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    Middle School Science

    The Ann Arbor middle school science curriculum is in-process of a multi-year transition to the Michigan Science Standards adopted the State of Michigan in November of 2015. These standards describe the knowledge and skills with which students will be proficient and able to perform by the end of grade 8.
     
    These standards represent a shift to an expectation that students will demonstrate knowledge in use. They will do so by engaging with the science and engineering practices, crosscutting concepts and disciplinary core ideas to explain phenomena they encounter in the world every day and to design solutions to challenges they encounter. We like to describe this as a shift to "figuring out" rather than "learning about."
     
    Please see the diagram below for an overview of the transition in Grades 6, 7 and 8 Science courses over the coming years. Note that we will be integrating the science disciplines across the grades in a step-wise fashion to ensure that students will be ensured instruction in all disciplines. Also note that all students will begin to engage with instruction that includes the science and engineering practices and cross-cutting concepts beginning in the 2017-18 school year.
     
    AAPS Transition to Michigan Science Standards Overview
     
    The State of Michigan will assesses student learning in Science using a pilot of the newly aligned Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress, (M-STEP) in grades five, eight and eleven during spring of 2018, and anticipates a fully implemented, aligned assessment during the spring of 2020.
     
    The table below provides an overview of the unit titles in each grade for the current school year as well as a link to more detailed information about the objectives for each unit of instruction.
     

    Grade 6 Science

    7th Grade Science

    8th Grade Science

    Physical / Earth / Life Science & Engineering and Applications of Science in Society.

    Life Science Focus

    Physical Science Focus

    Structures and properties of Matter

    Space Systems: Sun, Earth, Moon System

    Earth Systems: Geoscience

    Weather & Climate 

    Human Impact

    Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems

     

    Organization of Living Things

    Heredity

    Climate Change

    Human Body Systems

    Natural Selection

    Evolutionary History

     

    Force and Motion

    Electricity

    Energy

    Properties of Matter

    Changes in Matter

    Waves

    Magnetism
     
    All middle school Science courses engage students in the science and engineering practices essential to career and college readiness. These practices include the following.
    • Asking questions and defining problems
    • Developing and using models
    • Planning and carrying out investigations
    • Analyzing and interpreting data
    • Using mathematics and computational thinking
    • Constructing explanations and designing solutions
    • Obtaining, evaluating and communicating information 
    The Michigan K-12 Science Standards can be found at the following link:
     
    Contact:

    Amy Deller-Antieau

    District Science Department Chair
    deller@aaps.k12.mi.us