GRADE 7 SCIENCE CURRICULUM

SCIENCE PROCESSES

Inquiry Process

Students Will:

Design and conduct scientific investigations

Construct graphs and charts from data and observations.

Generate scientific questions based on observations, investigations and research.

Inquiry Analysis and Communication

Students Will:

Analyze information from data tables and graphs to answer scientific questions.

Draw conclusions from sets of data from multiple trials of a scientific investigation to draw conclusions.

Reflection and Social Implications

Students Will:

Identify the need for evidence in making scientific decisions.

Describe what science and technology can and cannot reasonably contribute to society.

Science Fair Project

Students Will:

Design and conduct a chosen investigation that follows the steps of the Scientific Method.

Construct graphs and charts from collected data and draw conclusions from experiment results.

PowerPoint Presentation of Science Fair Project

Students Will:

Create and design a PowerPoint presentation that summarizes the Science Fair project experiment.

Present, orally, a PowerPoint presentation in Science class. Students are graded on originality, adherence to the Scientific Method and oral presentation skills.

PHYSICAL SCIENCE

Energy

Waves and Energy

Students Will:

Identify examples of waves, including sound, seismic and water.

Solar Energy Effects

Students Will:

Explain how only a tiny fraction of light energy from the sun is transformed to heat energy on Earth.

Properties of Matter

Chemical Properties

Students Will:

Classify substances by their chemical properties.

Elements and Compounds

Students Will:

Describe how elements in the Periodic Table are organized by similar properties.

List examples of physical and chemical properties of elements and compounds, including density, conductivity, and reactivity.

Chemical Changes

Students Will:

Compare/Contrast the chemical properties of a new substance with the original after a chemical change.

Describe the physical and chemical properties of the products and reactants in a chemical change.

LIFE SCIENCE

Cell Function

Students Will:

Explain how cells make up different body tissues, organs and organ systems.

Recognize that cells function in a similar way in all organisms.

Growth and Development

Students Will:

Describe growth and development in terms of increase of cell numbers and/or cell size.

Explain how, through cell division, cells can become specialized for specific functions.

Photosynthesis

Students Will:

Explain that carbon dioxide and water are used to produce carbohydrates, proteins and fats.

Describe evidence that plants make, use and store food.

Heredity

Students Will:

Compare how characteristics of living things are passed on through generations both sexually and asexually.

Compare/Contrast the advantages and disadvantages of sexual vs asexual reproduction.

EARTH SCIENCE

Solar Energy

Students Will:

Describe the relationship between the warming of the atmosphere of the Earth by the sun and convection within the atmosphere and oceans.

Describe how the warming of the Earth by the sun produces winds and ocean currents.

Human Consequences

Students Will:

Explain how human activities change the surface of the Earth and and affect the survival of organisms.

Describe the origins of pollution in the atmosphere, geosphere and hydrosphere and how pollution impacts habitats, climatic change, and endangers species.

Weather and Climate

Students Will:

Describe how different weather occurs due to the constant motion of the atmosphere from the energy of the sun reaching the surface of the Earth.

Describe weather conditions associated with frontal boundaries and the movement of major air masses and the jet stream across North America using a weather map.

Water Cycle

Students Will:

Explain the water cycle and describe how evaporation, transpiration, condensation, cloud formation, precipitation, surface