Science 8 — Course Syllabus
MATATAG Curriculum · Key Stage 3 · School Year 2026–2027
| Learning Area | Science |
| Grade Level | Grade 8 |
| Key Stage | Key Stage 3 (Grades 7–10) |
| Time Allotment | 45 minutes daily · 5 days a week · 3 terms |
| Prerequisite | Science 7 |
| Curriculum Basis | MATATAG K to 10 Curriculum (DepEd, August 2023) |
| Calendar Basis | DO No. 009, s. 2026 — three-term school calendar |
| Assessment Basis | DO No. 015, s. 2026 — revised classroom assessment and grading |
| Medium of instruction | English |
The three-term school year
| Term | Months | Weeks |
|---|---|---|
| Term 1 | June – September | 1 – 11 |
| Term 2 | September – December | 12 – 22 |
| Term 3 | January – April | 23 – 33 |
1. Course Description
Grade 8 opens on Life Science, and that is the first thing to know about it.
Grades 3 to 7 all open Quarter 1 on materials. Grade 8 does not. The four junior-high grades run the four domains in a rotation — a 4 × 4 Latin square printed on page 28 of the curriculum guide — so Grade 8's order is Life Science, Science of Materials, Earth and Space Science, Force, Motion and Energy. A teacher who plans Grade 8 Quarter 1 from what Grade 7 did will plan the wrong quarter.
The year itself is a strong one. Quarter 1 moves from body systems working together to heredity — Punnett squares, dominant and recessive pairs, and the ratios they predict — and then to classification, photosynthesis and respiration. Quarter 2 is the atom: its history as a model that changed, its structure, and the periodic table read as a consequence of electron arrangement rather than as a chart to memorise. Quarter 3 is the 'blue planet' — crust, volcanoes, typhoons and tides. Quarter 4 is acceleration, energy transformation, work and power, and the properties of light.
Two threads run right through. Models change over time, which the atomic timeline makes unavoidable, and the Philippines is the case study — its hydroelectric resources in Quarter 4, its typhoon exposure in Quarter 3, its position on the ring of fire throughout.
2. Grade Level Standard
Quoted verbatim from the MATATAG Science Curriculum Guide (DepEd, August 2023, page 25).
Grade 8 — At the end of Grade 8, learners apply knowledge and understanding of acceleration to everyday situations involving motion. They represent and interpret acceleration in distance-time, and velocity-time graphs to make predictions about the movement of objects. Learners link motion to kinetic energy and potential energy and explain transformations between them using everyday examples. Learners relate understanding of kinetic energy and potential energy to an appreciation of the hydroelectric resources of the country which generates electricity for use in homes, communities, and industries. They use scientific investigations to explore the properties of light and apply their learning to solving problems in everyday situations. Learners use models, flow charts, and diagrams to explain how body systems work together for the growth and survival of an organism. They represent patterns of inheritance and predict simple ratios of offspring. They explain that the classification of living things shows the diversity and the unity of living things. They describe the processes of respiration and photosynthesis, and plan and record a scientific investigation to verify the raw materials needed. They use flow charts and diagrams to explain the cycles in nature. Learners describe the large-scale features of the 'blue planet' Earth and relate those features to the geological characteristics of the upper crustal layers of the Earth. They identify and describe the nature and impact of volcanic activity in building new crust and identify that these crust forming processes account for patterns and changes in the distribution of volcanoes, earthquakes, and mountain chains that have occurred over time. Learners identify the relationships between landforms and oceans to explain the formation and impacts of typhoons. Learners describe the structure of the atom and how our understandings have changed over time. They draw models of the atom and use tables to identify the properties of subatomic particles. They explain that elements and compounds are pure substances. They identify elements, their symbols, their valence electrons, their positions in groups and periods on the periodic table. They design and/or create timelines or documentaries as interesting learning tools.
