Grade 7 Science Curriculum Alignment with State Standards
NM Statute 22-13-1.6.A. Each school district shall align its curricula to meet the state standards for each grade level and subject area so that students who
transfer between public schools within the school district receive the same educational opportunity within the same grade or subject area.
District:
Strand: SCIENTIFIC THINKING
AND PRACTICE
Grade 7 Performance Standards
1. Use a variety of print and web
resources to collect information,
inform investigations, and answer a
scientific question or hypothesis.
2. Use models to explain the
relationships between variables
being investigated.
Textbook: McDougal Littell Life Science
Standard I: Understand the processes of scientific
investigations and use inquiry and scientific ways of
observing, experimenting, predicting, and validating
to think critically.
Grade 7 Textbook Pages
Pupil’s Edition 5, 7, 131, 165, 167, 277, 279, 353,
469, 471, 581, 583, 39, 71, 79, 99, 133, 201, 219,
237, 239, 301, 313, 355, 378, 393, 427, 507, 541,
543, 552, 639, 707
Pupil’s Edition 76, 84, 99, 108-109, 114, 119, 146,
186187, 201, 239, 266267, 456, 516-517, 521, 615,
623, 655, 31, 53, 110, 117, 545
Page 1
5-8 Benchmark I: Use scientific methods to develop
questions, design and conduct experiments using
appropriate technologies, analyze and evaluate results,
make predictions, and communicate findings.
.
Supplemental Materials
Month(s) when Addressed
Grade 7 Science Curriculum Alignment with State Standards
District:
Strand: SCIENTIFIC THINKING
AND PRACTICE
Grade 7 Performance Standards
1. Describe how bias can affect
scientific investigation and
conclusions.
2. Critique procedures used to
investigate a hypothesis.
3. Analyze and evaluate scientific
explanations.
Strand: SCIENTIFIC THINKING
AND PRACTICE
Textbook: McDougal Littell Life Science
Standard I: Understand the processes of scientific
investigations and use inquiry and scientific ways of
observing, experimenting, predicting, and validating
to think critically.
Grade 7 Textbook Pages
Pupil’s Edition 3, 14-15, 27, 178-179, R6, 581
5-8 Benchmark II: Understand the processes of scientific
investigation and how scientific inquiry results in
scientific knowledge.
Supplemental Materials
Month(s) when Addressed
Pupil’s Edition xxxviii-xli, R3, R7, R29-R31, 46,
64-65, 108-109, 142-143, 186-187, 228-229, 266267, 294-295, 344-345, 376-377, 406-407, 478479, 516-517, 570-571, 730-731
Pupil’s Edition xxxviii-xli, R4, R5, R6, R7, R8,
R34, R35, 64-65, 91, 108-109, 142-143, 186-187,
228-229, 266-267, 294-295, 344-345, 406-407,
478-479, 570-571, 516-517, 648-649, 730-731
Standard I: Understand the processes of scientific
investigations and use inquiry and scientific ways of
observing, experimenting, predicting, and validating
to think critically.
Grade 7 Performance Standards
1. Understand that the number of
data (sample size) influences the
reliability of a prediction.
2. Use mathematical expressions to
represent data and observations
collected in scientific investigations.
Grade 7 Textbook Pages
Pupil’s Edition R33-36, 545, 108-109, 516-517,
648-649
3. Select and use an appropriate
model to examine a phenomenon.
Pupil’s Edition 5, 31, 71, 110, 117, 545, 62, 76,
84, 108-109, 114, 119, 146, 165, 186-187, 201,
239, 266-267, 355, 516-517, 521, 615, 623, 655
Pupil’s Edition 71, 110, 262, 279, 485, 509, 93,
108-109, 114, 116, 149, 249, 266-267, 287, 294295, 387, 499, 516-517, 648-649, 684-685
Page 2
5-8 Benchmark III: Use mathematical ideas, tools, and
techniques to understand scientific knowledge
Supplemental Materials
Month(s) when Addressed
Grade 7 Science Curriculum Alignment with State Standards
District:
Strand: CONTENT OF SCIENCE
Grade 7 Performance Standards
1. Explain how matter is transferred
from one organism to another and
between organisms and their
environment (e.g., consumption, the
water cycle, the carbon cycle, the
nitrogen cycle).
2. Know that the total amount of
matter (mass) remains constant
although its form, location, and
properties may change (e.g., matter
in the food web).
3. Identify characteristics of
radioactivity, including:
 decay in time of some
elements to others
 release of energy
 damage to cells.
