Grade 8 · Science · Unit 1 of 13
Think Like a Scientist
Fair tests, design, coding and careers
What your child practises
Planning fair tests with variables and controls, following lab safety, using the engineering design process, understanding how coding and AI are used, and seeing how science connects to skilled trades and to people of many backgrounds.
Ontario Curriculum expectation: A1.1–A1.5, A2.1, A2.2, A3.1–A3.3 · research and experiment skills, the engineering design process, safety, coding and emerging technology, and careers and contributions in science and technology
Sample questions
A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.
Question 1
Safe lab habit, or unsafe? Sort each action.
Sort into: ✅ Safe · ⚠️ Unsafe
- 🥽wear goggles when pouring liquids
- 🧪mix unknown liquids to see what happens
- 🧼wash hands after the investigation
- 💇tie back long hair near a flame
- 🔥leave a hot plate on and walk away
- 🗣️report a spill right away
- 🏃run between lab stations
- 👅taste a chemical to identify it
Show answer
✅ Safe: wear goggles when pouring liquids, wash hands after the investigation, tie back long hair near a flame, report a spill right away · ⚠️ Unsafe: mix unknown liquids to see what happens, leave a hot plate on and walk away, run between lab stations, taste a chemical to identify it
Hint: Safe habits protect you and others: goggles, tied-back hair, reporting spills. Unsafe habits include tasting materials and running.
Question 2
Which question is best answered with a research process rather than a classroom experiment?
- How has a distant glacier changed over the last 100 years?
- How does ramp angle change a toy car's distance?
- Do bean plants grow taller with more light?
- Does sugar dissolve faster in hot or cold water?
Show answer
How has a distant glacier changed over the last 100 years?
Hint: Some questions cannot be tested directly in class, so we gather information from reliable sources.
Question 3
Why do skilled trades workers such as electricians and millwrights use science and technology?
- They only use science in school.
- They apply ideas about forces, energy and materials to install and repair real systems.
- They do not need to follow safety rules.
- Machines do all of their thinking.
Show answer
They apply ideas about forces, energy and materials to install and repair real systems.
Hint: Trades combine science knowledge with hands-on skill.
Question 4
Which tool measures the volume of a liquid?
- a balance
- a metre stick
- a graduated cylinder
- a stopwatch
Show answer
a graduated cylinder
Hint: A graduated cylinder has a scale marked in millilitres.
Question 5
Put the steps of the engineering design process in order.
- 📣Improve and share the result
- 💡Research and brainstorm ideas
- 📐Plan and design a solution
- ❓Define the problem
Show answer
Define the problem → Research and brainstorm ideas → Plan and design a solution → Improve and share the result
Hint: Engineers define the need first, then research, design, build and test, and improve the solution.
Question 6
Which of these best describes a reliable source for a research project?
- a rumour passed on in a chat group
- a science museum website with named experts and references
- an unsigned post with no sources
- an advertisement for a product
Show answer
a science museum website with named experts and references
Hint: Check who wrote it, what evidence they give and whether it is current.