PK–12 Essential Standards and Benchmarks

Kahua Standards and Benchmarks

PK-12 essential standards and benchmarks for Hawaiian-focused education.

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Grade 8 - Science

In addition to HFCS ‘Āina-based Learning Competencies (click to view), the PK-12 Science Kahua is grounded in the belief that the purpose of science is “Science is best defined as a careful, disciplined, logical search for knowledge about any and all aspects of the universe, obtained by examination of the best available evidence and always subject to correction and improvement upon discovery of better evidence. What's left is magic. And it doesn't work.” (year, Randi).

End of school year grade level outcomes were crosswalked with the HFCS Vision of the Graduate (2013), NGSS, Fountas and Pinnell, and were prioritized using the following criteria (Reeves, 2004): 1) Endurance, 2) Leverage, 3) Readiness, 4) Assessment Requirements.

  • S.8.1Gather manaʻo about moʻokūʻauhau and kūlana through nīnauele (interviews) and oral histories.
  • S.8.2Use ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi inoa ‘āina (traditional place names, mauka/makai) to understand various traditions/histories of a place and to understand my place in different spaces.
  • S.8.3Demonstrate appropriate lawena when engaging in different cultural protocol (i.e. welcoming, entering, gathering, planting, mahalo, kamaʻāina/malihini) in a variety of settings (i.e. in and out of school).
  • S.8.4Contribute to community wellness by practicing ola pono (i.e. ʻai pono, laʻau lapaʻau, māla, hoʻoponopono) and building the capacity to connect with ʻāina.
  • S.8.5Ground our thoughts and actions in kānaka historical and contemporary best practices (i.e. resource management, conservation) and educate others.

  • S.8.6Ask questions that can be investigated through kilo, nīnauele, experimentation, modeling, research, and oral histories within the scope of the classroom, the outdoor environment, and museums and other public facilities with available resources and, when appropriate, frame a hypothesis based on kilo and scientific principles.
  • S.8.7Define the criteria and constraints of a design problem with sufficient precision to ensure a successful solution, applying relevant scientific ideas, principles, ʻike Hawaiʻi and potential impacts on people and the natural environment that may limit possible solutions.
  • S.8.8Construct a scientific explanation based on valid and reliable evidence obtained from sources (including students’ own experiments, nīnauele, research and oral histories) and the assumption that theories and laws and historical accounts that describe the natural world operate today as they did in the past and will continue to be valid in the future.
  • S.8.9Construct an explanation that includes qualitative or quantitative relationships between variables that describe phenomena.
  • S.8.10Develop a model to generate data for iterative testing and modification of a proposed object, tool, or process such that an optimal design can be achieved and the outcomes contribute to community wellness that is grounded in kānaka historical and contemporary best practices.
  • S.8.11Construct and present oral and written arguments supported by kilo and documentation of experiments, nīnauele, research and oral histories to support or refute an explanation or model for a phenomenon or solution to a problem.
  • S.8.12Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process and grounded thoughts and actions in kānaka and contemporary best practices to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.
  • S.8.13Construct and interpret graphical displays of data to identify linear and nonlinear relationships.
  • S.8.14Analyze data from tests to determine similarities and differences among several design solutions to identify the best characteristics of each that can be combined into a new solution to better meet the criteria for success.
  • S.8.15Gather information following both scientific and appropriate cultural protocols; read and synthesize information from multiple sources; and assess the credibility, accuracy, and possible bias of each publication and methods used, and describe how they are supported or not supported by evidence.

  • S.8.16Matter can be classified as elements, compounds, or mixtures based on how the atoms are packed together in arrangements. The physical properties of elements and their reactivity have been used to produce the current model of the Periodic Table of Elements.
  • S.8.17Each pure substance has characteristic physical and chemical properties independent of the amount of matter present that can be used to identify it, including density, melting point, boiling point, and solubility. Properties that are dependent upon the amount of matter present include volume, mass, and weight.
  • S.8.18Some chemical reactions release thermal energy, others store thermal energy. The total thermal energy of a system depends on temperature, the total number of atoms in the system, and the state of the material. Adding or removing thermal energy to a pure substance increases or decreases kinetic energy (respectively) of the particles until a change of state occurs.
  • S.8.19Substances react chemically in characteristic ways. In a chemical reaction the atoms that make up the original substances are regrouped into different molecules, and these new substances have different properties from those of the reactants.
  • S.8.20Electric and (electro)magnetic forces can be attractive or repulsive and their sizes depend on the magnitudes of the charges, currents, or magnetic strengths involved and on the distances between the interacting objects.
  • S.8.21Gravitational force between any two masses is always attractive, but it is very small except when one or both of the objects have a large mass -- e.g., Earth and the Sun.
  • S.8.22Electric, magnetic, and gravitational forces can act at a distance, even when the objects are not in contact. These fields that extend through space can be mapped by their effect on a test object (a charged object, or a ball, respectively).
  • S.8.23Energy may take different forms, such as energy in magnetic fields, total thermal energy, energy of motion (kinetic energy).
  • S.8.24The nature of the matter, the size of the sample, and the environment all determine the amount of energy transfer needed to change the kinetic energy of an object measured in the form of temperature changes or the motion of an object. When the kinetic energy of an object changes (motion or temperature) there is inevitably some other change in energy at the same time, where the energy is transferred to or from the object.

