A. Unifying Themes
1. Systems
2. Models
3. Constancy and Change
4. Scale

B. The Skills and Traits of Scientific Inquiry and Technological Design
1. Skills and Traits of Scientific Inquiry
2. Skills and Traits of Technological Design

C. The Scientific and Technological Enterprise
1. Understandings of Inquiry
2. Understandings about Science and Technology
3. Science, Technology, and Society
4. History and Nature of Science

D. The Physical Setting
1. Universe and Solar System
2. Earth
3. Matter and Energy
4. Force and Motion

E. The Living Environment
1. Biodiversity
2. Ecosystems
3. Cells

4. Heredity and Reproduction

5. Evolution


These are the specific learning objectives that we cover in Grade 7 Science


D. The Physical Setting:
Students understand the universal nature of matter, energy, force, and motion and identify how these relationships are
exhibited in Earth Systems, in the solar system, and throughout the universe.


D3 Matter and Energy

Students describe physical and
chemical properties of matter,
interactions and changes in matter,
and transfer of energy through
matter.

a. Describe that all matter is made
up of atoms and distinguish
between/among elements, atoms,
and molecules.

b. Describe how physical
characteristics of elements and
types of reactions they undergo
have been used to create the
Periodic Table.

c. Describe the difference between
physical and chemical change.

d. Explain the relationship of the
motion of atoms and molecules to
the states of matter for gases,
liquids, and solids.

e. Explain how atoms are packed
together in arrangements that
compose all substances including
elements, compounds, mixtures,
and solutions.

f. Explain and apply the
understanding that substances
have characteristic properties,
including density, boiling point,
and solubility and these properties
are not dependent on the amount
of matter present.

g. Use the idea of atoms to explain
the conservation of matter.

h. Describe several different types of
energy forms including heat
energy, chemical energy, and
mechanical energy.

i. Use examples of energy
transformations from one form to
another to explain that energy
cannot be created or destroyed.

j. Describe how heat is transferred
from one object to another by
conduction, convection, and/or
radiation.

k. Describe the properties of solar
radiation and its interaction with
objects on Earth.



D4 Force and Motion

Students describe the force of gravity, the motion of objects, the properties of waves, and the
wavelike property of energy in light waves.

a. Describe the similarities and
differences in the motion of sound
vibrations, earthquakes, and light
waves.

b. Explain the relationship among
visible light, the electromagnetic
spectrum, and sight.

c. Describe and apply an
understanding of how the
gravitational force between any
two objects would change if their
mass or the distance between
them changed.

d. Describe and apply an
understanding of how electric
currents and magnets can exert
force on each other.

e. Describe and apply an
understanding of the
 effects of multiple forces on an object, and
how unbalanced forces will cause
changes in the speed or direction.

E. The Living Environment:

 Students understand that cells are the basic unit of life, that all life as we know it has evolved through genetic transfer and
natural selection to create a great diversity of organisms, and that these organisms create interdependent webs through which matter and energy
flow. Students understand similarities and differences between humans and other organisms and the interconnections of these interdependent webs.

Students differentiate among organisms based on biological characteristics and identify patterns of similarity.

E1 Biodiversity

a. Compare physical characteristics
that differentiate organisms into
groups (including plants that use
sunlight to make their own food,
animals that consume energy-rich
food, and organisms that cannot
easily be classified as either).

b. Explain how biologists use internal
and external anatomical features
to determine relatedness among
organisms and to form the basis
for classification systems.

c. Explain ways to determine
whether organisms are the same
species.

d. Describe how external and
internal structures of animals and
plants contribute to the variety of
ways organisms are able to find
food and reproduce.



E2 Ecosystems

Students examine how the characteristics of the physical, nonliving (abiotic) environment, the
types and behaviors of living (biotic) organisms, and the flow of matter and energy affect organisms
and the ecosystem of which they are part.

a. List various kinds of resources
within different biomes for which
organisms compete.

b. Describe ways in which two types
of organisms may interact (including competition,
predator/prey,
producer/consumer/decomposer,
parasitism, and mutualism) and
describe the positive and negative
consequences of such
interactions.

c. Describe the source and flow of
energy in the two major food
webs, terrestrial and marine.

d. Describe how matter and energy
change from one form to another
in living things and in the physical
environment.

e. Explain that the total amount of
matter in the environment stays
the same even as its form and
location change.


E5 Evolution

Students describe the evidence that evolution occurs over many generations, allowing species to
acquire many of their unique characteristics or adaptations.

a. Explain how the layers of
sedimentary rock and their
contained fossils provide evidence
for the long history of Earth and
for the long history of changing
life.

b. Describe how small differences
between parents and offspring can
lead to descendants who are very
different from their ancestors.

c. Describe how variations in the
behavior and traits of an offspring
may permit some of them to
survive a changing environment.

d. Explain that new varieties of
cultivated plants and domestic
animals can be developed through
genetic modification and describe
the impacts of the new varieties of
plants and animals.