The Seventh Grade Life Science program takes students on a journey into the world of living things.
The primary goal is to spark students’ natural curiosity about the world of living things around them, and compel them to ask questions, conduct independent investigations, and seek unique solutions as they become young scientists. Throughout this course, students will use evidence to support claims, evaluate data, and draw logical conclusions.
Active class activities are uniquely developed to explore the scientific method, design thinking/engineering design process, ecology, cell biology, genetics, and evolution. A variety of resources are used, including the Discovery Education Science Techbook and various technology applications including (but not limited to) Quizlet, Sutori, Socrative, and Flipgrid video, allowing students to demonstrate mastery of key course concepts in differentiated ways.
- How Do I Think and Behave Like a Scientist?
- Why Do Biologist Think Healthy Communities are Diverse and Interconnected?
- What Does It Mean to be Alive?
- What Role Does Race and Socioeconomic Status Play in Experiments Involving Human Subjects?
Learn more about our Science curriculum:Selector View Curriculum
7th Grade Science
Characteristics of Living Things
- Characteristics of living things: grow, develop, made of cells, respond to stimuli, respire, reproduce and excrete
- Distinguish between living, non-living and dead things
Foundations of Science
- Scientific Method
- Design/engineering thinking process
- Metric system
- Lab equipment/lab safety
- Abiotic vs. biotic components of an ecosystem
- Levels of organization of living things (cell to biosphere)
- Ecological competition (predator vs. prey)
- Symbiotic relationships (mutualism, commensalism, parasitism)
- Food chains and food webs
- Energy pyramids/trophic levels
- Ecological footprint
Chemistry of Living Things
- Basic atomic structure (protons, neutrons, and electrons)
- Organic vs. inorganic compounds
- Classes of organic compounds important to living things (carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids)
- Cell theory
- Cell types (prokaryotic vs. eukaryotic)
- Cell organelles
- Cell transport (diffusion, osmosis, active transport, facilitated diffusion)
- Cellular respiration vs. photosynthesis
- Cell reproduction (mitosis and meiosis)
- DNA, RNA, and protein synthesis
Social Justice and Science
- Tuskegee Experiment and socioeconomic status
- Ethics of human experimentation
- Mendelian genetics (monohybrid and dihybrid inheritance patterns and genetic crosses)
- Exceptions to Mendel (incomplete dominance, co-dominance, sex-linked inheritance patterns, and crosses)
- Genetic engineering (gene splicing and designer genes)
- Theory of Evolution proposed by Darwin
- Theory of Evolution proposed by Lamarck
- Lines of evidence that support the Theory of Evolution
- Natural selection