What I SHOULD Have Learned
in 7th Grade
Energy Transfers
• Describe that thermal (heat) energy transfers
from warmer objects to cooler ones until the
objects reach the same temperature.
http://www.g9toengineering.com/resources/heattransfer.htm
Energy Transfers
• Describe energy transfer by conduction,
radiation, convection, and/or mechanical
mixing in a given system.
http://www.g9toengineering.com/resources/heattransfer.htm
Energy Transfers
• Describe how uneven heating of Earth’s
surface by the Sun causes winds and/or ocean
currents.
http://www.kidsgeo.com/geography-for-kids/0145-ocean-currents.php
http://www.dukemagazine.duke.edu/dukemag/issues/050606/depgaz18.html
Atmosphere
• Describe the composition of the atmosphere
answer: a mixture of nitrogen, oxygen, and
trace gases including water vapor and
carbon dioxide.
• Describe properties of the atmosphere as
altitude increases (e.g., troposphere,
stratosphere).
Atmosphere
http://www.agci.org/classroom/atmosphere/index.php
Water Cycle
• Describe the role of the Sun in the water cycle.
• Describe processes involved in the water cycle
and where they happen
http://education.jlab.org/reading/water_cycle.html
Cells
• Identify that all organisms are composed of at
least one cell.
• Describe functions performed by cells to
sustain an organism (i.e., division to produce
more cells, taking in nutrients, using energy,
releasing waste, producing materials the cell
needs).
More Cells
• Describe how the structure of a specialized
cell relates to the function that cell, tissue, or
organ performs (e.g., a nerve cell is very long
to carry signals to other nerve cells).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuron
More Cells
• Describe whether a given cell structure
belongs to a plant and/or to an animal
• Identify and describe the function of a cell
structure in a given plant or animal cell.
http://www.beyondbooks.com/lif71/4.asp
Organization of Cells
• Describe the relationship(s)
among cells, tissues, organs,
and/or organ systems (e.g.,
valves in the heart control
blood flow; air sacs in the
lungs maximize the surface
area for transfer of gases).
• Describe the components
and/or functions of the
digestive, circulatory, or
respiratory systems in
animals.
Classification
• Use a classification key to identify one or more
given organisms based on internal and/or
external structures and/or behaviors.
http://ashscience7.wikispaces.com/How+to+Use+a+Dichotomous+Key
Ecosystems
• Describe an ecosystem as a defined area that
contains populations of organisms and
nonliving factors.
• Describe the boundaries and/or contents of a
given ecosystem (e.g., Olympic National
Forest, Puget Sound, one square foot of lawn).
http://cikgurozaini.blogspot.com/2011/09/ecosystem.html
Ecosystems
• Describe the flow of energy from producers to
consumers to decomposers given a
description of an ecosystem or a food web.
Arrows go in
the direction
of energy
flow
http://www.bigelow.org/edhab/fitting_algae.html
Changes in Ecosystems
• Predict or describe the effect on an ecosystem of
a change in a living (l) OR nonliving (nl) factor
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introduction of a new species (l)
changes in a population (l)
Predation (l)
amount of light (nl)
range of temperatures (nl)
presence of water (nl)
habitat destruction (nl)
human use of resources (l)
http://www.andysalo.com/2010/04/09/startup-ecosystems/
More Ecosystems
• Describe potential risks and/or benefits of a
solution(s) given a common environmental
issue, possible causative factors, and a
possible solution(s).
http://www.who.int/globalchange/ecosystems/en/
http://qsr2010.ospar.org/en/ch03_01.html
More Ecosystems
• Identify resource uses that reduce the
capacity of an ecosystem to support various
populations (e.g., use of pesticides,
construction).
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/jul/18/vegetarianism-save-planet-environment
http://www.esd.ornl.gov/human_health_risk/env_analysis/
Producers
• Describe that producers transform light
energy from the Sun into chemical energy in
food through photosynthesis.
Note: On the science assessments, the term
‘mineral nutrient’ will be used to describe the
matter plants generally get from soil. Mineral
nutrients are not food for plants. Plants make
their food (energy-rich molecules) with light
energy and matter from air, water, and
mineral nutrients.
