7th GRADE SCIENCE ESSENTIAL STANDARDS AND BENCHMARKS

First Semester Essential Standard

1)  SCIENTIFIC PROGRESS IS MADE BY ASKING MEANINGFUL QUESTIONS AND CONDUCTING CAREFUL INVESTIGATIONS.

Ø      Use appropriate tools and technology to collect, analyze and display data.

Ø      Conduct experiments, gather data and examine scientific evidence to draw conclusions in written or oral form

Ø      Construct scale models, maps and appropriately labeled diagrams to communicate scientific knowledge.

2)  THE ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY OF LIVING THINGS DEMONSTRATES THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION.

Ø      Identify the differences between plant and animal cells.

Ø      Know the nucleus is the location of genetic information in plant and animal cells.

Ø      Know cells function similarly in all living organisms.

Ø      Explain how mitochondria and chloroplasts create energy and food for the cell.

Ø      Explain that sexual reproduction produces offspring that inherit half their genes from each parent.

Ø      Know an inherited trait can be determined by one or more genes.

Ø      Understand that cells have different genes which may exist in dominant or recessive forms.

Ø      Understand that DNA is the genetic material located in the chromosomes of each cell.

Second Semester Essential Standard

1)  THE ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY OF LIVING THINGS DEMONSTRATES THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION.

Ø      Know that plants and animals have levels of organization for structure and function.

Ø      Explain how organ systems function based on their structures.

Ø      Understand how bones and muscles work together to provide a framework for movement.

Ø      Know how the reproductive organs generate sex cells and how fertilization and pregnancy occur.

Ø      Know the structures and processes by which flowering plants generate sex cells.

Ø      Compare joints in the body to simple devices.

Ø      Understand how contractions of the heart generate blood pressure.

Ø      Know that the eye must absorb light in order to see objects.

Ø      Know that light travels in straight lines unless the medium changes.

Ø      Understand how simple lenses are used in living systems and scientific tools.

2)  THE EARTH AND ITS LIVING ORGANISMS GRADUALLY CHANGE OVER TIME.

Ø      Understand that changes over time are caused by genetic variation and environmental factors.

Ø      Know the reasoning used by Charles Darwin that led to the theory of natural selection.

Ø      Understand how evidence from geology, fossils and anatomy provide a basis for the theory of evolution.

Ø      Know that earth processes today are similar to those that have occurred in the past.

Ø      Know the rock cycle includes the formation of new sediments and rocks.

Ø      Understand that fossils provide evidence of how life and environmental conditions have changed.

Ø      Understand how movements of the earth’s continents and changes in the climate have affected the distribution of species.

3)  SCIENTIFIC PROGRESS IS MADE BY ASKING MEANINGFUL QUESTIONS AND CONDUCTING CAREFUL INVESTIGATIONS.

Ø      Use appropriate tools and technology to collect, analyze and display data.

Ø      Conduct experiments, gather data and examine scientific evidence to draw conclusions in written or oral form.