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Sample Plan
Read About Falcons: Life Cycle and watch the Falcon Curriculum: Life Cycle videos. Read the Case Study of 72/BV. Identify the environmental and genetic factors that influenced her growth and her offspring’s growth (i.e. her genetics seem to lend themselves to large clutches; she was raised in a relatively safe and protected environment, and was able to raise 2 4-chick clutches in a relatively safe and protected environment).
LS4. Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity
- 8.MS-LS4-4. Use a model to describe the process of natural selection, in which genetic variations of some traits in a population increase some individuals’ likelihood of surviving and reproducing in a changing environment. Provide evidence that natural selection occurs over many generations.
- 8.MS-LS4-5. Synthesize and communicate information about artificial selection, or the ways in which humans have changed the inheritance of desired traits in organisms.
Falcon Curriculum Core Categories
Anatomy and Life Cycle
Geography
Falcon Curriculum Essential Question
How do genetic variations in falcon subspecies increase their likelihood of surviving and reproducing in their environments, and how have humans have changed the inheritance of desired traits in them?
Materials
| For Instructors | For Students |
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Sample Plan
Read and watch About Falcons: Habitat and Falcon Curriculum: Habitat videos. As a class, go through the PEFA Genetics article. Talk about the various subspecies used to restore the falcon population in North America.
Ask students to do a pretend “falcon family tree” for an admixed (hybri