  • S.8.25Within individual organisms, food moves through a series of chemical reactions in which it is broken down and rearranged to form new molecules to support growth and repair, or to release energy. Food provides the energy and the molecules required for building materials, growth, and survival of all organisms.
  • S.8.26A healthy diet and exercise are related to the processes of respiration and digestion in organisms that are in turn reflected in the general health of the body.
  • S.8.27Agents of diseases that affect living organisms include viruses, bacteria, fungi, and parasites. Characteristics of each type of infectious agent (virus) or microorganism based on their structures and functions will determine processes of spreading, treatment, and prevention of disease.
  • S.8.28Biotechnology is a technology that involves the use of living organisms for their specific functions (cellular and biomolecular processes) mainly used in medicine, agriculture, and food science. There are advantages of biotechnology in terms of health and economic benefits and disadvantages with respect to the risks to the health and safety of living things and the environment, and the ethical and moral dilemmas they can pose to individuals, groups of individuals, and/or the environment.
  • S.8.29Local environmental factors such as food, water, light, shelter and space, and genetic factors influence the growth of populations in an ecosystem.
  • S.8.30Producers, consumers, and decomposers develop interdependent relationships in ecosystems, whereby interactions can include coexistence and cooperation, competition (predator/prey), parasitism, and mutualism. Although species involved in these interactions vary across ecosystems, the patterns of interactions of organisms with their environments, both biotic and abiotic, are shared.
  • S.8.31Ecosystems are dynamic in nature and their characteristics can vary over time. Disruptions to any physical or biological component of an ecosystem can lead to shifts in all populations due to its interdependent relationships.
  • S.8.32Biodiversity describes the variety of species found in Earth’s terrestrial and oceanic ecosystems. The completeness or integrity of an ecosystem’s biodiversity is often used as a measure of its health.
  • S.8.33Anatomical similarities and differences between various organisms living today (this includes comparing embryological development of different species) and between them and organisms in the fossil record, enable the reconstruction of evolutionary history and the inference of evolutionary descent.
  • S.8.34Natural selection, an adaptation acting over generations, occurs when genetic variations of traits in a population increase some individuals’ probability of surviving and reproducing in a specific environment, leading to the predominance of certain traits in a population to support successful survival and reproduction, and the suppression of others.

  • S.8.35Analyses of rock formations and the fossils they contain, ice cores, and faults are used to establish relative ages of major events in Earth’s 4.6 billion-year-old history. Earth’s major events could include the formation of mountain chains and ocean basins, or significant volcanic eruptions. This geologic time scale provides only relative dates and is not an absolute scale.
  • S.8.36The hydrosphere on Earth includes water that is on the surface of the planet, underground, and in the air -- it can be liquid, vapor, or ice. The major importance of the hydrosphere is that water sustains various life forms in ecosystems, with 3% being freshwater on Earth that is critical for terrestrial and freshwater species. The 97% water on Earth being salt water is important for regulating the atmosphere.
  • S.8.37Earth’s oceans are a reservoir of nutrients, minerals, dissolved gases, and life forms, as evidenced in our wetlands, marine ecosystems, and coastal upwellings. For these reasons marine resources need to be valued, protected, and sustained.
  • S.8.38Hawaiʻi’s freshwater supply is highly dependent upon a continuous chain of events known as the hydrologic cycle, where the movement of water takes place from the oceans to the atmosphere, on the surface of the ground in watersheds and streams; and a portion travels underground through soil and porous lava rock down to the freshwater aquifer. Water from the tap is pumped from the aquifer through wells, shafts, and tunnels.
  • S.8.39The safety and potability of drinking water supplies in Hawaiʻi are based on physical and biological parameters, including: temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, nitrates and phosphates, turbidity, and bioindicators.
  • S.8.40Human activities, such as the release of greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels, cement production, and agricultural activity are major factors in the current rise in Earth’s mean surface temperature (global warming). Natural processes such as incoming solar radiation or volcanic activity also contribute to rise in global temperatures over the past century.
  • S.8.41Reducing the level of climate change and reducing human vulnerability to whatever climate changes do occur depend on the understanding of climate science, engineering capabilities, and other kinds of knowledge, such as understanding of human behavior and on applying that knowledge wisely in decisions and activities.