Unit 2: Energy & Matter

Unit Overview:

Students will describe matter by its physical properties and will explain its behavior by using its chemical properties. Knowledge of physical and chemical changes will enable students to understand how matter and energy interact in many dynamic ways. As students understand these interactions between matter and energy, they should also be able to investigate and explain how pollutants enter and remain in the environment, and its consequences for living and nonliving things. Students should be able to propose ideas and ways to preserve a healthy living environment with a minimum amount of pollutants.
Essential Questions:
  • What makes matter?
  • How does matter behave?                                                                                                                                      
  • How does matter relate to energy?                                                                                                                                
  • How is energy transferred from one material to another?                                                                                      
  • How is energy transformed?                                                                                                                                      
  • What materials are best to conserve and efficiently use energy?                                                                                                      
  • To what extent do chemicals affect living and nonliving things?

Key Ideas: 

  • PS. Key Idea 3: Matter is made up of particles whose properties determine the observable characteristics of matter and its reactivity.
  • PS. Key Idea 4: Energy exists in many forms, and when these forms change, energy is conserved.
  • LE. Key Idea 7: Human decisions and activities have had a profound impact on the physical and living environment.

COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS 

ELA/Literacy

RST.6–8.2: Determine the central ideas or conclusions of a text; provide an accurate summary of a text distinct form prior knowledge or opinions.

RST.6–8.3: Follow precisely a multistep procedure when carrying out experiment, taking measurements, or performing technical tasks.

RST.6–8.4: Determine the meaning of symbols, key terms, and other domain-specific words and phrases as they are used in a scientific or technical context relevant to Grades 6–8 texts and topics.

RST.6–8.9: Compare and contrast the information gained form experiments, simulations, video, or multimedia sources with that gained from reading a text on the same topic.

WHST.6–8.2: Write informative/explanatory texts, including the narration of scientific procedures/experiments, or technical processes.

Mathematics

7NS.1: Apply and extend previous understandings of addition and subtraction to add and subtract rational numbers; represent addition and subtraction on a horizontal or vertical number line diagram. a) Describe situations in which opposite quantities combine to make 0. For example, a hydrogen atom has zero charge because its two constituents are oppositely charged.

7NS.3: Solve real-world and mathematical problems involving the four operations with rational numbers.