Download 7th Grade Science Learning Goals

7th Grade Science Topics and Learning Goals
Science Inquiry
o Scientific method
1. Recognize that investigations involve specific skills in order to devise
hypotheses and explanations.
2. Model an investigation and carry it out to answer a research question.
o Measurement
1. Choose and apply appropriate scales to measure data.
2. Determine the appropriate unit of the metric system to measure
amount of mass, volume, and distance.
Physical Science
o Energy types and transformation
1. Explain that energy exists as kinetic energy and potential energy.
2. Demonstrate that energy goes through transformation and cannot be
created or destroyed.
3. Understand that energy exists in many forms.
4. Investigate how natural resources and Pollution are related.
o Matter and changes
1. Correlate relationships between atoms and matter.
2. Explain how models of the atom has changed as more was learned
about the atom.
3. Understand that matter within a closed system remains the same
regardless of how it gets rearranged.
Life Science
o Cell (structure and function)
1. Determine that require energy to carry out the basic functions of
organisms.
2. Differentiate specialized structures, organelles, which carry out
specific functions for the cell.
3. Understand that cells divide to make more cells for growth and repair
of tissues and organs necessary for organism survival.
o Microbes
1. Identify microbes that may infect the human body and interfere with
normal body functions.
2. Describe the role of the immune system in protecting the human body
from disease.
3. Discuss how microbes can be used to help or harm society.
o Ecology-ecosystems
1. Distinguish that in any particular environment, the growth and survival
of organisms depends on biotic and abiotic factors.
2. Model how organisms can interact and depend on each other in a
beneficial or harmful manner within an ecosystem.
3. Demonstrate how matter and energy is cycled between organisms and
their physical environment.
o Classification of Living Things
1. Discuss how diversity of living things can be classified by internal and
external features and organized into a heirarchy.
2. Model how organisms are grouped, this can suggest degrees of
relatedness based on similar characteristics.
Earth Science
o Plate Tectonics
1. Differentiate the separate layers of the earth which are driven by heat
from the earth’s core.
2. Hypothesize how the separate plates of the earth’s crust interact with
each other to cause changes on the earth’s crust like volcanoes,
earthquakes, and mountains.
o Space
1. Develop a model of the solar system containing planets and other
objects which orbit the sun and each other.
2. Understand the universe contains billions of galaxies which are
composed of billions of stars
3. Exhibit an understanding of distances in space, light years, and how
objects outside our solar system are separated by vast distances.