Tennessee Science Standards

Seventh Grade Science
Middle School Labs  | Essential Jefferson County Labs

Seventh Grade Scope and Sequence 2009-2010    

Grade 7 : Inquiry

Conceptual Strand Understandings about scientific inquiry and the ability to conduct inquiry are essential for living in the 21st century.

Guiding Question What tools, skills, knowledge, and dispositions are needed to conduct scientific inquiry?

Grade Level Expectations

• GLE 0707.Inq.1 Design and conduct open-ended scientific investigations.

                          (Orchard) Scientific Thinking: Unit 1 131SC-A

                          (Orchard) Scientific Thinking: Unit 2 131SC-B

• GLE 0707.Inq.2 Use appropriate tools and techniques to gather, organize, analyze, and interpret data.

                          How Do I Choose Which Type of Graph to Use?

                     Create a Graph

• GLE 0707.Inq.3 Synthesize information to determine cause and effect relationships between evidence and explanations.

• GLE 0707.Inq.4 Recognize possible sources of bias and error, alternative explanations, and questions for further exploration.

• GLE 0707.Inq.5 Communicate scientific understanding using descriptions, explanations, and models.

Checks for Understanding

0707.Inq.1 Design and conduct an open-ended scientific investigation to answer a question that includes a control and appropriate variables.

0707.Inq.2 Identify tools and techniques needed to gather, organize, analyze, and interpret data collected from a moderately complex scientific investigation.

0707.Inq.3 Use evidence from a dataset to determine cause and effect relationships that explain a phenomenon.                                Mystery Spot

0707.Inq.4 Review an experimental design to determine possible sources of bias or error, state alternative explanations, and identify questions for further investigation.

0707.Inq.5 Design a method to explain the results of an investigation using descriptions, explanations, or models.

State Performance Indicators

Grade 7 : Technology & Engineering

Conceptual Strand Society benefits when engineers apply scientific discoveries to design materials and processes that develop into enabling technologies.

                      Deanne Bell believes engineering is for girls

Guiding Question How do science concepts, engineering skills, and applications of technology improve the quality of life?

                       Break It Down Interactive

Grade Level Expectations

GLE 0707.T/E.1 Explore how technology responds to social, political, and economic needs.

                      Explore large structures and what it takes to build them with BUILDING BIG™, a five- 

                      part PBS  television series and Web site from WGBH Boston.

                     Wheelchairs - Podcast

                     The Bridge Over the Hellespont

                     Jean Engineering Podcast

GLE 0707.T/E.2 Know that the engineering design process involves an ongoing series of events that incorporate design constraints, model building, testing, evaluating, modifying, and retesting.

                      Mousetrap vehicle,

                      Designing Balloon cars

                      Invention Playhouse

GLE 0707.T/E.3 Compare the intended benefits with the unintended consequences of a new technology.

GLE 0707.T/E.4 Describe and explain adaptive and assistive bioengineered products.

                      Prosthetic Arm Video

Checks for Understanding

0707.T/E.1 Use appropriate tools to test for strength, hardness, and flexibility of materials.

0707.T/E.2 Apply the engineering design process to construct a prototype that meets certain specifications.                     Designing a Space Station

0707.T/E.3 Explore how the unintended consequences of new technologies can impact society.

0707.T/E.4 Research bioengineering technologies that advance health and contribute to improvements in our daily lives.                      Prosthetic Arm Video

0707.T/E.5 Develop an adaptive design and test its effectiveness.

State Performance Indicators

Grade 7 : Standard 1 -Cells

Conceptual Strand 1 All living things are made of cells that perform functions necessary for life.

Guiding Question 1 How are plant and animals cells organized to carry on the processes of life? 

                      It's Alive: Characteristics of Living Things - PowerPoint lesson and game

Grade Level Expectations

• GLE 0707.1.1 Make observations and describe the structure and function of organelles found in plant and animal cells

• GLE 0707.1.2 Summarize how the different levels of organization are integrated within living systems.

• GLE 0707.1.3 Describe the function of different organ systems and how collectively they enable complex multicellular organisms to survive.

• GLE 0707.1.4 Illustrate how cell division occurs in sequential stages to maintain the chromosome number of a species.

• GLE 0707.1.5 Observe and explain how materials move through simple diffusion.

Checks for Understanding 

0707.1.1 Examine and describe plant and animal cells using compound microscopes.

0707.1.2 Identify the function of the major plant and animal cellular organelles.                       Cellular organization

0707.1.3 Make a Venn diagram to compare the structures and functions of an animal cell                       How Can You Tell an Animal Cell from a Plant Cell?

