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Correlations to Standards by State by Academic Discipline

South Carolina Curriculum Standards -- Eighth Grade Science

II. Life Science

Unit of Study: Classification, Diversity, and Adaptations of Organisms Over Time

A. Diversity and Adaptations of Organisms

1. Millions of species of animals, plants, and microorganisms are alive today. Although different species might look dissimilar, the unity among organisms becomes apparent from an analysis of internal structures, the similarity of their chemical processes and the evidence of common ancestry.

2. Biological change accounts for the diversity of species developed through gradual processes over many generations. Biological adaptations, which involve the selection of naturally occurring variations in populations, enhance survival and reproductive success in a particular environment. How a species moves, obtains food, reproduces, and responds to danger are based in the species' evolutionary history.

3. Extinction of a species occurs when the environment changes and the adaptive characteristics of a species are insufficient to allow its survival.

4. Fossils provide important evidence of how life and environmental conditions have changed. (Earth's History: Earth Science) Fossils indicate that many organisms that lived long ago are extinct. Extinction of species is common. Most of the species that have lived on the earth no longer exist.

    a. Examine how scientists use fossils as clues to study the earth's past.

    b. Observe, interpret and analyze fossilized tracks.

    c. List different types of fossils and infer how each formed (petrifaction, mold and cast, imprint).

    • Fossils
      http://www.beyondbooks.com/ear82/10b.asp

    d. Demonstrate how to determine the relative age of rocks and fossils (index fossil, oldest rock layer, and youngest rock layer).

    e. Explain how scientists use technology to date rocks and fossils (e.g., radioactive dating). (T)

5. The earth's processes we see today including erosion, movement of lithospheric plates, and changes in atmospheric composition, are similar to those that occurred in the past. Earth's history is also influenced by occasional catastrophes such as the impact of an asteroid or comet. (Earth's History: Earth Science)

    a. Illustrate the principle of uniformitarianism (the concept that earth processes over time are consistent).

    b. Explain how the geologic time scale is divided into units (e.g., era, period, and epoch).

    c. Group different life forms according to the geologic time scale.

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III. Earth Science

Unit of Study: Earth and Space Systems

A. Earth in the Solar System

1. The earth is the third planet from the sun in the system that includes the moon, the sun, eight other planets and their moons, smaller objects, such as asteroids and comets. (solar system)

2. The sun, an average star, is central and largest body in the solar system.

    a. Describe and classify the four layers of the sun's atmosphere (corona, chromosphere, photosphere, and core).

    b. Evaluate how phenomena on the sun's surface affect Earth (e.g., sunspots, prominences, and solar flares).

    c. Describe how the sun's solar wind affects Earth (i.e., auroras, interference in radio, and television communication).

3. Energy is a property of many substances and is associated with nuclei. (Transfer of Energy: Physical Science)

    a. Explain the process by which the sun produces energy (fusion).

    b. Compare and contrast nuclear fusion and nuclear fission.

4. Most objects in the solar system are in regular and predictable motion which explains such phenomena as the day, the year, phases of the moon, and eclipses.

    a. Compare and contrast the Earth's rotation and revolution as they relate to daily and annual changes.

    b. Sequence and predict the phases of the moon (e.g., waxing, waning, crescent, new, and full).

    c. Demonstrate the arrangement of the sun, the moon and the earth during solar and lunar eclipses (including partial eclipses).

5. Gravity alone holds us to the earth's surface and explains the phenomena of the tides.

    a. Compare and contrast the contributions of Copernicus and Galileo. (H)

    b. Diagram the relative position of the sun, the moon, and the earth during tides.

    c. Examine the effect of the sun and moon on tides.

6. Seasons result from variations in the amount of the sun's energy hitting the surface, due to the tilt of the earth's rotation on its axis and the length of the day.

    a. Analyze how the parallel rays of the sun effect the temperature of Earth and produce different amounts of heating on Earth's surface.

    b. Diagram how the tilt of Earth's axis affects the seasons and the length of day.

    c. Relate the seasons to the tilt of the earth and the angle of the sun's rays.

7. Gravity is the force that keeps planets in orbit around the sun and governs the rest of the motion in the solar system.

    a. Examine the role of gravity in keeping the sun and solar system in orbit.

    b. Describe the relationship among gravity, distance and mass on orbiting bodies.

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Unit of Study: Earth Processes

B. Structure of the Earth System

1. The solid Earth is layered with a lithosphere; hot, convecting; and dense metallic core.

    a. Describe how seismic wave velocities support the existence of a layered Earth.

    b. Explain the relative position, density, and composition of Earth's crust, mantle, and core.

    c. Differentiate among composition, density, and location of continental crust and oceanic crust.

