School Improvement in Maryland

Using the State Curriculum: Science, Grade 8

Skills and Processes | Earth/Space | Life | Chemistry | Physics | Environmental

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Standard 6.0 Environmental Science

Topic B. Environmental Issues

Indicator 1. Recognize and explain how human activities can accelerate or magnify many naturally occurring changes.

Objective b. Identify and describe how human activities produce changes in natural processes:

Selected Response Item

Hydroelectric dams use falling water to generate electricity. Dams affect river organisms, including the American shad, a common fish in waterways. Shad live in the ocean but swim up rivers to reproduce (spawn). Engineers have built elevators on dams for the shad and other fish. The fish swim into the elevator below the dam and are raised into the water above the dam.

Question Image

Which human activity would most likely reduce the shad population?

  1. preserving wetlands along the spawning areas
  2. spilling chemical waste into the spawning areas
  3. monitoring water conditions of the spawning areas
  4. conducting fish-tagging programs within the spawning areas
/toolkit/vsc/assessment_items/msa_science_8_021.xml

Correct Answer:
B

Selected Response Item

Use the technical passage "New 'Time Machine' from Ice" to answer the following.

How would an increased carbon dioxide level, caused by humans, most likely affect Earth?

  1. There would be more incoming sunlight.
  2. There would be more oxygen in the atmosphere.
  3. There would be a loss of many current environments.
  4. There would be a decrease in the number of earthquakes.
/toolkit/vsc/assessment_items/msa_science_8_025.xml

Correct Answer:
C

Selected Response Item

Use the technical passage "New 'Time Machine' from Ice" to answer the following.

How would an increase in greenhouse gases most likely affect coastal areas?

  1. Precipitation would decrease.
  2. The sea level would increase.
  3. Salt content of the ocean would increase.
  4. The number of hurricanes would decrease.
/toolkit/vsc/assessment_items/msa_science_8_026.xml

Correct Answer:
B

Selected Response Item

Use the technical passage 'Fill 'Er Up… With Soybeans and Corn' to answer the following question.

If the demand for biofuels increases, how might the environment be positively affected?

  1. There would be less air pollution.
  2. Farming equipment would produce more pollution.
  3. Carbon dioxide levels in the air would increase.
  4. Natural habitats would be converted to cropland.
/toolkit/vsc/assessment_items/msa_science_8_037.xml

Correct Answer:
A

Selected Response Item

Nitrogen, a nutrient found in fertilizer, helps plants increase in size. Rainwater runoff often carries fertilizer into ponds and lakes.

What effect does excess nitrogen have on organisms in a pond or lake ecosystem?

  1. Algae grows rapidly.
  2. Mutations occur gradually in fish.
  3. Clam shells are slowly weakened.
  4. Frogs adapt quickly to new food sources.
/toolkit/vsc/assessment_items/msa_science_8_060.xml

Correct Answer:
A

Selected Response Item

Use the information below to answer the following.

Students studied the water quality at five different sites in a water drainage area. The water from the five streams and river sites empties into a bay. The students recorded data for dissolved oxygen, percentage of floating sediments, water quality for aquatic life, temperature, and salinity. The information is shown in the data table below.

Question Image

WATER QUALITY AT FIVE SAMPLE SITES
Site Dissolved
Oxygen
(milligrams
per liter)		 Percentage
of Floating
Sediments
(%)		 Water
Quality for
Aquatic Life		 Temperature
(°C)		 Salinity
(parts per
thousand)
1 7.0 5 Good 11.0 0.1
2 6.3 15 Good 13.0 0.5
3 4.7 20 Moderate 19.0 7.0
4 3.1 70 Poor 26.6 14.0
5 3.7 15 Moderate 24.0 15.0

A manufacturing power plant at Site 4 releases high temperature wastewater into the river.

How would this power plant affect the natural processes of the river?

  1. The water quality for aquatic life would increase.
  2. The amount of dissolved oxygen would decrease.
  3. The population of aquatic life would stay the same.
  4. The amount of salt dissolved in the water would stay the same.
/toolkit/vsc/assessment_items/msa_science_8_108.xml

Correct Answer:
B

Selected Response Item

When taken to a new habitat, non-native plants often threaten native plants of the new habitat.

Why do non-native plants threaten native plants?

  1. Non-native plants are able to mutate rapidly.
  2. Non-native plants cause native animals to relocate.
  3. Non-native plants are able to be used for medicine.
  4. Non-native plants compete with native plants for resources.
/toolkit/vsc/assessment_items/msa_science_8_125.xml

Correct Answer:
D

Selected Response Item

When trees are removed from a tropical rain forest, other plants and animals are affected.

Which statement identifies another change that will most likely occur when a rain forest habitat is destroyed?

  1. Oxygen levels will increase.
  2. Carbon dioxide levels will increase.
  3. The temperature of Earth will decrease.
  4. The air pollution in the atmosphere will decrease.
/toolkit/vsc/assessment_items/msa_science_8_128.xml

Correct Answer:
B