Have you ever wondered how and why the planets move, how energy is transferred in ocean waves, or where all the different species in Connecticut have come from? We will explore questions like these in STEAM 8. STEAM is an integration of science, technology, engineering, art, and math. This class allows our students to practice the science and engineering skills that professionals use every day, engage in hands-on exploration, and design projects as they explore the natural world. Students in STEAM 8 will use real-world phenomena such as car collisions, tidal waves, fossils and dinosaurs, and space exploration to focus on the topics of forces and energy, energy in waves, mechanisms of diversity, and the changing Earth. This course builds upon the problem-solving mindset developed in STEAM 7 to build skills in extending quantitative analysis to investigations, distinguishing between causation and correlation, and using basic statistical analysis to construct explanations and design solutions supported by multiple sources of evidence.