Producers
• Describe that producers are organisms that
make their own chemical energy and/or that
animals get chemical energy by eating
producers or other animals that eat
producers.
http://www.governorsresidence.ohio.gov/garden/photosynthesis.aspx
More Producers
• Explain that chemical energy (food) from
producers is used by nearly all organisms to
carry on life processes.
http://www.vtaide.com/png/desertBiomes.htm
Evolution
http://www.fubiz.net/2007/11/18/evolution-of-nintendo-characters/
Evolution
• Describe that biological evolution accounts for
the diversity of life on Earth (not just cartoon
characters).
http://www.age-of-the-sage.org/evolution/human_evolution_theory.html
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/evolution/
Evolution
http://www.emc.maricopa.edu/faculty/farabee/biobk/biobookevolii.html
Evolution
• Describe scientific evidence that supports the
theory of evolution (e.g., fossil evidence,
comparative anatomy, patterns of
development, cellular/molecular, distribution
in time and space).
http://www.emc.maricopa.edu/faculty/farabee/biobk/biobookevolii.html
Evolution
• Describe how biological evolution accounts for
similarities and differences among and
between plant and/or animal species (e.g.,
chemical, cellular, molecular, structural).
http://www.infobarrel.com/Evolution
Genes
• Describe that location of genes is within
chromosomes in the nucleus of a cell.
http://www.beatricebiologist.com/2010/06/chromosomes.html
Genes
• Describe the function of genes in an organism
as containing the genetic information to
specify the organism’s traits.
http://staff.jccc.net/pdecell/celldivision/chromoterm.html
http://www.odec.ca/projects/2007/nand7t2/chromosomes.html
Genes
• Describe that genes are passed from parent to
offspring during reproduction.
• Identify reproduction as essential for a species
to continue to exist.
http://www.beatricebiologist.com/2010/06/chromosomes.html
Reproduction
• Identify most plants and animals as organisms
which reproduce sexually while some plants
can also reproduce asexually.
http://learnsomescience.com/microbiology/lecture-4-replication-of-cells/
Sexual Reproduction
http://parentsandchildren.biz/
http://www.interactivescienceteacher.com/reproduction.asp
• Describe that sexual reproduction leads to greater
diversity of characteristics in the offspring than does
asexual reproduction.
• Describe that offspring produced during sexual
reproduction are similar, but not identical to, either
parent because the offspring receive genetic
information from both parents.
Asexual Reproduction
• Describe that offspring produced during
asexual reproduction are very nearly identical
to the parent because the offspring receives
genetic information from a single parent.
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/protista/ciliata/ciliatalh.html
http://www.tulane.edu/~wiser/protozoology/notes/intes.html
Reproduction
• Predict the outcome of a given genetic cross
involving one characteristic using the
principles of Mendelian genetics.
• Explain how the variation produced by sexual
reproduction helps species survive.
http://www.hobart.k12.in.us/jkousen/Biology/psquare.htm
http://anthro.palomar.edu/mendel/mendel_2.htm
Environmental Factors
• Describe an inherited adaptation which would
enhance the ability of an organism to survive
and/or reproduce in a particular environment.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/manchester/content/articles/2008/06/04/040608_peppered_moth_feature.shtml
http://www.mansfieldct.org/Schools/MMS/staff/hand/genNaturalselection06.htm
Environmental Factors
• Predict which populations and/or organisms
might be unable to survive given a change to
an ecosystem and descriptions of the
populations and/or organisms in that
ecosystem.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/georgemonbiot/2009/may/29/monbiot-kofi-annan-climate-change
Environmental Factors
• Describe an environment and/or an
environmental change in which a given animal
and/or plant characteristic could confer a
survival and/or reproductive advantage (e.g.,
during dry weather a snail prevents drying out
by sealing itself inside the shell).
Environmental Factors
• Describe a change to the environment that
could lead to the extinction of a population
given an ecosystem and descriptions of the
populations in that ecosystem.
http://model-based-inquiry.wikispaces.com/8.+Environment+Changes
Relatedness
• Explain how given anatomical structures, cell
structures, and/or patterns of development of
two or more species provide evidence of their
degree of relatedness.
http://schoolworkhelper.net/2010/12/evolution-synapomorphies-cladogram/
Relatedness
• Infer the degree of relatedness given diagrams
or descriptions of anatomical features of
different species (e.g., chicken wing, whale
flipper, human hand, bee leg).
http://ideonexus.com/2012/02/12/101-reasons-why-evolution-is-true/