4. Describe how substances react
chemically in characteristic ways to
form new substances (compounds)
with different properties (e.g.,
carbon and oxygen combine to form
carbon dioxide in respiration).
5. Know that chemical reactions are
essential to life processes.
Textbook: McDougal Littell Life Science
Standard I (Physical Science): Understand the
structure and properties of matter, the
characteristics of energy, and the interactions
between matter and energy.
Grade 7 Textbook Pages
Pupil’s Edition 480-484, 486-491, 493, 503
Pupil’s Edition 490-492, 493, 504
Pupil’s Edition 170, 175, 670-673,148,
Pupil’s Edition 41-44, 47-54, 360, 613-615, 621626, 45, 55, 66-68, 69
Pupil’s Edition 10, 23, 38, 41-45, 47-54, 360, 482484, 486-489, 613-615, 621-626, 39, 55, 66-68, 69,
503, 619,
Page 3
5-8 Benchmark I: Know the forms and properties of
matter and how matter interacts.
Supplemental Materials
Month(s) when Addressed
Grade 7 Science Curriculum Alignment with State Standards
District:
Strand: CONTENT OF SCIENCE
Grade 7 Performance Standards
1. Know how various forms of
energy are transformed through
organisms and ecosystems,
including:
 sunlight and photosynthesis
 energy transformation in living
systems (e.g., cellular processes
changing chemical energy to
heat and motion)
 effect of mankind’s use of energy
and other activities on living
systems (e.g., global warming,
water quality).
Strand: CONTENT OF SCIENCE
Grade 7 Performance Standards
1. Know that forces cause motion in
living systems, including:
 the principle of a lever and how it
gives mechanical advantage to a
muscular/skeletal system to lift
objects
 forces in specific systems in the
human body (e.g., how the heart
generates blood pressure, how
muscles contract and expand to
produce motion).
Textbook: McDougal Littell Life Science
Standard I (Physical Science): Understand the
structure and properties of matter, the
characteristics of energy, and the interactions
between matter and energy.
Grade 7 Textbook Pages
Pupil’s Edition 48-49, 360, 476-477, 490-492, 23,
50-54, 274-277, 285, 323-325, 360-361, 385, 486489, 603, 613-615, 621-626, 628-631, 634-636,
258-265, 466-469, 542, 545-551, 553-560, 562569, 53, 54, 619, 266-267, 268-270, 469, 543, 552,
570-571, 572-574, 575
Standard I (Physical Science): Understand the
structure and properties of matter, the
characteristics of energy, and the interactions
between matter and energy.
Grade 7 Textbook Pages
Pupil’s Edition 583, 595, 599-602, 616-617, 622,
645-646, 609, 648-649
Page 4
5-8 Benchmark II: Explain the physical processes
involved in the transfer, change, and conservation of
energy.
Supplemental Materials
Month(s) when Addressed
5-8 Benchmark III: Describe and explain forces that
produce motion in objects.
Supplemental Materials
Month(s) when Addressed
Grade 7 Science Curriculum Alignment with State Standards
District:
Textbook: McDougal Littell Life Science
Strand: CONTENT OF SCIENCE
Standard II (Life Science): Understand the
properties, structures, and processes of living
things and the interdependence of living things and
their environments.
Grade 7 Performance Standards
1. Identify the living and nonliving
parts of an ecosystem and describe
the relationships among these
components.
2. Explain biomes (i.e., aquatic,
desert, rainforest, grasslands,
tundra) and describe the New
Mexico biome.
3. Explain how individuals of
species that exist together interact
with their environment to create an
ecosystem (e.g., populations,
communities, niches, habitats, food
webs).
4. Explain the conditions and
resources needed to sustain life in
specific ecosystems.
Grade 7 Textbook Pages
Pupil’s Edition 473-477, 486-489, 503
5. Describe how the availability of
resources and physical factors limit
growth (e.g., quantity of light and
water, range of temperature,
composition of soil) and how the
water, carbon, and nitrogen cycles
contribute to the availability of those
resources to support living systems.
6. Understand how diverse species
fill all niches in an ecosystem.
Pupil’s Edition 475-477, 478-479, 480-484
7. Know how to classify organisms:
domain, kingdom, phylum, class,
order, family, genus, species.
