Middle school science is repetitive and repeats subjects learned during the elementary years. Instead of repeating the same subjects over and over, I feel that homeschoolers should look for experiences that will help the children learn the subject in a hands-on way and in greater depth. Look for experiments, museum and zoo trips, educational movies and things of that nature.
With that said, the subjects they should learn are:
Learning to classify and discover through science: Students must learn to classify living things, they must learn scientific classification, and must also learn scientific method, scientific nomenclature, and scientific measurement. Laboratory techniques and safety are also important topics.
Learning about the environment: Students must understand ecosystems, ecology and the environment, climate, weather and atmosphere, weathering and erosion, and air pressure. Students should also study recycling and conversation of resources. Oceans, properties and uses of water, and geology including composition of the earth, rocks, soil, and minerals, are topics that must also be covered.
Study of living things: Middle schools students should learn about microbes, algae and fungi, and cells. This should lead to study of the human body with topics such as the cell, heredity and genetics, and food and growth for energy.
Chemistry topics: Students should study elements and compounds, the Periodic table of elements, compounds and mixtures, and chemical changes. They must also learn about the atom, wave, mechanical, electrical, and nuclear energy, radioactivity, and solar and geothermal energy. Forces in liquids and gases, electric and magnetic interactions, electricity and its uses, sound, light, heat,
Earth and Universe: Students should learn about simple astronomy, space and space travel, the earth’s movement, and the Universe and Milky Way.
Other Topics a middle school student should learn are important inventions and discoveries, the laws of motion including Newton’s three laws of motion, and machines.
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