    • The Core
      http://www.beyondbooks.com/ear82/1b.asp

    d. Identify the lithosphere as comprised of crust and uppermost mantle.

    e. Identify the asthenosphere as the hot convecting mantle below the lithosphere.

    f. Compare the physical nature of the lithosphere (brittle and rigid) with the asthenosphere (plastic and flowing).

    • The Core
      http://www.beyondbooks.com/ear82/1b.asp
    • The Mantle
      http://www.beyondbooks.com/ear82/1c.asp

    g. Examine how the lithosphere responds to tectonic forces (faulting and folding).

3. Some changes in the solid Earth can be described as the "rock cycle." Old rocks at the Earth's surface weather, forming sediments that are buried, then compacted, heated, and often recrystallized into new rock. Eventually, those new rocks may be brought to the surface by the forces that drive plate motions, and the rock cycle continues.

    a. Identify and classify minerals that form rocks and explain how recrystallization of these minerals can take place.

    • Minerals AND ALL FOCUS TOPICS
      http://www.beyondbooks.com/ear82/6.asp

    b. Distinguish minerals by their physical properties with a dichotomous key.

    d. Compare and contract intrusive and extrusive igneous rocks; clastic and chemical sedimentary rocks; and foliated and nonfoliated metamorphic rocks.

    • The Rock Cycle AND ALL FOCUS TOPICS
      http://www.beyondbooks.com/ear82/7.asp

    e. Explain how igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks are related in a rock cycle.

    • The Rock Cycle AND ALL FOCUS TOPICS
      http://www.beyondbooks.com/ear82/7.asp

4. Major geologic events such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and mountain building result from lithospheric plate motions. Landforms and sea-floor features are the result of a combination of constructive (crustal deformation, volcanic eruptions, deposition of sediment) and destructive (weathering, erosion) processes.

    a. Illustrate and summarize what causes a volcano to erupt.

    b. Compare and contrast with respect to the four types of regions where volcanoes occur (e.g., mid-ocean ridges, intra-plate regions, island arcs, and along come continental edges.

    c. Examine how earthquakes result from forces inside Earth (tension, shearing, and compression).

    d. Compare and contract the three major types of seismic waves (primary, secondary and surface waves).

    e. Identify and investigate longitudinal and transverse waves.

    f. Describe how the seismograph measures seismic activity (strength and location).(T)

    g. Demonstrate how an earthquake's epicenter is located by using seismic wave information.

    h. Explain the hazards that earthquakes pose to structures. (P)

    • Earthquakes AND ALL FOCUS TOPICS
      http://www.beyondbooks.com/ear82/3.asp

    i. Identify ways architectural engineers design and construct buildings in earthquake prone areas (e.g., buildings use shock absorbers and are designed to bend). (T)

    j. Relate the occurrence of earthquakes and volcanoes to lithospheric plate boundaries using seismic data.

    • Earthquakes AND ALL FOCUS TOPICS
      http://www.beyondbooks.com/ear82/3.asp

    k. Compare and contrast constructive and destructive forces in volcanic and folded mountain building.

    l. Identify and interpret geological features using imagery (aerial photography and satellite) and topographic maps. (T)

    m. Describe the geologic history of South Carolina, including the formation of the major landform regions (Blue Ridge, Piedmont, Sandhills, Coastal Plains and Coastal Zone) according to the geologic time scale.

    n. Explain the modern distribution of continents to the movement of lithospheric plates since the formation of Pangaea.

5. Lithospheric plates on the scales of continents and oceans move at rates of centimeters per year in response to movement in the asthenosphere.

    a. Explain how plate tectonics account for the motion of lithospheric plates and the break-up of Pangaea.

    • Plate Tectonics AND ALL FOCUS TOPICS
      http://www.beyondbooks.com/ear82/2.asp

    b. Compare and contrast the characteristics and interactions of the three types of plate boundaries (divergent, convergent, and transform plate boundaries).

    c. Explain how the age of rocks and magnetic data on opposite sides of a divergent boundary are used to estimate the rates at which plates move.

    d. Explain how paleoclimate evidence of and fossil records supports the theory of plate tectonics.

    e. Infer how subduction supports the theory of plate tectonics.

    • Plate Tectonics AND ALL FOCUS TOPICS
      http://www.beyondbooks.com/ear82/2.asp

    f. Examine how the movement of a lithospheric plate over a hot spot formed the Hawaiian Islands.

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