Pupil’s Edition 201, 203-209, 211-218, 220-227,
228-229, 231-233
McDougal Littell’s customized ancillary “New
Mexico Standards Review and Test Preparation for
Life Science” Pupil’s Edition Related pages: 494501, 503-505
Pupil’s Edition 509-515, 518-525, 515, 516-517,
535-537
Pupil’s Edition 466-469, 473, 475-477, 480-484,
527-532
Pupil’s Edition 510-515
Page 5
5-8 Benchmark I: Explain the diverse structures and
functions of living things and the complex relationships
between living things and their environments.
Supplemental Materials
Month(s) when Addressed
Grade 7 Science Curriculum Alignment with State Standards
District:
Textbook: McDougal Littell Life Science
Strand: CONTENT OF SCIENCE
Standard II (Life Science): Understand the
properties, structures, and processes of living
things and the interdependence of living things and
their environments.
5-8 Benchmark II: Understand how traits are passed from
one generation to the next and how species evolve.
Grade 7 Performance Standards
1. Know that reproduction is a
characteristic of all living things and
is essential to the continuation of a
species.
2. Identify the differences between
sexual and asexual reproduction.
Grade 7 Textbook Pages
Pupil’s Edition 10, 73, 76-77, 78, 255-256
Supplemental Materials
3. Know that, in sexual
reproduction, an egg and sperm
unite to begin the development of a
new individual.
4. Know that organisms that
sexually reproduce fertile offspring
are members of the same species.
Pupil’s Edition 117-118, 320-321, 694-697
5. Understand that some
characteristics are passed from
parent to offspring as inherited traits
and others are acquired from
interactions with the environment.
6. Know that hereditary information
is contained in genes that are
located in chromosomes, including:
 determination of traits by
genes
 traits determined by one or
many genes
 more than one trait
sometimes influenced by a
single gene.
Pupil’s Edition 101-102, 104-107, 110-115, 182183, 99, 108-109
Pupil’s Edition 88-92
Pupil’s Edition 509 Related Pages: 101-102, 203209, 696-697
Pupil’s Edition 2-5, 102-107, 108-109,110-115
Page 6
Month(s) when Addressed
Grade 7 Science Curriculum Alignment with State Standards
District:
Textbook: McDougal Littell Life Science
Strand: CONTENT OF SCIENCE
Standard II (Life Science): Understand the
properties, structures, and processes of living
things and the interdependence of living things and
their environments.
5-8 Benchmark II: Understand how traits are passed from
one generation to the next and how species evolve.
Grade 7 Performance Standards
7. Describe how typical traits may
change from generation to
generation due to environmental
influences (e.g., color of skin, shape
of eyes, camouflage, shape of
beak).
8. Explain that diversity within a
species is developed by gradual
changes over many generations.
9. Know that organisms can acquire
unique characteristics through
naturally occurring genetic
variations.
10. Identify adaptations that favor
the survival of organisms in their
environments (e.g., camouflage,
shape of beak).
11. Understand the process of
natural selection.
Grade 7 Textbook Pages
Pupil’s Edition 177, 179-182, 183, 318-319, 436437, 441, 448, 450-451, 185, 321, 452-453
Supplemental Materials
12. Explain how species adapt to
changes in the environment or
become extinct and that extinction
of species is common in the history
of living things.
Pupil’s Edition 162-165, 172-175, 274-277
13. Know that the fossil record
documents the appearance,
diversification, and extinction of
many life forms.
Pupil’s Edition 162-165, 169-175, 188-189, 234237, 197-199
Pupil’s Edition 179-183, 190-191, 196-199
Pupil’s Edition 190-194, 196-199
Pupil’s Edition 182-183, 318-319, 436-437, 441,
448, 450-451, 185, 321, 452-453
Pupil’s Edition 181-185, 186-187, 198
Page 7
Month(s) when Addressed
Grade 7 Science Curriculum Alignment with State Standards
District:
Textbook: McDougal Littell Life Science
Strand: CONTENT OF SCIENCE
Standard II (Life Science): Understand the
properties, structures, and processes of living
things and the interdependence of living things and
their environments.
Grade 7 Performance Standards
1. Understand that organisms are
composed of cells and identify
unicellular and multicellular
organisms.
2. Explain how organs are
composed of tissues of different
types of cells (e.g., skin, bone,
muscle, heart, intestines).
3. Understand that many basic
functions of organisms are carried
out in cells, including:
 growth and division to produce
more cells (mitosis)
 specialized functions of cells
(e.g., reproduction, nervesignal transmission, digestion,
excretion, movement,
transport of oxygen).