3. Content Domains
3.1 The three content strands — what the learner does
| Strand | What it is at Grade 8 |
|---|---|
| Performing scientific inquiry skills | Planning and recording an investigation to verify the raw materials of photosynthesis; tracking typhoon data; constructing and annotating motion graphs. |
| Understanding and applying scientific knowledge | Body systems, heredity, classification and the cycles of nature; the atom and the periodic table; crust, volcanoes, typhoons and tides; acceleration, energy and light. |
| Developing and demonstrating scientific attitudes and values | An understanding that models change — the atomic timeline is a whole competency about scientific ideas being revised, which is unusual and worth teaching as such. |
3.2 The four discipline-oriented domains
| Domain | Grade 8 coverage |
|---|---|
| Life Science | The digestive tract; body systems working together; plant transport; patterns of inheritance; predicting offspring ratios; six-kingdom and three-domain classification; cycles of nature; photosynthesis and respiration. |
| Science of Materials | The history of the atomic model; the nucleus and electron shells; protons, neutrons and electrons; elements and compounds as pure substances; the periodic table, its groups and periods, and valence electrons. |
| Earth and Space Science | Water and land on Earth; upper crustal layers; volcano types and cone shape; the distribution of volcanoes, earthquakes and mountain belts; oceanic and continental crust; typhoons and the PAR; tides and tidal energy. |
| Force, Motion, and Energy | Acceleration; distance–time and velocity–time graphs; kinetic and potential energy; work and power; conservation of energy; Philippine hydroelectric resources; reflection and refraction of light. |
3.3 One quarter, one domain — and Grade 8 is where the order changes
| Quarter | Grades 3–6 | Grade 7 | Grade 8 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Materials | Science of Materials | Life Science |
| 2 | Living Things | Life Science | Science of Materials |
| 3 | Force, Motion, and Energy | Force, Motion, and Energy | Earth and Space Science |
| 4 | Earth and Space | Earth and Space Science | Force, Motion, and Energy |
Grades 7 to 10 form a 4 × 4 Latin square: read any quarter across those four grades and each
domain appears exactly once. See science-spine.md §2 and
CG page 28.
This is the single most likely planning error in junior-high Science, and it is not subtle once it happens: a Grade 8 teacher who prepares materials for a Quarter 1 on matter has prepared Quarter 2 by mistake, seven weeks early.
4. Content Map
Every entry is quoted from the official curriculum guide (DepEd, August 2023, pages 51–54),
committed at docs/research/source/.
Performance tasks here are the guide's, not this syllabus's — page 17 requires one per quarter and supplies the tasks.
CG Quarter 1 — Life Science
Taught in Term 1, weeks 1–8
| Content | Organ systems working together · Heredity · Taxonomic classification · Photosynthesis, respiration and cycles in nature |
| Content standards | 1. Organ systems work together for the growth and survival of the organism. 2. Inherited traits passed from parents to offspring are governed by the rules on the patterns of inheritance. 3. Classification of living things shows life's diversity. 4. Photosynthesis and respiration are processes that show how living things obtain energy and nutrients from the environment. |
| Learning competencies | 1. using a labeled diagram, trace how food travels through the digestive tract and explain how different digestive processes work, including mechanical processing, secretion, digestion, absorption, and elimination; 2. use models, flow charts, diagrams, and simulations to explain how body systems work together, such as digestion and excretion; 3. describe how plant organs (leaf, stem, roots) work together as the transport system; 4. represent patterns of inheritance of a simple dominant/recessive characteristic through generations of a family; 5. predict simple ratios of offspring genotypes and phenotypes in crosses involving dominant/recessive gene pairs; 6. describe the importance of the six-kingdom system and the three-domain system of classification of living things; 7. explain why humans are classified under Class Mammalia and the Order Primates; 8. using flow charts and labeled diagrams explain the role of plants and animals in the cycles of nature, such as the carbon, oxygen, and water cycles; 9. describe the process of photosynthesis and respiration, and identify its raw materials needed and products; 10. using information from secondary sources identify the different parts of the cell where photosynthesis and respiration occur; 11. plan a scientific investigation to verify the raw materials needed for photosynthesis. |
