SEVENTH
or EIGHTH GRADE SCIENCE
Life
Science
Life Science students will
enhance their natural curiosity about living things and their environment
through the study of the structure and function of living things, ecosystems,
life cycles, energy movement (transfer), energy change (transformation), and
changes in populations of organisms through time. Knowledge of these concepts and process of life and environmental
science will assist students in making informed choices regarding their lifestyles
and the impact they have on communities of living things in their environment.
Seventh/Eighth Grade
students will continue to utilize the scientific process skills including:
observing, communicating, classifying, measuring, hypothesizing, and experimenting.
·
Structure questions that can be answered through scientific
investigations
·
Clarify ideas that guide and influence the inquiry
·
Apply safe and appropriate abilities to manipulate
materials, equipment, and technologies
·
Select and use appropriate tools and technology (including
calculators, computers, balances, spring scales, microscopes, and binoculars)
to perform tests, collect data, and display data
·
Use mathematics to gather, organize, and present data
·
Make inferences from data
·
Use evidence to offer descriptions, predictions, and models
·
Communicate the logical connection among hypotheses,
science concepts, tests conducted, data collected, and conclusions drawn from
the scientific evidence
·
Communicate the steps and results from an investigation in
written reports and oral presentations
·
Formulate questions leading to further investigations
Alaska
Content Standards
Standard A.
A student should understand scientific facts, concepts,
principles,
and theories.
Standard B.
A student should possess and understand the skills of
scientific
inquiry.
Standard C.
A student should understand the nature and history of
science.
Standard D.
A student should be apply scientific knowledge and skills
to
make reasoned decisions about the use of science and
scientific
innovations.
Alaska Science Performance Standards
A 1. Students
develop and used models to demonstrate how atoms and elements form molecules
and compounds, and how properties such as density can be measured and compared.
A 2. Students
will explain changes that occur in physical and chemical properties of matter
using a qualitative description of changes on a molecular level, including
conservation of matter.
A 3. Students
will explain changes that occur in physical and chemical properties of matter
using a qualitative description of changes on a molecular level, including
conservation of matter.
A 4. Students
conduct research and make predictions about tides, weather, seasons, and phases
of the moon and correlate these natural events to the motion of the Earth
within our solar system.
A 5. Students
describe gravity as the force that governs orbital motion in the solar system
and motion of the tides on the Earth, and describe light as radiation that
travels in a straight line that can be reflected, refracted, or absorbed by
matter.
A 6. Students
analyze how balanced and unbalanced forces act on familiar objects and predict
or explain changes in motion that may (or may not) occur.
A 7. Students
use models to explain how large scale movements within the Earth’s interior
cause changes on the Earth’s surface.
A 8a.
Students investigate common physical and chemical changes
and the characteristics associated with each type of change, and relate these
changes to simple rearrangements of atoms.
A 8b.
Students observe and describe energy changes that take
place around them.
A 8c.
Students examine energy transfers and identify energy that
is useful vs. energy that is unavailable.
A 9. Students
create an ecosystem and explain physical and chemical changes that take place
as energy flows and matter cycles within that ecosystem.
A 10.
Students create models to describe the basic structure of
plant and animal cells, how cells organize to form tissues, how tissues form
organs, and how organs form organ systems within multicellular organisms.
A 11.
Students explain the similarities and differences between
sexual and asexual reproduction in a variety of organisms.
A 12.
Students organize living organisms into groups based on an
internal and external structure, reproductive style, and their place in the
food web.
A 13.
Students use information found in the fossil record to
provide evidence for the history of Earth and its changing life forms.
A 14a.
Students classify living organisms based on their position
and function in a complex food web.
A 14b.
Students describe the interactions of individuals within a
population.
A 14c.
Students predict how a shortage or excess of resources
affect organisms in higher trophic levels.
A 15.
Students conduct research to learn how the local
environment is used by a variety of competing interests including local plant
and animal populations, individual families, the local community, and outside
sources such as oil and mining companies, hunting groups, and tourists.
A 16.
Students describe how objects in one moving reference frame
are perceived in reference to another moving reference frame. (classical
relativity)
B 1. Students
hypothesize, make qualitative and quantitative observations, control experimental
variables, interpret data; and use this information to explain everyday
phenomena and make predictions
B 2. Students
use appropriate instruments, develop and design a controlled experiment, and
conduct research.
B 3. Students
compare their work to the work of others to identify multiple paths that can be
used to investigate a particular question.
