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Going Further, Grades 6–8

Topics past the school course for students in Grades 6 to 8: each starts from what you learned in class and goes further, with things to play with and questions to try. Not in any exam.

Start reading: Topic 1 · What Does a Molecule Look Like? →

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Physical science

Matter and chemistry NGSS MS-PS1

Already in your grade books
  1. Topic 1Atoms and molecules What Does a Molecule Look Like? Every grain of kitchen salt is a tiny cube, though nobody cut it. What shapes do atoms make when they join?  
  2. Topic 2Synthetic materials Where Does Plastic Come From? A clear, hard water bottle began as black, sticky oil. How does one become the other, and at what cost?  
  3. Topic 3Particles, heat and changes of state Where Does the Heat Go When Ice Melts? Heat a glass of melting ice and it stays at 0 °C until all the ice has gone. Where does the energy go?  
  4. Topic 4Reactions that give out or take in heat Can You Make a Hand Warmer? A packet warms your hands with no fire or battery; a squeezed pack turns ice cold. Where does the heat come from?  

Forces and motion NGSS MS-PS2

Already in your grade books
  1. Topic 5Balanced and unbalanced forces Why Does a Rolling Ball Stop? A kicked football rolls to a stop. For 2,000 years the wisest people said it ran out of push. They were wrong.  
  2. Topic 6Newton’s third law and collisions Who Feels the Bigger Push in a Crash? A motorbike bumps a truck: the rider falls off, the truck driver hardly notices. So who pushed harder? Not who you think.  
  3. Topic 7Electric and magnetic forces and fields How Can Something Push Without Touching? A rubbed comb lifts paper and a magnet makes a pin leap, across an empty gap. What reaches across the space between?  

Energy NGSS MS-PS3

Already in your grade books
  1. Topic 8Kinetic energy Why Is Speeding So Dangerous? Hit at 65 km/h instead of 50, a person on foot is 4.5 times as likely to die. Why does a little more speed matter so much?  
  2. Topic 9Potential energy Where Does a Lifted Stone Keep Its Energy? Kulekhani’s lake sits still for months, yet holds enough energy to light homes all winter. Where is that energy kept?  

Waves and light NGSS MS-PS4

Already in your grade books
  1. Topic 10Reflection, absorption and transmission of waves Why Can You Hear Through a Wall but Not See Through It? The wedding drum next door booms through the wall, yet you can’t see a single light. Why does a wall stop only one?  

Life science

Cells and the body NGSS MS-LS1

Already in your grade books
  1. Topic 11Behavior, structures and reproduction Why Do Birds Sing and Flowers Smell Sweet? The magpie-robin isn’t singing for you, and the rhododendron isn’t red for you. So who is it all for?  
  2. Topic 12Genes, environment and growth Why Do Two Plants From the Same Field Grow So Differently? Same farmer, same field, same day: one maize plant taller than your father, one thin and pale. Seed or soil?  
  3. Topic 13Digestion and respiration What Happens to the Dal Bhat You Eat? Yesterday’s dal bhat kept you warm and moved your legs, and a little of it is now you. How does rice become your arm?  
  4. Topic 14Senses, nerves and the brain How Does a Touch Reach Your Brain? Your lips jerk away from hot tea before you can think, and next day you blow on it first. What happened inside you?  

Ecosystems NGSS MS-LS2

  1. Topic 15Populations and resources Why Do Animal Numbers Rise and Fall? In 2020 the sky over the Terai filled with locusts that most years live alone in the desert. Where did so many come from?  
  2. Topic 16Food webs, energy flow and the cycling of matter Why Are There So Few Tigers? Chitwan has hundreds of deer and wild pigs for every tiger. Why doesn’t the forest fill up with its strongest hunters?  
  3. Topic 17Ecosystem services and biodiversity What Is a Forest Worth? No forest sends a bill for clean water, firm slopes or bees for the crops, so we forget, until it’s gone. What is it worth?  