| Performance standard | By the end of the Quarter, learners demonstrate the use of models, flow charts, and diagrams to illustrate how body systems work together. They represent patterns of inheritance and predict simple ratios of offspring. They explain that the classification of living things shows the diversity and unity of living things. They describe the processes of respiration and photosynthesis and plan and record a scientific investigation to verify the raw materials needed. |
| Performance task (from the guide) | Conduct a scientific investigation to verify the raw materials needed for photosynthesis. |
CG Quarter 2 — Science of Materials
Opens in Term 1 (weeks 9–11); completed in Term 2 (weeks 12–16)
| Content | Use of timelines and charts · The Atomic Model · Subatomic particles · Elements and compounds · The Periodic table |
| Content standards | 1. The use of timeline and charts can illustrate scientific knowledge of the structure of the atom has evolved over time. 2. The current structure of the atom includes subatomic particles, their symbol, mass, charge, and location. 3. Elements and compounds are identified as pure substances. 4. The periodic table is a useful tool to determine the chemical properties of elements. |
| Learning competencies | 1. develop a timeline for the historical background of the development of the current Atomic Model; 2. draw the structure of an atom in terms of the nucleus and electron shells; 3. differentiate the subatomic particles protons, neutrons, and electrons in terms of their symbol, mass, charge, and location within an atom; 4. describe the properties of pure substances as having fixed chemical composition, and that all the atoms of an element have a unique number of protons; 5. discuss the significant contributions of early scientists in the development of the periodic table; 6. identify the names and symbols of the first 20 or several common elements; 7. explain that the arrangement of elements as 7 periods and 18 groups is based on their atomic structure and chemical properties; 8. explain that the electron structure of an atom determines its position on the periodic table; 9. calculate the number of protons, neutrons, and electrons in the atom of several elements; and 10. explain that the elements within a group have the same number of valence electrons. |
| Performance standard | By the end of the Quarter, learners demonstrate an understanding of the structure of the atom and how our understandings have changed over time. They draw models of the atom and use tables to represent the properties of subatomic particles. They demonstrate their knowledge of the periodic table by identifying elements, their symbols, their valence electrons, and their positions. They design and/or create timelines or documentaries as interesting learning tools. |
| Performance task (from the guide) | Design an illustrated timeline or create a documentary that describes and discusses the development of the models of atomic structure contributed by Dalton, Thomson, Rutherford, and Bohr. |
CG Quarter 3 — Earth and Space Science
Opens in Term 2 (weeks 17–22); completed in Term 3 (weeks 23–24)
| Content | Distribution of the continents · Crustal features and interactions · Typhoons · Tides |
| Content standards | 1. The distribution of continents and oceans on Earth is related to the presence of the oceanic crust and continental crust. 2. Volcanic terrain is built by the slow accumulation of erupted lava. 3. The earth's surface is made of separate and movable plates. 4. Bodies of water and landforms affect typhoons. 5. The interaction between the Sun, Earth, and Moon causes tides. |
| Learning competencies | 1. identify what proportion of the Earth's surface is covered with water as opposed to land; 2. gather information from secondary sources to name and describe the upper crustal layers of the solid earth; 3. describe the different types of volcanoes found around the world according to their activity, type of eruption, and location in the crust; 4. relate the shape of a volcano's cone to its composition; 5. relate the location and distribution of active volcanoes, earthquake epicenters, and major mountain belts to the distribution of oceanic crust and continental crust; 6. identify how oceanic crust and continental crust is associated with the Earth's lithospheric plates; 7. gather information from secondary sources to explain how typhoons develop and why the Philippines is prone to typhoons; 8. use a map and a record of tracking data to trace the path of typhoons that enter the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR); 9. discuss how bodies of water and landforms affect typhoons; 10. gather information from the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and other reliable websites to identify how authorities support communities affected by typhoons; 11. relate the relative movements of the Earth, Moon, and Sun with the occurrence of tides; and 12. draw on information from secondary sources to identify situations where tidal difference could be exploited to generate renewable energy. |
