Unit Name: Life on the Crust
Length of Time: 8 weeks
Core Area: Science
Grade Level: 7th Grade
ENDURING UNDERSTANDINGS:
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS:
STANDARDS ADDRESSED:
STRAND 3 - Science in Personal and Social Perspectives
CONCEPT 1 – Changes in Environment
PO1 – Analyze environmental risks (e.g. pollution, destruction of habitat) caused by human interaction with biological or
geological systems.
STRAND 4 – Life Science
CONCEPT 3 – Populations of Organisms in an ecosystem.
PO1 – Compare food chains in a specified ecosystem and their corresponding food web.
PO2 – Explain how organisms obtain and use resources to develop and thrive in:
Niches
Predator/prey relationships
PO3 – Analyze the interactions of living organisms with their ecosystems:
Limiting factors
Carrying capacity
PO4 – Evaluate data related to problems associated with population growth (e.g. overgrazing, forest management, invasion of
non-native species) and the possible solutions.
PO5 – Predict how environmental factors (e.g. floods, droughts, temperature changes) affect survival rates in living organisms.
PO6 - Create a model of the interactions of living organisms within an ecosystem.
7th Grade Science
p. 1
Aligned to 2005 Arizona Science Standards
June 2012
Unit Name: Life on the Crust
Length of Time: 8 weeks
Core Area: Science
Grade Level: 7th Grade
SCIENTIFIC PRACTICES:
1. Asking questions and defining problems.
2. Developing and using models.
3. Planning and carrying out investigation.
4. Analyzing and interpreting data.
5. Using mathematics and computational thinking.
6. Constructing explanations and designing solutions.
7. Engaging in argument from evidence.
8. Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information.
INTEGRATED STANDARDS:
7th Grade Science
p. 2
Aligned to 2005 Arizona Science Standards
June 2012
Unit Name: Life on the Crust
Core Area: Science
Grade Level: 7th Grade
Length of Time: 8 weeks
Skills
1. Analyze environmental risks (pollution, destruction
of habitat, overuse of resources) and environmental
benefits (reforestation, habitat restoration, dam
construction for energy, controlled burns) of human
interaction with biological or geological systems.
(DOK3)
2. Propose possible solutions to address environmental
risks in biological or geological systems
(environmental laws, resource conservation) (DOK3)
3. Evaluate data related to problems with populations
growth and possible solutions. (DOK3)
4. Predict how changes in environmental factors can
affect the survival rate in living organisms. (DOK3)
5. Describe how energy flows through an ecosystem
using a food web. (DOK1)
6. Create a model of several food chains and a food
web from producer to decomposer within different
ecosystems (pond, desert, grassland, forest) (DOK3)
7. Explain the niche of various organisms within
different ecosystems (pond, desert, grassland, forest)
(DOK2)
8. Explain the predator/prey relationship among
animals and other organisms. (DOK2)
9. Explain how environmental factors can limit
growth of a population in plants and animals in
different ecosystems. (DOK2)
10. Describe how and why carrying capacities vary for
different populations of plants and animals. (DOK2)
7th Grade Science
p. 3
Resources/Strategies








Yellowstone fire videos –
Controlled burn
Videos from Text: Prairie
Comeback
Oil spill activity – “Create a
method to clean up an oil
spill.”
Gilbert Riparian preserve –
Scavenger hunt/nature walk
Oh Deer – carrying
capacity, Predator/Prey
How many bears in the
forest? Activity – Project
Wild
Food Web diagrams
Lorax factory reinvention
Vocabulary
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Pollution
Biodiversity
Renewable resource
Nonrenewable resource
Deforestation
Reforestation
Habitat
Conservation
Native species
Invasive species
Ecology
Ecosystem
Water cycle
Food chain
Food web
Producer
Consumer
Primary consumer
Secondary consumer
Tertiary consumer
Scavenger
Decomposer
Niche
Predator
Prey
Species
Population
Habitat
Assessment
District 3rd Qtr
Assessment
Aligned to 2005 Arizona Science Standards
June 2012
Unit Name: Life on the Crust
Core Area: Science
Grade Level: 7th Grade
Length of Time: 8 weeks
•
•
•
•
Carrying capacity
Limiting factor
Abiotic
Biotic
DOK1 – Depth of Knowledge Level 1 DOK2 – Depth of Knowledge Level 2 DOK3 – Depth of Knowledge Level 3 DOK4 – Depth of Knowledge Level 4
7th Grade Science
p. 4
Aligned to 2005 Arizona Science Standards
June 2012