Seventh Grade Life Science

1a. Curriculum Standard:

Students will demonstrate an increasing understanding of how the scientific enterprise operates.

P – Z – Introduce

P. Formulate questions and use appropriate concepts to guide scientific investigations and to solve real world problems

Set up bean plants in different environments to allow students to pose questions about real world issues such as:

Q. Use ratios as a means of comparing very large/very small numbers

R. Design and conduct a controlled scientific investigation

S. Use technologies as tools in conducting investigations

T. Construct and revise scientific explanations and models using logic and evidence


U. Recognize and analyze alternative explanations and models for observed phenomena


V. Select, communicate, and defend a scientific argument


W. Compare and contrast how technology has shaped our lives both in the past and the present


X. Select a science-related social problem and design a solution that reflects an understanding of basic science concepts and their application


Y. Demonstrate an understanding that science knowledge has, over time, accumulated most rapidly after acceptance of major new theories.


Z. Explain how scientific knowledge is applied in the design and manufacture of products or technological processes

 

2a. Curriculum Standard:

Students will demonstrate an increasing ability to use measuring instruments to gather accurate and/or precise information.

D, E, F - Introduce

D. Measure with both analog and digital electronic devices

E. Estimate the error in measurements they make and use procedures to minimize those errors


F. Describe ways in which technology has improved measuring instruments and their accuracy

 

2b. Curriculum Standard:

Students will demonstrate an increasing ability to use technology to observe nature.

C, D – Introduce

C. Explore nature with technology

D. Gather information that can only be obtained by using a technological tool

 

2c. Curriculum Standard:

Students will demonstrate an increasing ability to analyze, synthesize, and communicate scientific information using technology.

E – I – Introduce

E. Store data in an appropriate technological device


F. Manipulate data on a database

G. Analyze data graphically with technological assistance

H. Communicate data through an electronic medium

I. Quantitatively analyze experimental data

 

2d. Curriculum Standard:

Students will demonstrate an increasing ability to understand how technology is used to synthesize new products.

G, H, I - Introduce

G. Plan and conduct a scientific research project using technology


H. Construct scientific models using common materials or standard laboratory equipment


I. Create a model by locating and utilizing appropriate software programs

 

2e. Curriculum Standard:

Students will demonstrate an increasing ability to understand that science and technology can affect individuals, and that individuals in turn can affect science and technology.

D, E, F – Introduce

D. Describe immediate and long-term consequences of various alternative solutions for science- and/or technology-related issues

 

E. Defend a personal decision made on a science- and/or technology-related issue


F. Determine how technology affects their lives and predict how it might affect their future

 

2f. Curriculum Standard:

Students will demonstrate an increasing ability to understand that progress in science and technology is controlled by societal attitudes and beliefs.

D, E – Introduce

D. Illustrate, through example, that the knowledge produced through science and technology changes the way members of society think


E. Demonstrate, by giving examples, the relationships between the maintenance and progress of society and scientific and technological advancement

 

3a. Curriculum Standard:

Students will demonstrate an increasing ability to recognize patterns and products of evolution, including genetic variation, specialization, adaptation, and natural selection.

H – R – Introduce

H. Identify and give examples of representative life forms in the five kingdoms (see curriculum standard 3d) of living things

    1. Identify and describe similarities and differences among organisms of different, but closely related taxa (groups)

J. Relate different kinds of animals and plants to their habitat by observing their physical characteristics

K. Interpret simple genetic crosses and predict/explain the patterns that emerge

    1. Explain how the characteristics of living things depends upon genes.
    1. Estimate the degree of kinship among organisms or species from the similarity of their

N. Develop appropriate food webs for the major biomes of the earth and accurately describe the major biogeochemical cycles that control the interactions between the biotic and physical worlds

O. Construct a "timeline" that depicts how life forms change over time as they interact in and with the environment

P. Describe how genetic material is passed from parent to offspring during asexual and sexual reproduction


Q. Research a human genetic trait and trace its appearance/presence through a family history and predict the inheritance patterns and probabilities through the next generation.


R. Explain how new genetic traits can arise and become established in a population

 

3b.Curriculum Standard:

Students will demonstrate an increasing ability to understand how environmental factors affect all living systems (i.e. individuals, community, biome, the biosphere) as well as species to species interactions

F – J – Introduce

F. Design a controlled investigation that demonstrates the interdependence of plants and animals found within a specific New Hampshire ecosystem


G. Predict, with rationale, the effects of changing one or two factors in an ecosystem.


H. Research and present a model that demonstrates how ecosystems are reasonably stable over hundreds or thousands of years, dependent on climate, solar activity, limiting factors, carrying capacities, and biogeochemical cycles.