| Performance standard | By the end of the Quarter, learners demonstrate an appreciation of the large-scale features of the 'blue planet' Earth and relate those features to the geological characteristics of the upper crustal layers. They identify and describe the nature and impact of volcanic activity in building new crust. Learners draw on their understanding of the relationships between landforms and oceans to explain the formation and impacts of typhoons. They also identify that predictable interactions of the Sun-Earth-Moon system result in tidal effects. |
| Performance task (from the guide) | Design and construct a model house to withstand a simulation of wind speed in a typhoon, test the model, and redesign if needed. |
CG Quarter 4 — Force, Motion, and Energy
Taught in Term 3, weeks 25–33
| Content | Acceleration · Distance-time and Velocity-time graphs · Kinetic and Potential energy · Work and energy · Renewable energy · Properties of light |
| Content standards | 1. Forces cause objects to accelerate. 2. An object is accelerating if the magnitude and/or direction of its velocity changes. 3. Kinetic energy is the energy of movement, and potential energy is stored energy. 4. As an object falls from a height its energy is conserved because its potential energy is transformed to kinetic energy. 5. The resources of the Philippines provide many benefits to its people and their activities. |
| Learning competencies | 1. identify that forces cause objects to accelerate, and that acceleration of an object is its rate of change of velocity; 2. observe and describe examples of accelerating objects at school and in the local community, including objects that show uniform circular motion; 3. construct and annotate distance-time graphs and velocity-time graphs to represent uniform and non-uniform acceleration; 4. describe kinetic energy as the movement of objects or particles, and potential energy as energy stored due to the position of objects or particles; 5. identify examples of everyday situations that demonstrate kinetic energy being transformed to potential energy, and potential energy being transformed to kinetic energy; 6. recognize that work is done when a force causes the displacement of an object; 7. recognize that power is the rate of doing work; 8. explain that the mechanical energy of an object is the sum of the kinetic energy and the potential energy available to do work; 9. describe conservation of energy in everyday situations involving gravity, such as when objects fall; 10. gather information from secondary sources to explain how potential energy stored in lakes and dams in the Philippines is used to produce kinetic energy to generate electricity; and 11. carry out guided investigations to describe and illustrate the reflection of light using plane and curved mirrors and the refraction of light using transparent blocks, lenses, and prisms. |
| Performance standard | By the end of the Quarter, learners demonstrate understanding of the technical meaning of acceleration and apply their understanding to everyday situations involving motion. They represent and interpret acceleration in distance-time and velocity-time graphs. Learners link motion to kinetic energy and potential energy and explain transformations between them. Learners relate that understanding to an appreciation of the hydro-electric resources of the Philippines. They use scientific investigations to explore the properties of light. |
| Performance task (from the guide) | Make a working model of a party light that uses batteries as the power source. Describe the scientific ideas that you have utilized to change the properties of light. |
5. Term-by-Term Scope and Sequence
| Quarter blocks | Q1 → weeks 1–8 · Q2 → 9–16 · Q3 → 17–24 · Q4 → 25–33 |
| The last week of each block | the quarter's performance task, per guide page 17 |
| Within a block | the guide's own competency order, adjacent competencies merged where natural — marked ⊕ |
⚠️ The week mapping is this repository's, not DepEd's. A school's approved Budget of Work replaces every week number below; none has been obtained. The quarter-to-domain assignment is DepEd's and is reproduced exactly — including the fact that Quarter 1 is Life Science.