B 4. Students
design an experiment through a collaborative process, describing individual
ways to answer the question before coming to group consensus on the best
experimental design.
B 5. Students
practice factual recording of experimental results and unbiased data
collection.
B 6. Students
examine laboratory and community safety procedures, identify how an individual
affects the safety of the group, and practice safe behavior in the classroom
and laboratory.
C 1. Students
will make and record observations and be able to link those observations to
known scientific concepts, principles and laws.
C 2. Students
conduct a series of experiments to demonstrate the reproducibility of
scientific phenomena.
C 3. Students
describe how the local society, culture, history, and environment have affected
the development of scientific knowledge.
C 4. Students
investigate the societal (non-scientific) belief of a community regarding a
natural phenomenon.
C 5. Students
work in a team to observe, research, and study an issue related to their
community and synthesize data derived from multiple perspectives.
C 6. Students
describe the steps in the development of a widely used technology (e.g.,
Teflon, sticky notes, nylon, penicillin, etc.)
C 7. Students
design concept webs that show how contributions across a variety of fields are
used to produce inventions.
C 8. Students
show how acceptance of a new idea depends upon supporting evidence and how new
ideas that conflict with beliefs or common sense are often resisted.
D 1. Students
research a local problem or issue and form a viewpoint that is supported by
scientific evidence
D 2. Students
describe the unexpected effects, both positive and negative and short-and
long-term, of a discovery, invention, or scientific breakthrough.
D 3. Students
identify a community problem or issue, collect information and secondary
research, and propose a scientific solution.
D 4. Students
evaluate the scientific and societal impact of recent technologies.
D 5. Students
describe how public policy affects their lives and participate diplomatically
in evidence-based discussions relating to their community.
D 6. Students
use scientific reasoning to design a solution to a problem or issue and
evaluate the effectiveness of the solution.
CORE CONCEPTS:
Cell Biology
·
Identify the cell structures of plants and animals A.7;
B3,6; C.1,4,8; D.1
·
Explain how cells are arranged within organisms A.7; B.1,2,3,4,6;
C.1,2,4,5,7,8; D.1
·
Examine how cells are arranged within organisms A.7;
B.1,2,3,4,5,6; C.1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8; D.1,2;
·
Determine what changes occur in a cell over time A.7;
B.1,2,3,4,5,6; C.1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8; D.1,3;
·
Compare the design of an organism and it’s energy
efficiency A.7; B.1,4,6; C.1,4,7,8; D.1;
·
Describe the relationship between osmosis and
diffusion A,7; B.1,2,3,4,5,6;
C.1,2; D.1
·
Differentiate the processes of diffusion and osmosis A.7;
B.1,6; C.1,2; D.1;
·
Describe how systems within an organism are affected by
osmosis and diffusion A.7; B.1,6; C.1;
D.1;
·
Investigate how changes in the environment affect the
processes of osmosis and diffusion A.7;
B.1,6; C.1,2,4,8; D.1,2;
·
Explain that osmosis affects the rigidity of plant
cells A.7; B.1,2,3,4,5,6;
C.1,2; D.1;
Genetics/Heredity
·
Recognize the appearance of DNA as double helix in shape
A.8
·
Explain the significance of chromosomes, genes, and DNA in
cell reproduction and their relationship to inherited characteristics A.8
·
Analyze the role of probability in the study of heredity
A.8
·
Explain how, during reproduction, the sorting and
recombination of parents’ genetic material produces potential variation among
offspring A.8,11
·
Analyze the issues raised by selective breeding and
biomedical research A.8;
B.1,2,3,4,5,6,7; C.1,2; D.1,2,3,4,5,6,7;
·
Explore selective traits A.8; B.1,2,3; C.1;
D.1;
·
Investigate how selective traits affect an organism’s
chance of survival A.8; B.1,2,3,4,5,6; C.1,2,4,8; D. 1,2;
·
Know that sexual reproduction produces variations in
populations A.11;
·
Know that certain traits and environmental conditions can
perpetuate species or cause their extinction A.12, 13;
·
Know that new varieties of cultivated plants and domestic
animals have resulted from selective breeding for desirable traits A.12,13, 14;
·
Know that plants which create their own food and animals
which find their food have structures to convert energy from one form to
another A.8,12;
Evolution and Natural Selection
·
Explain how genetic variations in offspring can result from
the same two parents, which leads to variation in successive generations A.13;
