7th Grade Science Standards

7-MS-ESS2-4:
Develop a model to describe the cycling of water through Earth’s systems driven by energy from the sun and the force of gravity.

Learn, Protect and Promote Water!: In this lesson students learn about water sources, water pollution, and water protection. Students participate in an activity where they demonstrate the water cycle and see the potential for our water supply to become contaminated.

7-MS-ESS2-5: Collect data to provide evidence for how the motions and complex interactions of air masses result in changes in weather conditions.

Climate Change Phenomena: Bananas in Our Breadbasket?: Students will explore the carbon cycle and evaluate associated phenomena of climate as they discover the impact climate change could have on the farms that produce our food.

7-MS-ESS3-5:
Ask questions to clarify evidence of the factors that have caused the rise in global temperatures over the past century.

7-MS-LS1-6:
Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for the role of photosynthesis and cellular respiration in the cycling of matter and flow of energy into and out of organisms.

Digging into Nutrients: In this lesson, students will gain background knowledge of the nutrient requirements of plants, how those nutrients are obtained by the plant, what farmers must do if the nutrients are not available in soils, and current issues related to agricultural production.

Photosynthesis: Energy’s Journey From Farm to You: Explore photosynthesis to discover how plants obtain energy from the sun and then continue following energy’s path to see how energy can flow through ecosystems to ultimately provide food for humans.

The Right Solution: In this lesson, students will understand concepts about solutes, solvents, and parts per million as they learn how fertilizer solution is properly calculated and applied.

What? No Soil?: After learning the five basic requirements of plant growth, students discuss terms related to hydroponics. Students then build and maintain hydroponic units from soda bottles.

7-MS-LS1-7:
Develop a model to describe how food is rearranged through chemical reactions forming new molecules that support growth and/or release energy as this matter moves through an organism.

Energy and Biofuels: Students explore the process of fermentation in the creation of ethanol and observe the role enzymes play in the fermentation of starch.

FoodMASTER Middle: Eggs: Students will learn the anatomy of eggs and the concept of forming colloidal dispersions called foams as they learn the anatomy of an egg, create a foam by whisking egg whites, investigate the effect of whisking time on foam, and compare and contrast the effect of different substances on the stability of foam.

FoodMASTER Middle: Energy Balance: Students will identify the importance of a healthy diet, examine how to meet current Dietary Guidelines, and determine the potential energy (kilocalories) of a peanut through measurements obtained during teacher use of a bomb calorimeter. Students will make comparisons to the actual Nutrition Fact Label and identify possible sources of error.

FoodMASTER Middle: Fats and Oils: Students will explore the fat content of commonly consumed foods, observe physical properties of lipids (margarine, butter, and vegetable oil) to distinguish between saturated and unsaturated fat, and observe the action of emulsifiers in heterogeneous and homogenous mixtures.

FoodMASTER Middle: Food Safety: Students will understand water-based state changes that occur at varying temperatures, recognize the importance of the proper hand washing technique for general health and disease prevention, understand the factors that impact mold growth and their application to food safety, and explore ways to prevent foodborne illness.

FoodMASTER Middle: Fruits: Students will learn the concept of enzymatic browning and methods for decreasing enzymatic oxidation by observing three types of fruit. Students will also understand the relationship between oxidation and antioxidants and the role fruits play in health and nutrition.

FoodMASTER Middle: Grains: Students will learn the physical components and nutritional composition of a grain, understand the function of the protein gluten in the structure of bread products, and investigate how mechanical and chemical digestion begins with salivary amylase in the mouth.

FoodMASTER Middle: Milk: Students will understand the nutritional components of milk (carbohydrates) as they test three types of milk for the sugar glucose before and after adding the digestive enzyme lactase to determine which milk(s) contain the sugar lactose. They will also explore the nutritional composition and health benefits of consuming milk, research food sources of calcium, vitamin D, and phosphorus and devise ways to add bone-strengthening food to their diet.

FoodMASTER Middle: Protein: Students will examine dietary sources of protein and generally understand the relationship between protein synthesis and amino acids while completing an activity to use beads as a representation of amino acids to construct proteins (polypeptide chains). Students will identify complete and/or incomplete proteins found in both animal and plant food sources.

FoodMASTER Middle: Sugar: Students will learn the concept of simple carbohydrates (sugar) in the diet and their role in providing energy to the body, compare saturated sugar solutions, and evaluate the sugar content of common beverages and sugar consumption within their own diet.

