Year 8 - Term 2 curriculum

English:

In Term 2, the year 8 students are completing their first novel study on the book Crow Country by Kate Constable. Throughout our exploration of this book, we focus on recognizing different perspectives within the text and forming our own viewpoint.

Over the term, students will develop their skills in the three target areas of English: reading and viewing, writing, and speaking and listening. In reading and viewing, students will select evidence from the text such as people, events, situations, and quotes, and analyze the different viewpoints represented. They will explain how language features, images, and vocabulary are used to represent different ideas and issues in the novel.

In writing lessons, students will build on their writing knowledge and begin to be more purposeful. This will be achieved by selecting specific language to influence the audience’s response, as well as considering the intended purposes, needs, and interests of audiences.

In speaking and listening, students will listen for and identify different emphases in the text and use that understanding to have elaborated discussions with peers.

Humanities:

In Year 8 humanities this term the focus is “Sharing and Enhancing Space and Place”. The concept statement for this unit is “being informed about our Earth's resources, properties and structures allows us to make ethical and responsible decisions for sustainability”.

Underlying this focus is a link to the sciences with engineering and entrepreneurship designing for Water/Earth conservation. By the end of the term students should be able to articulate certain processes such as urbanisation that affect the liveability of places. As part of this discussion students will be able to weigh the liveability of places by examining environmental factors, economics and shared societal values. Each week students will collect data and collate information from case studies in order to solidify their understanding of the unit focus.

The unit will aim to hit curriculum strands: Place, Space and Interconnection; Data and Information; Places and Liveability; and Changing Nations. Through studying this unit we hope that students will further develop their creativity, their ability to connect with others, their ability to create physical representations of their learnings. They will also expand their collaborative skills, foster an open mind, and enable them to practice empathy.

Over the course of the term the students will first engage with comparing the liveability of spaces before investigating current practices and challenges to sustainability in our area. Following this we will explore indigenous practices of sharing land and water. Then we will examine practices more globally with the eventual goal to discover best practice by comparing and contrasting practices. In the final weeks, students will create presentations and deliver them to the class.

Health:

During Term 2, students will start designing a project for community health in pairs or small groups. This project will continue the whole Term 2 as well as Term 3, while students will have the opportunity to explore an area of health covered so far in their secondary health unit. The statement that students need to work on is ‘What are some elements that contribute to negative health outcomes to our society?’. Students need to choose and examine one of the following six areas to answer this statement: mental health, physical health, nutrition, digital safety, substances, and relationships. Students will research and develop their own problem statement based on their individual focus. In this project, they will take their individual roles and responsibilities to promote a successful group work. Students will have a deeper research of their selected topic and plan and use strategies to enhance the health, safety, and wellbeing of their communities. Moreover, they will also develop their personal and social skills by actively contributing to group discussions, collecting primary and secondary data, and creating an engaging presentation of their findings. The health project will be meaningful for not only the students themselves but also the whole school, community, and society.

Maths:

In term 2, students will investigate numbers and gain real life skills to deal with money through their financial mathematics unit. In the numbers unit, they have applied their knowledge of order of operations to work out fractions and decimals’ relation problems.

In the next phase, they will solve problems involving the use of percentages, including percentage increases and decreases based on real life scenarios of discounted items or rising prices of amenities. Students will use mathematical modeling to solve practical problems involving rational numbers and percentages, including financial contexts involving profit and loss, and formulate problems. They will be choosing efficient mental and written calculation strategies and using digital tools where appropriate to interpret and communicate solutions in terms of the financial mathematics context. This unit of numbers and financial mathematics will build their foundation in dealing with numbers and money in future.

Science:

In term 2 students will be focusing on Earth sciences. This involves the exploration of the various cycles present within the Earth’s processes. Students will be learning about the water and rock cycle, and how these processes have shaped the Earth, and continue to do so. This will include an investigation into the creation of crystals and the formation of fossils, as students learn about rocks changing form over time.. Learning about the water cycle will tie into their learning in The Technologies, where students are designing and building their own mini hydro power plants. Students will also be learning how the Earth’s tilt and rotation affects seasons, time zones, and the phases of the moon. This will lead into learning about space, the solar system, and how processes outside of our atmosphere affect life on Earth.

The Technologies:

This Term 2, students are embarking on a design project aimed at constructing miniature hydroelectric power plants utilizing recycled materials. Guided by established pedagogical frameworks, such as the design cycle, learners delve into a systematic exploration of sustainable energy generation, engineering principles, and environmental stewardship. Beginning with rigorous research and conceptualization, students will immerse themselves in understanding the mechanics of hydroelectric power generation, as well as the ecological significance of renewable energy sources. Through this phase, students will identify and evaluate appropriate materials, drawing from repurposed resources to underscore the importance of resource conservation and waste reduction.

The project unfolds as a dynamic educational endeavor, fostering interdisciplinary learning experiences at the intersection of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Through hands-on experimentation and iterative prototyping, students navigate the complexities of designing and constructing functional hydroelectric power plants within the constraints of available materials and technical specifications. Furthermore, the endeavor instills critical thinking skills as participants grapple with challenges inherent in the design and implementation process, fostering a deeper understanding of engineering concepts and sustainable practices.

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