8^th Grade Science – Mrs. Bowman

Get to Know Your Textbook

Your science textbook has a number of features that will help you find information you need, understand new ideas more clearly, and practice answering questions about the material. To learn about some of these features, answer the questions below on a sheet of notebook paper. Make sure your Tri-North heading (first and last name, date, class period, and assignment title) appears in the top right corner of your paper. Number the questions, and skip a line between each of your answers. Make sure you write your answers in complete sentences!

1. Look at the Contents in Brief on page iii. This is a short summary of the Table of Contents. In which chapter would you find information about earthquakes?
2. The Table of Contents is on pages iv to xv. Use it to locate the chapter on earthquakes that you named in question 1. In which section of this chapter, and on what page, would you find information on earthquake measurement?
3. The main topic areas in each section are highlighted with large, bright red text. Turn to Chapter 8, Section 1 on pages 226-229. What are the four main topic areas in this section?
4. Turn to page 280 and find the red topic heading “Decoding the Periodic Table.” The large topics with red headings are divided into smaller sections, and each of these smaller sections has a bright blue heading. What are the three sections within the topic of “Decoding the Periodic Table?”
5. Your book highlights important vocabulary words by marking them with yellow (it looks like someone went over the words with a yellow highlighter pen). The definitions of the important vocabulary words are provided in the margin of the page where the word is found. Turn to page 474. Find the highlighted vocabulary word on this page, and write down the word with its definition.
6. If you don’t find a word in your reading, but you want to know what it means, you can look it up in the Glossary of your book. The glossary pages have blue edges, and can be found on pages 743-750. The glossary entry for each word also tells you the page number where you can read more about that subject. Find the word combustion; write down the definition of this word, and tell the page number where you could find information about combustion.
7. The Index of a textbook is the best place to look if you want to know where in your book a certain topic is located. Page numbers in regular type tell you where to look for information, and page numbers in bold type tell you where you can find a picture or diagram about the topic.
1. On which page could you find information about geckos?
2. On which two pages could you find diagrams that show boiling points?
8. Throughout your textbook, you will find √Reading Check questions. These can help you check your understanding of the concepts about which you are reading. Find the √Reading Check question on page 369, and write down the question.
9. The answers to the √Reading Check questions can be found on pages 710 to 716 of the Appendix. The Appendix is found in the purple section near the back of your book. Use the Appendix to find the answer to the √Reading Check question you wrote down for #8. Write down the answer.
10. The Science in Action pages contain information about science careers, discoveries, weird science, and more! Look at the Weird Science box on page 460. How many volts of electricity may be generated by an adult electric eel?