Term 1 — June to September
| Week | Focus | CG source | Artifacts in this repo |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The digestive tract, traced on a labelled diagram | Q1 · 1 | — |
| 2 ⊕ | Body systems working together and the plant transport system | Q1 · 2–3 | — |
| 3 | Patterns of inheritance through generations of a family | Q1 · 4 | — |
| 4 | Predicting offspring ratios — the Punnett square | Q1 · 5 | ✔ Full set — lesson plans, slides, game, offline activities, worksheets, wall chart |
| 5 ⊕ | Six kingdoms and three domains and why humans are Mammalia and Primates | Q1 · 6–7 | — |
| 6 | The carbon, oxygen and water cycles | Q1 · 8 | — |
| 7 ⊕ | Photosynthesis and respiration and where in the cell and planning the investigation | Q1 · 9–11 | — |
| 8 | Quarter 1 performance task — verifying the raw materials of photosynthesis | Q1 · PT | — |
| 9 | The atomic model, as a timeline of changing ideas | Q2 · 1 | — |
| 10 | Drawing the atom: nucleus and electron shells | Q2 · 2 | — |
| 11 | Protons, neutrons and electrons — symbol, mass, charge, location | Q2 · 3 | — |
End-of-term block — Term 1 examination, remediation, reporting.
Term 2 — September to December
| Week | Focus | CG source |
|---|---|---|
| 12 | Pure substances, and the unique proton number | Q2 · 4 |
| 13 ⊕ | The scientists who built the periodic table and the first twenty elements | Q2 · 5–6 |
| 14 ⊕ | Seven periods and eighteen groups and why electron structure decides position | Q2 · 7–8 |
| 15 ⊕ | Counting protons, neutrons and electrons and valence electrons within a group | Q2 · 9–10 |
| 16 | Quarter 2 performance task — the atomic-model timeline or documentary | Q2 · PT |
| 17 ⊕ | Water against land and the upper crustal layers | Q3 · 1–2 |
| 18 ⊕ | Types of volcano and cone shape from composition | Q3 · 3–4 |
| 19 ⊕ | Where volcanoes, earthquakes and mountains are and oceanic and continental crust | Q3 · 5–6 |
| 20 | How typhoons develop, and why here | Q3 · 7 |
| 21 ⊕ | Tracking a typhoon through the PAR and how water and landforms affect it | Q3 · 8–9 |
| 22 | What DOST and the authorities do for affected communities | Q3 · 10 |
End-of-term block — Term 2 examination, remediation, reporting.
Term 3 — January to April
| Week | Focus | CG source |
|---|---|---|
| 23 ⊕ | The Sun, Moon and tides and tidal difference as renewable energy | Q3 · 11–12 |
| 24 | Quarter 3 performance task — a model house tested against typhoon wind | Q3 · PT |
| 25 | Acceleration as the rate of change of velocity | Q4 · 1 |
| 26 | Accelerating things around the school, including circular motion | Q4 · 2 |
| 27 | Distance–time and velocity–time graphs | Q4 · 3 |
| 28 ⊕ | Kinetic and potential energy and transformations between them | Q4 · 4–5 |
| 29 ⊕ | Work and power | Q4 · 6–7 |
| 30 ⊕ | Mechanical energy and conservation of energy when things fall | Q4 · 8–9 |
| 31 | Philippine dams and lakes as stored energy | Q4 · 10 |
| 32 | Reflection and refraction, investigated | Q4 · 11 |
| 33 | Quarter 4 performance task — a working battery-powered party light | Q4 · PT |
End-of-term block — Term 3 examination, closing activities, reporting.
Coverage check
| CG quarter | Competencies | Teaching weeks | PT week | Where |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quarter 1 | 11 | 7 | 8 | Term 1, weeks 1–8 |
| Quarter 2 | 10 | 7 | 16 | Term 1 weeks 9–11; Term 2 weeks 12–16 |
| Quarter 3 | 12 | 7 | 24 | Term 2 weeks 17–22; Term 3 weeks 23–24 |
| Quarter 4 | 11 | 8 | 33 | Term 3, weeks 25–33 |
| Total | 44 | 29 | 4 | 33 weeks |
All 44 CG competencies are placed. None is taught twice, and none is dropped.
6. Assessment and Grading
Per DO No. 015, s. 2026, for a Key Stage 3 core learning area: Written Works 20% · Performance Tasks 50% · Examinations 30%.