4. Compare the structure and
processes of plant cells and animal
cells.
5. Describe how some cells respond
to stimuli (e.g., light, heat, pressure,
gravity).
6. Describe how factors (radiation,
UV light, drugs) can damage cellular
structure or function.
Grade 7 Textbook Pages
Pupil’s Edition 11, 288-289, 302-304, 306-307,
339, 358, 397, 445, 454, 16-17, 294-295
Pupil’s Edition 29-31, 283, 585-588, 591, 600,
641, 643, 654-655, 659-660, 662, 677
Pupil’s Edition 80-85, 118, 586, 591, 600, 641,
643, 654-655, 659-660, 662, 677
Pupil Edition 5, 7, 21-24, 31, 47-51, R64-R65
Pupil’s Edition 327-328, 662-664, 677-680, 682683
Pupil’s Edition 664, 673, 720-722
Page 8
5-8 Benchmark III: Understand the structure of organisms
and the function of cells in living systems.
Supplemental Materials
Month(s) when Addressed
Grade 7 Science Curriculum Alignment with State Standards
District:
Textbook: McDougal Littell Life Science
Strand: CONTENT OF SCIENCE
Standard III (Earth and Space Science):
Understand the structure of Earth, the solar system,
and the universe, the interconnections among
them, and the processes and interactions of Earth’s
systems.
Grade 7 Performance Standards
1. Explain why Earth is unique in
our solar system in its ability to
support life.
Grade 7 Textbook Pages
Pupil’s Edition Related pages: 10, 275-277, 283286, 290, 473-477, 480484, 486, 494-501, 502-504
2. Explain how energy from the sun
supports life on Earth.
Pupil’s Edition xxxiii, xxxv, 10, 47-52, 285, 303307, 323-325, 328-329, 54, 66, 67-68, 286, 329
Page 9
5-8 Benchmark I: Describe how the concepts of energy,
matter, and force can be used to explain the observed
behavior of the solar system, the universe, and their
structures.
Supplemental Materials
Month(s) when Addressed
Grade 7 Science Curriculum Alignment with State Standards
District:
Textbook: McDougal Littell Life Science
Strand: CONTENT OF SCIENCE
Standard III (Earth and Space Science):
Understand the structure of Earth, the solar system,
and the universe, the interconnections among
them, and the processes and interactions of Earth’s
systems.
Grade 7 Performance Standards
1. Understand how the remains of
living things give us information
about the history of Earth, including:
layers of sedimentary rock, the
fossil record, and radioactive dating
showing that life has been present
on Earth for more than 3.5 billion
years.
2. Understand how living organisms
have played many roles in changes
of Earth’s systems through time
(e.g., atmospheric composition,
creation of soil, impact on Earth’s
surface).
3. Know that changes to
ecosystems sometimes decrease
the capacity of the environment to
support some life forms and are
difficult and/or costly to remediate.
Grade 7 Textbook Pages
Pupil’s Edition 27, 163-165, 169-175, 178, 188189, 234-237, R60-R61
Pupil’s Edition 476-477, 489, 530-532
Pupil’s Edition 528-529, 532, 540-541, 546-551,
553-560, 562-569, 570-571
Page 10
5-8 Benchmark II: Describe the structure of Earth and its
atmosphere and explain how energy, matter, and forces
shape Earth’s systems.
Supplemental Materials
Month(s) when Addressed
Grade 7 Science Curriculum Alignment with State Standards
District:
Textbook: McDougal Littell Life Science
Strand: SCIENCE AND SOCIETY
Standard I: Understand how scientific discoveries,
inventions, practices, and knowledge influence, and
are influenced by, individuals and societies.
Grade 7 Performance Standards
1. Analyze the contributions of
science to health as they relate to
personal decisions about smoking,
drugs, alcohol, and sexual activity.
Grade 7 Textbook Pages
Pupil’s Edition 720-722
2. Analyze how technologies have
been responsible for advances in
medicine (e.g., vaccines, antibiotics,
microscopes, DNA technologies).
Pupil’s Edition xlii-xliii, 2-5, 18-19, 130-131, 578581, 656-657, 665, 670-673, 729
3. Describe how scientific
information can help individuals and
communities respond to health
emergencies (e.g., CPR, epidemics,
HIV, bio-terrorism).
Pupil’s Edition 729
5-8 Benchmark I: Explain how scientific discoveries and
inventions have changed individuals and societies.
Supplemental Materials
Page 11
Month(s) when Addressed