0707.1.4 Build a 3-D model of a cell.                       Cells, Tissues, Organs, Systems Lessons

0707.1.5 Construct a poster that illustrates the hierarchy among cells, tissues, organs, organ systems, and organisms.                        Cells, Tissues, Organs, Systems Lessons

0707.1.7 Describe the function of different organ systems.                       Cells, Tissues, Organs, Systems Lessons

State Performance Indicators

Grade 7 : Standard 2 -Interdependence (Not Addressed at this level)

Conceptual Strand 2 All life is interdependent and interacts with the environment.

Guiding Question 2 How do living things interact with one another and with the non-living elements of their environment?

Grade 7 : Standard 3 -Flow of Matter and Energy

Conceptual Strand 3 Matter and energy flow through the biosphere.

Guiding Question 3 What scientific information explains how matter and energy flow through the biosphere?

Grade Level Expectations

• GLE 0707.3.1 Distinguish between the basic features of photosynthesis and respiration. 

• GLE 0707.3.2 Investigate the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide between living things and the environment

                     PPT Photosynthesis 

Checks for Understanding 

0707.3.1 Associate the fundamental processes of photosynthesis and respiration with appropriate cell structures.                      Making Food                       Plant Needs                       Plants Puzzle

0707.3.2 Examine and identify the chloroplasts in a leaf cell.                      Plant and Cell Organelles

0707.3.3 Identify the materials used by plants to make food.                       A Beginning Look at Photosynthesis: Plants Need Light                       Getting Their Food                        Illuminative Photosynthesis Videos                      Water Flow in Plants ( experiment)

0707.3.4 Create a chart that compares the reactants and products of photosynthesis and respiration.                      Quia Photosynthesis and Respiration  Photosynthesis

0707.3.5 Model the pathways of water, oxygen, and carbon dioxide through a plant.                      What is Photosynthesis?

0707.3.7 Describe the movement of oxygen and carbon dioxide between living things and the environment.                       Carbon Cycle  BrainPop movie

0707.3.7 Describe structures that animals use to obtain oxygen.

State Performance Indicators

Grade 7 : Standard 4 - Heredity

Conceptual Strand 4 Plants and animals reproduce and transmit hereditary information between generations.

Guiding Question 4 What are the principal mechanisms by which living things reproduce and transmit information between parents and offspring?

Grade Level Expectations

• GLE 0707.4.1 Compare and contrast the fundamental features of sexual and asexual reproduction.

• GLE 0707.4.2 Demonstrate an understanding of sexual reproduction in flowering plants.

• GLE 0707.4.3 Explain the relationship among genes, chromosomes, and inherited traits

• GLE 0707.4.4 Predict the probable appearance of offspring based on the genetic characteristics of the parents

                      Coin Toss Probability

Checks for Understanding 

0707.4.1 Classify organisms according to whether they reproduce sexually or asexually

0707.4.2 Label and explain the function of the reproductive parts of a flower.                      Flowering Plant Reproduction                        Pollination  What is Pollination?                       Lesson Partners in Pollination                       Biology of plants                       Plants and Animals Partners in Pollination- Activity                       Flowering Plant Reproduction                         Biology of plants                      Parts of a Flower- info and game                      Flower Dissection

0707.4.3 Describe various methods of plant pollination.

0707.4.4 Investigate the relationship among DNA, genes, and chromosomes                      DNA and Mutations                      Mutations                      Strawberry DNA Extraction

0707.4.5 Explain the differences between dominant and recessive traits.                      Lesson Asexual and Sexual Reproduction                       Compare Asexual and Sexual reproduction

0707.4.6 Use a Punnett square to predict the genotypes of offspring resulting from a monohybrid cross.                      Genetics Practice Problems (This is great practice.)                      Punnet Square

0707.4.7 Draw a phenotypically accurate picture of an individual whose traits are modeled by the role of a die.

State Performance Indicators

Grade 7 : Standard 5 -Biodiversity and Change (Not Addressed at this level)

Conceptual Strand 5 A rich variety of complex organisms have developed in response to a continually changing environment.

Guiding Question 5 How does natural selection explain how organisms have changed over time?

Grade 7 - Earth and Space Science

Grade 7 : Standard 6 -The Universe (not addressed at this level)

Conceptual Strand 7 The cosmos is vast and explored well enough to know its basic structure and operational principles. 

Guiding Question 7  What big ideas guide human understanding about the origin and structure of the universe, Earth’s place in the cosmos, and observable   motions and patterns in the sky?

Grade 7 : Standard 7 – The Earth (New at this level)

Conceptual Strand 7   Major geologic events that occur over eons or brief moments in time continually shape and reshape the surface of the Earth, resulting in continuous global change.

Guiding Question 7 How is the earth affected by long-term and short term geological cycles and the influence of man?

Grade Level Expectations

• GLE 0707.7.1 Describe the physical properties of minerals.

• GLE 0707.7.2 Summarize the basic events that occur during the rock cycle.

                      Interactive Rock Cycle

• GLE 0707.7.3 Analyze the characteristics of the earth’s layers and the location of the major plates.

