8th Grade Math.

Building on their study of proportionality in the previous course, students begin to develop the concept of functions and how to explore and represent them with tables, equations, and graphs. They analyze linear functions and solve linear equations. These equations include those with infinitely many solutions, no solutions, or one solution. Also, linearity is extended to include systems of linear equations. Understanding of linearity and functions is further developed by examining nonlinear functions including exposure to inverse variation, exponential patterns of changes, and quadratic patterns of change. Exploring exponential functions also prompts the use of scientific notation and rules of exponents.​

Overview

In addition to the exploration of functions, students study other concepts including statistics and geometry. Statistics moves from one variable statistics, studied in previous courses, to two variable statistics including the study of categorical data in two-way tables. They connect statistics to linearity as they represent numerical data in scatter plots. In their study of geometry, students transform geometric figures using reflections, rotations, dilations, and translations to justify congruence and similarity of figures, which are important and foundational geometric ideas for high school geometry. They also work with radicals and integer exponents as they use the Pythagorean Theorem and solve problems involving the volume of cylinders, cones, and spheres. Students observe that solutions to these problems are not always rational and develop an understanding of irrational numbers. As in all mathematics courses, the Standards for Mathematical Practice are the “processes and proficiencies” by which all other mathematics standards are taught.

Raionale

“Some of the highest priority content for college and career readiness comes from Grades 6-8. This body of material includes powerfully useful proficiencies such as applying ratio reasoning in real-world and mathematical problems, computing fluently with positive and negative fractions and decimals, and solving real-world and mathematical problems involving angle measure, area, surface area, and volume.”

Units of Study

• 1- Representing & Making Sense of Linear Functions
  2 - Transformational Geometry
  3 - Linear Systems
  4- Functions
  5 - Shapes of Number
  6 - Bivariate Data
  7- Exponents and Scientific Notation