Transmutation is a year switch. SY 2026–2027 uses an adjusted table in which a raw 70 transmutes to a passing 75; from SY 2027–2028 transmutation is removed.
⚠️ Reported, not read. Two independent search passes returned the same split. Confirm before computing a real grade.
What Grade 8 assessment has to add
A ratio is a probability, and it has to be assessed as one. A learner can complete every
Punnett square on a paper and still believe that 3 : 1 means three of every four children. Every
instrument in assessment.md therefore carries an item about one family —
small numbers, where the ratio is least reliable — and those items are flagged as diagnostic. They
are also the ones most adults get wrong.
7. Learner Support
| Provision | What it looks like |
|---|---|
| Below-level | Two coins before two letters. worksheet-remediation.html reaches a grid only in task 3. |
| On-level | The standard task with genotype and phenotype ratios given separately, every time. |
| Above-level | Two-trait crosses, or a pedigree with a carrier in it. Both are beyond the competency and both follow directly from it. |
| Language | All materials are in English. Genotype, phenotype, allele, dominant and recessive are said aloud before they are read, and dominant is explicitly separated from common. |
| Learners with additional needs | Enlarged print, extended time, verbal instead of written response, a peer scribe. Every digital artifact is keyboard-operable and screen-reader labelled. |
| Absence and catch-up | Every digital artifact is one file that copies to a phone or USB stick and runs offline. |
8. Materials
No-cost / recycled — the default.
- Two coins per learner — the whole of Week 4 runs on them
- Paper for squares, tallies and pedigrees
- Leaves, a jar and water for the photosynthesis investigation in Week 8
- A printed periodic table, shared between pairs, for Quarter 2
- Chalk and a board
If available.
- A projector or television for the deck; any browser device for the game
- A printed typhoon tracking map of the PAR
- Mirrors, a glass block and a prism for Quarter 4
- Sodium bicarbonate and a light source for the photosynthesis work
DepEd's Grade 8 equipment list is not held here. Quarter 4 competency 11 asks for plane and curved mirrors, transparent blocks, lenses and prisms. A polished spoon is a curved mirror in both directions and a clear bottle of water refracts visibly;
offline-activities.mdsays which substitutions are honest and which are not.
9. Curriculum Verification — Completed
| Item | Source | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Grade level standard (§2) | CG p. 25 | ✅ Verbatim |
| The four domains (§3.2) | CG p. 19 | ✅ Verified |
| Domain per quarter (§3.3) | CG p. 28 | ✅ Verified — and it differs from Grade 7 |
| Quarters 1 to 4 (§4) | CG pp. 51–54 | ✅ Verbatim |
| Performance tasks (§4) | CG pp. 51–54 | ✅ From the guide |
| Week mapping (§5) | This repository | ⚠️ Proposal — the Budget of Work is unobtained |
| Three-term calendar | DO No. 009, s. 2026 | ⚠️ Adopted, from reporting |
| Assessment weights (§6) | DO No. 015, s. 2026 | ⚠️ Adopted, from reporting |
What opening the guide changed
| Assumed | Actually |
|---|---|
| Grade 8 Quarter 1 is matter and the atom | Quarter 1 is Life Science. The atom is Quarter 2. This is the error the domain rotation causes and it is worth seven weeks. |
| Genetics is Grade 9 | Punnett squares and offspring ratios are Grade 8 Quarter 1 competencies 4 and 5. Grade 9 does DNA, genes and chromosomes. |
| Typhoons are Araling Panlipunan or disaster-risk content | Grade 8 Quarter 3 competencies 7 to 10, including tracking data through the PAR. |
| Light is Grade 7 or Grade 10 | Reflection and refraction are Grade 8 Quarter 4 competency 11. |
Part of the E-turo MATATAG artifact set. Companion files:
lesson-plan.md · lesson-plan-ilaw.md ·
assessment.md · offline-activities.md ·
slides.html · game.html