7th Grade

Students inquire about states, properties, and transformations of matter

Students explain forces, motions, and their interactions.

Students investigate energy and how it is transferred and transformed within and between systems.

Students analyze the interconnected systems that include the planet Earth, our Solar System, our Galaxy, and the Universe.

Students explain planet Earth as a complex and dynamic system of rock, water, air, and living things

Students assess the interrelated cycles and forces that shape Earth’s surface, including human interaction with Earth.

Students examine organisms’ structures and functions for life processes, including growth and reproduction.

Students inquire how organisms and populations of organisms obtain resources from their environment.

Students explore how biological evolution explains unity and diversity of species.

Determine and justify that the types and interactions of atoms and molecules that comprise matter determine its properties

Recognize that materials have intrinsic properties that can be used to identify them

Compare balanced and unbalanced forces

Distinguish velocity from acceleration

Investigate energy transfers and transformations, recognizing that energy is neither created nor destroyed

Describe cause and effect relationships involving energy transfer

Investigate causes and effects of waves in nature

Determine that most objects in the Solar System are in regular and predictable motion

Explain gravity as the key force that keeps planets in orbit around the Sun and governs the rest of the motion in the Solar System

Investigate the composition of the Earth’s crust to explain processes and features such as earthquakes, volcanoes, and mountains

Explore changes to Pacific islands’ sizes and shape over time

Describe observable and measurable Earth processes, such as sedimentation, movement of crustal plates, and changes in composition of the atmosphere, that provide clues to Earth’s past

Analyze different properties of the atmosphere at different elevations

Explain the carbon cycle

Develop arguments to enhance positive impacts and reduce negative impacts of human activities (e.g., cite evidence of how human activities may alter weather and climate)

Explain how multi-cellular organisms have specialized cells that form tissues and perform different functions

Identify organisms’ needs for energy, and explain how their structures and functions align to meet these needs

Compare and contrast relationships among organisms—such as predation, mutualism, commensalism, etc.—and their environment

Explain how the Sun’s energy is transformed by producers into the chemical energy of food through photosynthesis and how this food energy is used by other organisms to carry on life processes

Explore how changing climate might impact diverse ecosystems

Explore conservation strategies

Explore asexual and sexual reproduction as ways for every species to continue to exist

Compare the passing of genetic material in asexual and sexual reproduction