B.1,2,3,4,6; C.1,2
·
Understand that adaptations are structures, functions, or
behaviors that enable species to survive A.12;
D.2
·
Explain that if a species does not include traits that
enables it to survive in its environment, or to survive changes in the
environment, then the species may become extinct A.12; B.1,2,3,4,6; C.1,2
·
Explain the evidence for evolution from a variety of
sources of scientific data (including the fossil record, radiometric dating,
genetic information, the distribution of organisms, and anatomical and
developmental similarities across species)
A.13; B.1,2
·
Interpret the layers of sediment in which fossils are found
to develop a relative time scale that puts biological and geological events in
order A.10; B.1.2.3.6; C.1,2;
D.1;
·
Give examples of organisms that reproduce sexually (e.g.,
clams, salmon) and those that reproduce asexually (e.g., hydra, planaria,
bacteria) A.11; B.1
·
Construct and use Punnett squares of monohybrid crosses to
explain how genetic traits are combined and passed to offspring
Earth and Life History
·
Describe and explain how fossils are records of organisms
and events in the Earth’s history
A.13; B.1; C.1,2;
·
Know the reasoning used by Charles Darwin in reaching his
conclusion that natural selection is the mechanism of evolution A.10;
B.1,2,3,4,5,6; C.1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8; D.1,2,3,4,5,6,7;
·
Know how to construct a simple branching diagram to
classify living groups of organisms by shared derived characteristics and how
to expand the diagram to include fossils A.13
·
Analyze current and past ideas about the structure of Earth
A.13,16; B.1
·
Research historical and current findings about Earth’s
composition A.13,16;
Ecology
·
Investigate and understand how organisms adapt to biotic
and abiotic factors in a biome (i.e., differences between ecosystems and
biomes; adaptations that enable organisms to survive within a specific biome)
A.9,11,12; B.1,4; C.7; D.1;
·
Determine how the components of an ecosystem are dependent
on each other A.11; B.1,2,3,4,5,6; C.1,2,3,4;
·
Describe the characteristics of populations A.9;
B.1,2,3,4,5,6; C.1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8; D.1,2,3,4,5,6,7;
·
Explain the levels of biological organization
·
Investigate and understand that ecosystems, communities,
populations, and organisms are dynamic and change over time (daily, seasonal,
and long term) A.11; B.1,2,3,4,5,6;
C.1,2;
·
Explain how energy flows through ecosystems A.11; B.1,2,6;
C.1,2; D.1,2
Nature of Structure and Function
·
Know plants and animals have levels of organization for
structure and function, including cells, tissues, organs, organ systems, and
whole organisms
·
Know organ systems function because of the contribution of
individual organs, tissues, and cells and the failure of any part can affect
the entire system
·
Know how bones and muscles work together to provide a
structural framework for movement
·
Know the structures and processes by which flowering plants
generate pollen, ovules, seeds, and fruit
·
Know how to relate the structures of the eye and ear to
their functions
Physical Science
·
Know how simple lenses are used in a magnifying glass, the
eye, a camera, a telescope, and a microscope
·
Know that white light is a mixture of many wavelengths
(colors) and that retinal cells react differently to different wavelengths
·
Know light can be reflected, refracted, transmitted, and
absorbed by matter
·
Know how to compare joints in the body (wrist, shoulder,
thigh) with structures used in machines and simple devices (hinge, ball-and-socket
and sliding joints)
·
Know how levers confer mechanical advantage and how the
application of this principle applies to the musculosketal system
·
Know that contractions of the heart generate blood pressure
and that heart valves prevent backflow of blood in the circulatory system
World to Work
·
Survey parents on how they use science at home and at work
·
Develop questions to ask about job responsibilities in
science related areas
·
Brainstorm a list of careers in science; research and
report on these careers
·
Keep a daily assignment notebook
·
Do a self-evaluation on quarterly individual goals based on
work habits, attendance, and attitudes
|
Textbook:
|
ISBN#:
|
Publisher:
|
| Life's Structure & Function |
ISBN#:0-07-825553-8 | Publisher: Glencoe |
| From Bacteria to Plants | ISBN#:0-07-825560-0 | Publisher: Glencoe |
| Human Body Systems | ISBN#:0-07-825574-0 | Publisher: Glencoe |
| Ecology | ISBN#:0-07-825588-0 | Publisher: Glencoe |
| Animal Diversity | ISBN#:0-07-825567-8 | Publisher: Glencoe |