Heredity NGSS MS-LS3

  1. Topic 18Genes, mutations and inheritance Why Do You Look Like Your Parents, but Not Exactly? Kittens of one mother, no two alike. A seed from a sweet apple tree grows sour apples, a twig from it sweet ones. Why?  

Evolution NGSS MS-LS4

Already in your grade books
  1. Topic 19Natural selection and adaptation How Do Snow Leopards Come to Fit the Mountains? Nobody designed the snow leopard, and none ever chose a longer tail. So how did it come to fit the mountains so well?  
  2. Topic 20Selective breeding and genetic engineering How Did Farmers Make Our Crops? Wild rice drops its grains at a touch; the rice you eat holds on. Farmers made it so, mostly without knowing how.  

Earth and space science

Earth in space NGSS MS-ESS1

Already in your grade books
  1. Topic 21Rock layers and geologic time How Do Rocks Tell Time? Geologists had put the Earth’s long history in order by the 1840s, before anyone could date a rock. How did they read it?  
  2. Topic 22Seasons and day length Why Is It Cold in Winter? Not because the Earth is farther from the Sun: in January it is closest. The real reason, and why Nepal’s days change length.  

Earth’s systems NGSS MS-ESS2

  1. Topic 23The rock cycle How Does One Rock Become Another? The top of Everest was once a sea floor. How does rock keep changing from one kind to another, and what keeps it going?  
  2. Topic 24Plate tectonics Do Continents Really Move? The same fossil leaf lies in rocks in India, Africa and Antarctica. How could it, unless they were once joined?  
  3. Topic 25The water cycle and weather Where Does the Rain Come From? Kathmandu’s rain was in the Bay of Bengal days before. What lifted it here, and how do forecasters see it coming?  
  4. Topic 26Global winds, currents and climate Why Is Pokhara So Wet and Mustang So Dry? Pokhara gets thirteen times Jomsom’s rain, though they are only 70 km apart. What decides how wet or dry a place is?  

People and the planet NGSS MS-ESS3

  1. Topic 27Natural resources Why Is There Oil in Some Places but Not Others? Saudi Arabia has huge oil fields; Nepal has none. Why the Earth’s riches lie where they do, and how fast we use them up.  
  2. Topic 28Natural hazards and forecasting Can We Tell When Disaster Will Strike? Floods and storms often give warning; earthquakes don’t, yet. How can the past help us get ready for the next one?  
  3. Topic 29Monitoring human impact on the environment How Do We Know How Dirty the Air Is? Kathmandu’s air is often far dirtier than is safe. How do we measure it, and tell whether a fix has really worked?  
  4. Topic 30Population and resource use What Happens When There Are More of Us, Each Using More? The Kathmandu Valley’s wells are running down. Is it because there are more of us, or because each of us uses more?  
  5. Topic 31Evidence for global warming Is the Earth Really Getting Warmer? One cold winter proves nothing. What do the world’s thermometers and its air really show, and what is causing it?  

Engineering

Engineering NGSS MS-ETS1

  1. Topic 32Engineering design Can You Build a Box That Keeps Ice Frozen All Day? On a hot day, ice melts by noon. Can you design a box that saves it until evening, and prove that it works?  

How to use this book

These topics go past the school course, for anyone who wants to know more. Each one starts from things you learned in class, linked under its title, so you can look back. Each is a question, with the subject it belongs to beside its number. They are not in any exam. Inside you’ll find:

  • Worked examples: try them first; the answer stays hidden until you open it.
  • Try it questions and each topic’s questions at the end, with hints and answers to open when you’re ready.
  • Diagrams to play with: drag, slide and change things to see what happens.
  • Did you know? boxes with the stories and surprises behind the science.

Every fact here has been checked against reliable sources, but these topics have not yet been reviewed by subject experts. If you find a mistake, please tell us.