Grade 8 Curriculum

Students spend approximately three-fourths of the Grade 8 school year studying topics in algebra that extend from those studied in Grade 7. Students then shift their focus to statistics. Students use units from Connected Math 3 (CMP3) as the primary course materials.

In Grade 8 science class, students cover topics related to physical science (i.e. physics and chemistry) and make connections to climate change and other environmental justice issues.  Given the foundational importance of quantitative pursuits in several aspects of the physical sciences, students spend a significant amount of time on measurement, calculations, spreadsheets, and graphing.  Above all, the course curriculum highlights the scientific method as a way of thinking and addressing questions or problems. Experimental design, data collection, analysis, and interpretation are among the principle skills that students acquire and develop in this course.

Grade 8 social studies coursework focuses on local, national, and global revolutionary and social movements focusing on human and civil rights. Students dive into thinking around non-violence, shared power, resistance, arts, advocacy, and personal accountability for change. Students participate in ethical debates, research-based debates, Socratic seminars, multiple youth-led presentations, projects, writing assignments, critical interpretation of primary and secondary sources, and non-fiction materials.

Grade 8 students explore design thinking and digital fabrication and develop their own design processes. Later in the year, they look at machine learning and how it shapes society. Students work in the Python programming language this year, creating their own technology tools as students create their own simple devices, animations, and games.

Students continue to explore identity and leadership within themselves, the community, and the world and learn about the role of disrupters within those areas as well. They review and add to the shared language developed in previous Common Ground courses, allowing them to continue having meaningful conversations around identity and leadership within our communities and the greater world. Students take a deeper dive into learning about each other and the world around them as peers continue developing an ability to understand different perspectives while also learning how to apply their knowledge to the community here at Milton and the world around them.