I.Make predictions about changes in the size or growth rate of a population using mathematical models.


J. Trace the history of an interaction between man and the environment that demonstrates how human activities can deliberately or inadvertently alter the equilibrium in an ecosystem

 

3c.Curriculum Standard:

Students will demonstrate an increasing ability to understand that organisms are linked to one another and to their physical setting by the transfer and transformation of matter and energy to maintain a dynamic equilibrium.

D, H – Introduce

D. Design and perform an experiment to show that the number of living things any environment can support is limited by the available energy, water, oxygen, minerals, and ability of an ecosystem to recycle organic material

 
E. Construct models that demonstrate which chemical elements make up the molecules of substances found in living organisms and how these elements pass through food webs. (Profile has lots)

F. Describe how essential materials enter cells and how waste and other materials leave the cell.


G. Explain how cells use nutrients as a source of energy


H. Compare the transformation of matter and energy during photosynthesis and respiration.

3d. Curriculum Standard:

Students will demonstrate an increasing ability to understand fundamental structures, functions, and mechanisms of inheritance found in microorganisms, fungi, protists, plants, and animals.

H – O - Introduce

H. Use tools and models to demonstrate that all cells have specialized structures that carry out specialized functions
    1. Describe the major functions of the living cell and discuss how different groups of cells perform interrelated functions in any organism


J. Explain, in general terms, the role:


K. Discuss, using observation, experimentation, and modeling, the connections between the structure and function of cells, tissues, organs, and organ systems – analogy of a house or something else


L. Describe/explain homeostasis (the maintenance of internal stability within organisms)
    1. Describe the life cycles of representative organisms that cause human diseases.
    1. Describe the use of technology in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of disease.
    1. Investigate behavioral patterns found in different life forms.

Student Research on:

(litter size-partridge egg numbers, bears, kangaroos)

 

4b. Curriculum Standard:

Students will demonstrate an increasing ability to understand that the Earth is a complex planet with five interacting systems, which consists of the solid Earth (lithosphere), air (atmosphere), water (hydrosphere), ice (cryosphere), and life (biosphere).

U – Introduce

U. Demonstrate how living things alter the Earth's atmosphere; lithosphere, and hydrosphere

 

4c. Curriculum Standard:

Students will demonstrate an increasing ability to understand that the Earth contains a variety of renewable and non-renewable resources.

E – H - Introduce

E. Investigate how human activities, such as reducing the amount of forest cover and increasing the amount and variety of chemicals released into the atmosphere have changed the Earth's land, water, and atmosphere – discussion/lecture


F. Cite evidence that our fresh water supply is essential for life and also for most industrial processes – basic need for all living things


G. Describe possible consequences of reducing or eliminating some of the Earth's natural resources

 
H. Identify natural, as well as human-induced, factors which contribute to changes in the Earth's systems

 

5a. Curriculum Standard:

Students will demonstrate an increasing ability to distinguish among materials by utilizing observable properties.

D, E – Introduce

  1. Obtain reliable and valid quantitative data through careful and skilled use of measuring instruments
  1. Distinguish between qualitative and quantitative properties based upon observations of a substance

 

6a. Curriculum Standard:

Students will demonstrate an increasing ability to recognize parts of any object or system, and understand how the parts interrelate in the operation of that object or system.

D, E, F, G – Introduce

  1. Demonstrate and describe how parts of a system influence each other, including feedback
  2. Demonstrate how systems include processes as well as parts
  1. Show how one system can be part of another system, and how systems influence each other
  1. Predict how certain changes in the system will/will not affect the operation of the system

 

6b. Curriculum Standard:

Students will demonstrate their understanding of the meaning of stability and change and will be able to identify and explain change in terms of cause and effect.

F, G, H – Introduce

 

6c. Curriculum Standard:

Students will understand the meaning of models, their appropriate use and limitations, and how models can help them in understanding the natural world.

E, F, G, H, I – Introduce

6d. Curriculum Standard:

Students will increasingly quantify their interactions with phenomena in the natural world, use these results to understand differences of scale in objects and systems, and determine how changes in scale affect various properties of those objects and systems.

F, G, H, I, J – Introduce