Mind Maps for all of Year 8 Science

A bundle of resources to support learning for Year 8 Science Lessons for six topics over the year (taught as part of a 2 year KS 3 Science course).

The topics covered are:

1. Motion and Forces (speed, balanced and unbalanced forces, springs, upthrust, density, pressure and pressure).

2. Organ Systems (muscles and the skeleton, the respiratory system, illegal drugs and smoking, food digestion and absorption)

3. Elements, Compounds and the Periodic Table (elements, atoms, mixtures, compounds, metals and non-metals, the reactivity series, the Periodic Table).

4. Waves (sound, light and colour)

5. Evolution and Respiration (classification, variation, genes and DNA, natural selection, biodiversity, aerobic and anaerobic respiration)

6. The Earth and Atmosphere (the rock cycle, structure of the Earth, volcanoes, weathering and erosion, Energy resources, the Earth’s Atmosphere)

The mind maps could be given out as a handout at the beginning of a topic to give the ‘big picture’ of the unit, and then referred to throughout the unit and/or used to encourage students to look ahead at what is coming next.

They could also be used as a revision tool – questions on the mind map help students to see the point of each section and can also challenge them to add missing information or make their own better mind maps.

Each map is hand-drawn – pupils seem to prefer this to computer generated versions. They are scanned in as pdf files and I have included the powerpoint slides of each one as well – this is how I tend to use them most.