How to learn Grade 7: Science

Alabama academic standards: Science, Grade 7

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1. Heredity: Inheritance and Variation of Traits

1. Variation in Species: Explain variation within and between species, distinguishing between continuous variation (e.g. height) and discontinuous variation (e.g. blood group), and between genetic and environmental causes
2. How Natural Selection Works: Explain natural selection as the mechanism of evolution: heritable variation + competition for resources + differential survival and reproduction = change in allele frequency over generations
3. Inheritance Vocabulary: Use vocabulary for variation and inheritance — inherited characteristic, acquired characteristic, variation, offspring, trait, species, breed, genetic, environment — and apply these when comparing organisms and explaining similarities and differences within and between species
4. Fossils as Evidence: Analyse and interpret data from fossils to provide evidence of organisms and environments that existed long ago
5. Predicting Inherited Traits: Explain how alleles are inherited in sexual reproduction and use Punnett squares to predict the probability of offspring inheriting a characteristic, including dominant and recessive alleles
6. Offspring resemble parents: Observe that young plants and animals resemble their parents but are not identical, recognising inherited similarities and individual differences

2. Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics

1. Food Webs & Interdependence: Construct and interpret food webs showing the interdependence of organisms in an ecosystem, explaining how a change in one population affects others
2. Biodiversity & Resilience: Explain what biodiversity means, why high biodiversity makes ecosystems more resilient, and describe the ways human activity threatens biodiversity (habitat destruction, pollution, invasive species, climate change)
3. Matter Cycling in Ecosystems: Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment in an ecosystem
4. Human impact on environments: Use vocabulary for human impact on the environment — pollution, habitat destruction, deforestation, biodiversity, conservation, renewable energy, non-renewable energy, fossil fuel, carbon footprint, sustainability, endangered, extinct — and apply these when discussing environmental issues and human choices
5. Symbiosis: Understand symbiosis — close relationships between different species — including mutualism (both benefit, like clownfish and anemones), commensalism (one benefits without harming the other, like remora fish riding sharks), and parasitism (one benefits at the other's expense, like ticks on deer) — and recognise these relationships in nature
6. Ocean Ecosystems: Understand ocean ecosystems as interconnected systems where living things (producers, consumers, decomposers) and non-living factors (temperature, salinity, light, currents) all interact, and that changes to one part affect the whole system

3. From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes

1. Cells to Organ Systems: Describe the hierarchical organisation of multicellular organisms: cells → tissues → organs → organ systems → organism
2. Photosynthesis: Explain photosynthesis as the process by which plants use light energy to convert carbon dioxide and water into glucose and oxygen, and describe how mineral nutrients are absorbed through roots
3. Parts of Plant and Animal Cells: Describe the functions of the main components of plant and animal cells: cell wall, cell membrane, cytoplasm, nucleus, vacuole, mitochondria, ribosomes, and chloroplasts
4. Organ Systems Vocabulary: Use technical vocabulary for the major organ systems — organ, organ system, circulatory system, digestive system, respiratory system, skeletal system, muscular system, nutrient, oxygen, carbon dioxide, blood vessel, artery, vein, capillary, enzyme — and describe the function of each system using these terms
5. Energy from Food & the Sun: Use models to describe that energy in animals' food was once energy from the sun, transferred through plants or other organisms

4. Microbiology and Parasitology

1. Classifying Organisms: Describe how living things are classified into broad groups (micro-organisms, plants, animals) according to common observable characteristics, similarities, and differences

5. Immunology

1. Pathogens & the Immune System: Explain how pathogens (bacteria, viruses, and fungi) cause disease and describe how the immune system responds, including the roles of white blood cells (phagocytosis, antibody production) and the concept of immunity

6. Unity and Diversity

1. Evidence for Evolution: Describe the main types of evidence for evolution: the fossil record (change over time), comparative anatomy (homologous structures), and the geographic distribution of related species