Language arts subject requirements are divided into reading and writing skills. Reading skills developed specifically in the eighth grade include using strategies to understand new vocabulary words; making connections between reading and other studies or knowledge of current events; understanding and analyzing the author's choices of vocabulary, syntax, cultural references and subplots to further themes; recognizing similar themes in more than one work of literature; and reading to gather information that can be applied to a career. Writing skills include revising work prescribed by various evaluations; synthesizing material from multiple resources; using technology to publish writing as a presentation; making presentations from outlines rather than prewritten speeches; and making appropriate use of formal and informal language in presentations and written assignments.
Eighth-graders in Washington State learn basic algebra, including linear functions and equations. They also study basic geometry, focusing on angles, triangles, and applying square roots to geometric concepts. They begin working with statistics and probability, learning to organize information into data sets. They study scientific notation and exponents, and they learn to work with irrational numbers. They use numerals, pictures, graphs and verbal explanations to solve problems, and they practice giving informal algebraic proofs.
The subject requirements for social studies at this grade level are civics, in which students learn about the ideals and principles of the nation and how they are applied in national policy; economics, in which they learn about trade, the role of government in economics and the effects of the individual's economic choices; geography, in which they learn about how a region's geographic features and the local cultures interrelate; and history, in which they learn about U.S. eras and events from 1776 through 1900.
Students learn about the properties of a substance and how to identify and measure them. They also learn basic physics, including the nature of waves, dynamic motion and the nature of energy. In earth and space science, they learn about the properties of rocks, water and air, and the characteristics of different kinds of organisms. They learn about atoms and about the solar system, the basics of genetics and the organs in the human body. They also practice scientific inquiry, setting up experiments and ensuring that they are reliable. They learn to make inferences from evidence, and they practice creating and testing solutions to problems.
In addition to playing sports and engaging in other physical activities during school hours, eighth-grade students in Washington State study the effects of personal lifestyle choices on health and family history on disease. They devise their own training practices to improve in their weakest areas of physical fitness, and they monitor their own progress. They also build the ability to make safety-conscious decisions independently, learning to evaluate situations, products and relationships from the perspective of health.
Eighth-grade students take courses in visual art, dance, music and theater. The arts standards for this grade level require students to build basic skills in each of these disciplines, create and present original artwork and performances, use the arts to communicate ideas and/or emotions and begin to make connections between the different art disciplines and the outside world. They study historical examples of the arts and how these examples reflect what was happening in the world when they were created.