                Earth's Layers (Inside the Earth)

                Layers of the Earth 

                The Layers of the Earth 

                Earth's Layers 

                Layers of the Earth

                Layers

• GLE 0707.7.4 Explain how earthquakes, mountain building, volcanoes, and sea floor spreading are associated with movements of the earth’s major plates.

• GLE 0707.7.5 Differentiate between renewable and nonrenewable resources in terms of their use by man.

• GLE 0707.7.6 Evaluate how human activities affect the earth’s land, oceans, and atmosphere.

Checks for Understanding 

0707.7.1 Organize and explain information about the properties of minerals and their uses.                      mineral info                      What is a Mineral?                      how to identify

0707.7.2 Label a diagram that depicts the major processes of the rock cycle.                       Interactive Rock Cycle                                            Brain Pop: Rock Cycle

0707.7.3 Distinguish among sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic rocks and relate these to a simple diagram of the rock cycle.                       Interactive Rock Cycle                       Interactive rock cycle                       Rock cycle worksheet                       Rock cycle dice                       Crayon rock cycle                       Rock Cycle Jeopardy Game

0707.7.4 Recognize that the earth’s layers have different thickness, states of matter, densities, and chemical makeup                       Earth Is Like A Puzzle.                       Interactive – Earth’s structure

0707.7.5 Analyze the relationship between plate movements and areas of earthquake activity.

0707.7.6 Analyze the relationship between plate movements and mountain building.                       Plate Movement Activity

0707.7.7 Analyze the relationship between plate movements, volcanoes, and sea floor spreading.                       CVO Website - Plate Tectonics and Sea-Floor Spreading

0707.7.8 Determine the impact of man’s use of renewable and nonrenewable resources on future supplies.                       Nonrenewable Resources                       Resources  worksheet  quiz

0707.7.9 Evaluate how human activities affect the condition of the earth’s land, water, and atmosphere.

State Performance Indicators

Grade 7 : Standard 8 -The Atmosphere (Not Addressed at this level)

Conceptual Strand 8 The earth is surrounded by an active atmosphere and an energy system that controls the distribution life, local weather, climate, and global temperature.

Guiding Question 8 How do the physical characteristics and the chemical makeup of the atmosphere influence surface processes and life on Earth?

Grade 7 : Standard 9 -Matter (Not Addressed at this level)

Conceptual Strand 9 The composition and structure of matter is known, and it behaves according to principles that are generally understood.

Guiding Question 9 How does the structure of matter influence its physical and chemical behavior?

Grade 7 : Standard 10 -Energy (Not Addressed at this level)

Conceptual Strand 10 Various forms of energy are constantly being transformed into other types without any net loss of energy from the system.

Guiding Question 10 What basic energy related ideas are essential for understanding the dependency of the natural and man-made worlds on energy?

Grade 7 : Standard 11 -Motion

Conceptual Strand 11 Objects move in ways that can be observed, described, predicted, and measured. .

Guiding Question 11 What causes objects to move differently under different circumstances?

Grade Level Expectations

• GLE 0707.11.1 Identify six types of simple machines. 

                 Physical Science Concepts: Energy 104SC  (Orchard)

• GLE 0707.11.2 Apply the equation for work in experiments with simple machines to determine the amount of force needed to do work. 

• GLE 0707.11.3 Distinguish between speed and velocity.

• GLE 0707.11.4 Investigate how Newton’s laws of motion explain an object’s movement.

• GLE 0707.11.5 Compare and contrast the basic parts of a wave.

• GLE 0707.11.6 Investigate the types and fundamental properties of waves.

Checks for Understanding 

0707.11.1 Compare the six types of simple machines.                         Simple Machine Learning Site                       Simple Machines                 Simple Machines                       Simple machines word search                       Simple Machine Games                       more machines

0707.11.2 Compete an investigation to determine how machines reduce the amount of force needed to do work.                 Simple Machines                 Work and Simple Machines  PowerPoint

0707.11.3 Summarize the difference between the speed and velocity based on the distance and amount of time traveled                       Describing Motion in Words                       Force and motion ppt  ppt page

0707.11.4 Recognize how a net force impacts an object’s motion.                        Describing Motion in Words                       Newton's Laws of Motion                       force ppt

0707.11.5 Create a graphic organizer to illustrate and describe the basic parts of a wave.                       The Anatomy of a Wave

0707.11.6 Compare how transverse and longitudinal waves are produced and transmitted.                       Formation of Waves

State Performance Indicators

Grade 7: Standard 12 -Forces in Nature (Not Addressed at this level)

Conceptual Strand 12 Everything in the universe exerts a gravitational force on everything else;  there is an interplay between magnetic fields and electrical currents.

Guiding Question 12 What are the scientific principles that explain gravity and electromagnetism?

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