Oak Middle School Science Topics

Earth’s Changing Surface

• Layers of the Earth
• Tectonic plates (review) types of boundaries
• Continental drift, seafloor spreading and plate movement
• Thermal Energy
• Convection
• Conduction
• Radiation
• Convection in the mantle
• Volcanoes
• Earthquakes
• Rock Cycle
• Weathering
• Erosion

Genetics and Evolution

• DNA, Gene, Chromosome, Proteins, Trait
• Heredity
• Sexual vs. Asexual Reproduction
• Mendelian Genetics/Patterns of Inheritance
• Punnett Squares
• Mutations
• Darwin/Natural Selection
• Evidence of Evolution
• Artificial Selection

Ecology

• Living/ non-living/ dead (biotic/ abiotic)
• Energy Flow- Food chains/ webs- Photosynthesis and Respiration
• Biodiversity (some classification)
• Habitat
• Competition
• Predator/prey
• Symbiotic Relationships
• Evidence of human disruptions
• Adaptations (including characteristic behaviors and structures increase reproduction probability)
• Environmental Protection/Mitigating Human Impact

Matter and Its Interactions

• Density
• Properties of Matter
• States of Matter and Particle Motion
• Chemical and Physical Changes
• Atoms and Molecules
• Elements and compounds
• Law of Conservation of Mass
• Endothermic and Exothermic Reactions

Weather and Climate Change

• Fronts
• Storms
• Forecasting
• Climate Change
  • Evidence
  • Possible Consequences
  • What will slow climate change

Forces and Interactions

• Gravity
• Friction
• Newton’s Laws of Motion
• Inertia
• Balanced & Unbalanced Forces

Energy

• Mechanical Energy (ME)
• Potential Energy (PE)
• Kinetic Energy (KE)
• Gravitational Potential Energy (GPE)
• Energy transformation