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Accelerated Science — Year 2

Complete the two-year compacted science pathway. Covers remaining Life Science topics (body systems, evolution, biomes) plus the full Grade 8 curriculum — forces, energy, waves, atoms, chemical reactions, Earth systems, and genetics. Finishes ready for Biology. TEKS §112.19 + §112.20 aligned.

14 Units

35-50 minutes per unit

What You Will Learn

Biology Ready

Covers all prerequisite science content — from body systems through genetics and ecology — so students enter Biology with confidence.

Full 8th Grade Science

Forces, energy, waves, atoms, chemical reactions, Earth-Sun-Moon system, weather, plate tectonics, and engineering design.

TEKS §112.19 + §112.20

Completes both Grade 7 and Grade 8 science standards.

All Units

Human Body Systems

Explore how the skeletal, muscular, circulatory, and respiratory systems are structured, how each system functions, and how they work together to keep the body alive and moving.

•Identify the major structures of the skeletal, muscular, circulatory, and respiratory systems
•Explain the primary functions of each system and the tissues that compose it
•Describe how these four systems interact to support movement and gas exchange
+1 more objectives

Body Regulation and Defense

Investigate how the nervous, endocrine, and immune systems detect change, coordinate responses, and defend the body — and how these regulatory systems maintain homeostasis.

•Describe the structure and function of the nervous system, including neurons and reflex arcs
•Explain how the endocrine system uses hormones to regulate long-term body processes
•Distinguish between the innate and adaptive immune responses
+1 more objectives

Evolution and Natural Selection

Investigate the fossil record and multiple lines of evidence for evolution, then understand the mechanism of natural selection that drives it — and why evolution is the central organizing principle of all biology.

•Describe multiple lines of evidence for evolution, including fossils, comparative anatomy, and molecular data
•Explain the four conditions required for natural selection to occur
•Distinguish between natural selection, adaptation, and evolution
+1 more objectives

Biomes and Organism Interactions

Explore Earth's major biomes and the abiotic factors that define them, then investigate the ecological relationships — symbiosis, predation, competition — that shape communities and drive population dynamics.

•Identify Earth's major biomes and the abiotic factors (temperature, precipitation, soil) that define each
•Classify types of symbiotic relationships and explain how each affects the organisms involved
•Explain predator-prey dynamics and how population cycles emerge from these interactions
+1 more objectives

Human Impact and Life Science Synthesis

Examine how human activity affects ecosystems and biodiversity, explore conservation science as an applied discipline, and synthesize the major threads of life science from cells to ecosystems.

•Identify and explain the major ways humans alter ecosystems, including habitat loss, pollution, invasive species, and climate change
•Explain the concept of biodiversity and why it matters for ecosystem stability
•Describe strategies used in conservation biology to protect species and ecosystems
+1 more objectives

Force, Motion, and Newton's Laws

Explore how forces cause changes in motion, how Newton's three laws unify everything from a soccer kick to a rocket launch, and how acceleration, mass, and force are mathematically related.

•Define force, net force, and the conditions for balanced and unbalanced forces
•State and apply Newton's three laws of motion to real-world situations
•Use F=ma to calculate force, mass, or acceleration given two of the three quantities
+1 more objectives

Energy: Forms and Transformations

Investigate kinetic energy, potential energy, thermal energy, and the law of conservation of energy — and trace how energy transformations power everything from a roller coaster to a living cell.

•Define and calculate kinetic energy and gravitational potential energy
•State the law of conservation of energy and apply it to real-world energy transfers
•Explain how thermal energy relates to the motion of particles and why no energy transfer is perfectly efficient
+1 more objectives

Waves, Sound, and Light

Investigate how waves transfer energy through matter and space, explore the properties of sound as a mechanical wave, and examine the electromagnetic spectrum from radio waves to gamma rays.

•Describe wave properties — wavelength, frequency, amplitude, and wave speed — and explain their mathematical relationships
•Distinguish mechanical waves from electromagnetic waves and explain why light travels in a vacuum while sound does not
•Explain how sound is produced, transmitted, and perceived, including the Doppler effect
+1 more objectives

Atoms, Elements, and the Periodic Table

Trace the history of atomic models from Dalton to Bohr, explore the structure of atoms in terms of protons, neutrons, and electrons, and discover how the periodic table organizes elements by recurring patterns of properties.

•Describe the structure of an atom, including the nucleus, protons, neutrons, and electrons
•Explain how atomic number and mass number define an element and its isotopes
•Describe the development of atomic models from Dalton through Bohr and the electron cloud model
+1 more objectives

Chemical Reactions

Investigate how atoms rearrange during chemical reactions, how to write and balance chemical equations, and how conservation of mass governs every reaction from combustion to photosynthesis.

•Distinguish physical changes from chemical changes and identify evidence that a chemical reaction has occurred
•Write and interpret chemical formulas and balanced chemical equations
•Apply the law of conservation of mass to balance chemical equations
+1 more objectives

Earth and Space Systems

Investigate the forces that shape Earth's surface and climate — tectonic plates, the water cycle, weather systems, tides, and Earth's motion in space — and understand how these systems interact across time scales from seconds to billions of years.

•Explain the theory of plate tectonics and the evidence supporting it, including seafloor spreading and fossil distribution
•Describe how Earth's tilt and orbit cause seasons and how the Moon's gravity causes tides
•Explain the water cycle and how energy from the Sun drives atmospheric circulation and weather
+1 more objectives

Genetics and Heredity: Deeper Dive

Go deeper into genetics — from chromosomes and the structure of DNA to Punnett squares for dihybrid crosses, codominance, incomplete dominance, and the molecular basis of inheritance.

•Describe the structure of DNA and explain how genetic information is encoded in the sequence of nucleotide bases
•Distinguish between dominant, recessive, codominant, and incompletely dominant inheritance patterns
•Set up and interpret Punnett squares for monohybrid and dihybrid crosses
+1 more objectives

Natural Resources and Environmental Systems

Examine the natural resources that human civilization depends on, how they are used and depleted, and how environmental systems respond to pollution and climate change — with an emphasis on the science behind sustainability.

•Distinguish between renewable and nonrenewable resources and explain the rate-based logic of sustainability
•Describe how fossil fuel combustion affects atmospheric carbon dioxide and global temperature
•Explain how pollution enters and moves through air, water, and soil — and how it bioaccumulates in food chains
+1 more objectives

Biology Gateway: Readiness

Synthesize two years of accelerated science into a coherent foundation for high school Biology — reviewing cell theory, evolution, genetics, ecology, and experimental design while previewing the molecular depth and investigative rigor Biology will demand.

•Summarize the major concepts from Units 1-13 and explain how they connect across life, physical, and Earth science
•Apply experimental design principles — variables, controls, hypothesis, data analysis — to a novel scientific scenario
•Identify the scale levels of biological organization from molecule to biosphere and explain what emerges at each level
+1 more objectives

Grade 7 Accelerated Science (Year 2 of 2). TEKS §112.19 + §112.20 aligned. Prerequisite: Accelerated Science — Year 1.