FoodMASTER Middle: Vegetables: Students will learn the concept of pH, and the impact of acids and bases on plant pigments, explore the impact of acids and bases on plant cell structure, and discover the health benefits of consuming vegetables.

FoodMASTER Middle: Weights and Measures: Students will use common household measurement tools and scientific measurement tools and various methods of measurement to compare for accuracy. Students will also calculate percent error by comparing their measurements to actual values and apply these principles to analyze and decipher the components of a food as indicated on the Nutrition Facts label.

FoodMASTER Middle: Yogurt: Students will learn the role of bacterial fermentation and evaluate the effect of fat content, sugar content (lactose), and temperature in bacterial fermentation as they make yogurt.

What? No Soil?: After learning the five basic requirements of plant growth, students discuss terms related to hydroponics. Students then build and maintain hydroponic units from soda bottles.

7-MS-LS2-4:
Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations.

Crop Case Files: Dichotomous Keys: Students will explore the connection between weeds and ecosystem stability, practice observing characteristics by using and creating a dichotomous key, and research and present information on noxious weeds.

Hungry Pests: This lesson teaches about invasive species: what they are, the threats they pose, and damages they can cause. Students will identify individual pests and invasive species and discover what they threaten, where they live, and the pathways hungry pests use to enter new locations. Finally students move into action and explore what they can do to prevent the spread of invasive species.

It’s A Dirty Job: In this lesson, students will create mini habitats to observe earthworm behavior and learn about the important role that earthworms play in decomposition and plant growth.

The Great Debate: The Reintroduction of Gray Wolves: Students discover multiple perspectives concerning the reintroduction of gray wolves into the wild by researching pros and cons and participating in a debate.

7-MS-LS2-5:
Undertake a design project that assists in maintaining diversity and ecosystem services.

What? No Soil?: After learning the five basic requirements of plant growth, students discuss terms related to hydroponics. Students then build and maintain hydroponic units from soda bottles.

7-MS-LS3-2:
Develop and use a model to describe why asexual reproduction results in offspring with identical genetic information and sexual reproduction results in offspring with genetic variation.

Applying Heredity Concepts: In this lesson, students will complete monohybrid and dihybrid Punnett squares in preparation for taking on a challenge to breed cotton plants that produce naturally blue colored cotton.

Flower Power: Students will observe physical characteristics of flowers and explore principles of pollination.

Inherited Traits in the Living Corn Necklace: Students will observe the growth of Indian corn and popcorn seeds, observe similarities and differences between the two varieties, and discuss heredity.

Plant Propagation: Students will learn about two types of plant propagation – seed planting (sexual) and stem cuttings (asexual) and recognize the genetic differences in these processes, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of each method.

Use of Biotechnology in Selecting the Right Plants: Students will simulate how a type of biotechnology called Marker Assisted Selection (MAS) is used to identify crop plants that have desirable traits such as sweet tasting fruit or natural resistance to a pest or disease.

7-MS-LS4-4:
Construct an explanation based on evidence that describes how genetic variations of traits in a population increase some individuals’ probability of surviving and reproducing in a specific environment.

Apple Genetics: A Tasty Phenomena: Using the context of apples, students will apply their knowledge of heredity and genetics to distinguish between sexual and asexual reproduction as they explain how new varieties of apples are developed and then propagated to meet consumer demand for a tasty, uniform, consistent product.

Can We Have Too Much of a Good Thing?: Students will understand that plants require nutrients in the proper concentrations. Students will discover that plants can be damaged or killed by either too many or too few nutrients.

7-MS-LS4-5:
Gather, read, and synthesize information about technologies that have changed the way humans influence the inheritance of desired traits in organisms.

A Recipe for Genetics: Selective Breeding and Transgenics: Students will identify technologies that have changed the way humans affect the inheritance of desired traits in organisms; compare and contrast selective breeding methods to genetic engineering techniques; and analyze data to determine the best solution for cultivating selected desired traits in organisms.

7-MS-PS1-2:
Analyze and interpret data on the properties of substances before and after the substances interact to determine if a chemical reaction has occurred.

FoodMASTER Middle: Cheese: Students will learn about the Law of Conservation of Mass by exploring environmental factors that can impact protein coagulation in milk (cheese-making process). By making qualitative and quantitative observations they will test three possible methods of making curds and whey.