Information and an overview of the IST Science curriculum in Grade 8
This unit uses the context of building materials to explore the properties of metals and rocks. It builds on work in Year 8 (on metals) to introduce neutralisation reactions of metal oxides and carbonates. It also revises and extends work in Year 8 on the rock cycle. It ends with a look at other building materials in the context of sustainability.
This unit uses the theme of fiction (mainly film) as a basis for exploring inheritance in plants and animals. How variation is influenced by the environment is also considered, as are selective breeding, cloning and genetic modification
This unit looks at heat transfers in the context of clothing and how modern outdoor clothing allows people to be comfortable in a wide range of external temperatures.
This unit uses the theme of modelling to revise work on organ systems and diet. These ideas are built on further by considering the locomotor system, the benefits of exercise and the dangers of smoking and drugs.
This unit uses the theme of forensic science to revise work on microscopes, organs, sexual reproduction and lifecycles. This unit revisits and extends material met in Unit 7A Tissues and transplants, Unit 7B Sex and science and Unit 8D The way of the dodo.
This unit looks at energy and energy transfers, and builds on earlier work on electricity to develop ideas of energy transfers in circuits. The theme for the unit is the effect on the environment of using electricity generated using fossil fuels, and how this can be reduced
This unit develops ideas on the reactivity of metals and issues related to corrosion. The context is the use of metals for sculpture. In this unit the idea of reactivity is developed from a simple question of ‘Does it react?’ to more sophisticated ideas about the use of both qualitative and quantitative methods to compare the speed and extent of reactions. This includes the reactions of metals with air, water and acids, and is extended to the idea of displacement reactions.
This unit revises ideas about mass and weight, and extends them to look at the effects of gravity in the Solar System, and how ideas about the Solar System have changed. It is set in the context of using satellites to observe the Earth and other bodies in the Solar System.
I’m an Engineer, Get me out of Here! is an online event where you get to meet and interact with real engineers. It’s in the form of an X Factor-style competition between the engineers.