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7TH GRADE SCIENCE NGSS
MR. BRIAN BENTLEY'S CLASS
These are the units we are going to study in this class this year in order.
1. INTRO TO SCIENCE
2. CHEMICAL REACTIONS
3. CELLS
4. BEHAVIOR & REPRODUCTION
5. ENERGY
6. ELECTRICITY & MAGNETS
7. WAVES
8. SPACE (FORCES & INTERACTIONS)
INTRO TO SCIENCE
Read Glencoe Science Green Textbook Ch 1 The Nature of Science
Students will learn what science is and how scientist study their environment. Students will be introduced to the scientific method.
WEBSITES
Describe the processes used by scientists to conduct investigations.
Video: Does Bias Play a Role in Science
Check for Understanding:Describe the Processes Used By Scientists to Conduct Investigations
Explain the importance of following the steps of scientific inquiry.
How Do Scientists Obtain New Knowledge? Scientific Method
Video: The Scientific Method Song
What are Independent and Dependent Variables?
Scientific Method and Data Analysis
Video: Using Roboots for Inquiry
Check for Understanding: Explain the Importance of Following the Steps of Scientific Inquiry
Engineering Introductory Material
Video: Scientists Profile - Solar Vehicle Engineer
Introduction Guiding Questions
Describe the engineering process.
Video: The Engineering Process
Video:Jesse Has a Problem: Think Like an Engineer Part 1
Video: Jesse & Squeaks Build a Better Back Scratcher Part 2
Video: NASA Now: Engineering Design Process: Hubble Space Telescope
Video: Crazy Engineering: The Camera That Fixed Hubble
Check For Understanding: Describe the Engineering Process
Explain how the engineering process is used to solve a problem.
Video: So You Want to Build a Satellite
Video: Crazy Engineering: Gecko Gripper
Check for Understanding Engineering 2
Describe the role of the engineering process in technology.
Video: Green Careers: Civil Engineer
Video: What Makes Bridges So Strong?
Video: Scientific Profile: Biomedical Engineer
Check for Uderstanding: Engineering 3
ACTIVITIES
Laying The Foundation Materials
"Exploring Experimental Design"
"Come Fly With Us"
Scientific Method Practice 1
"Penny Lab"
Scientific Method Practice 2
"Numbers in Science"
No Textbook
Web Links
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
Glencoe Science Green Textbook Ch 20 Properties and Changes of Matter
and Glencoe Science Green Textbook Ch 21 Substances, Mixtures, and Solubility and Glencoe Science Green Textbook Ch 22 States of Matter
Only Section 2 Changes of State and Blue Book "L" Chapter 1 Chemical Bonds and Blue Book "L" Chapter 2 Chemical Reactions
Students will 1) Analyze and interpret data on the properties of substances before and after the substances interact to determine if a chemical reaction has occurred.
2) Develop and use a model to describe how the total number of atoms does not change in a chemical reaction and thus mass is conserved.
3) Undertake a design project to construct, test, and modify a device that either releases or absorbs thermal energy by chemical processes.
WEBSITES
Describe how, in a chemical reaction, atoms are regrouped into different molecules with new properties.
Video: Introduction to Chemical Reactions
Reading: Recognizing Chemical Reactions
Video: Physical & Chemical Changes
Practice: Physical & Chemical Changes - Cut & Organize
Check for Understanding - Recognizing Chemical Reactions
Check for Understanding - Chemical Changes & Physical Changes
Use and interpret chemical equations that represent chemical reactions.
Reading: Writing Chemical Equations
Reading: Writing Chemical Equations
Video: A Beginers Guide to Balancing Equations
Check for Understanding: Reactants and Products in a Chemical Reaction
Check for Understanding: Writing Chemical Equations
Describe the conservation of atoms in a chemical reaction.
Video: Law of Conservation of Mass
Video: What is the Law of Conservation of Mass?
Reading: Conservation of Mass in Chemical Reactions
Check for Understanding: Conservation of Mass in Chemical Reactions
Describe how some chemical reactions release energy and others store energy.
Video: Endothermic and Exothermic Reactions
Diagram: Endothermic and Exothermic Reactions
Reading: Endothermic Reactions
Check for Understanding: Releasing and Absorbing Energy
ACTIVITIES
Thermal Energy Demonstration
Thermal Energy Lab
Purple Cabbage Juice Lab
LAB 1: Density Labs
LAB 2: Solubility of Salt in Water at Different Temperatures
LAB 3: States of Matter Virtual Lab
LAB 5 pH of Soil - Hydrangea Virtual Lab
LAB 6: Why Things Float Virtual Lab
Chemical Equations Virtual Lab (SAS) user name (about77spot) | Atomic Structure Virtual Lab (SAS) user name (about77spot) |
Carbon Cycle Virtual Lab (SAS) user name (about77spot) | |
CELLS
(Including Photosynthesis & Cellular Respiration)
Glencoe Science Green Textbook Ch 8 Life's Structure & Classification and Glencoe Science Green Textbook Ch 9 Cell Processes and Glencoe Science Green Textbook Ch 10 Cell Reproduction and Green Book "B" From Bacteria To Plants Chapter 5 - section 1 only "Photosynthesis & Respiration"
Students will 1) Conduct an investigation to provide evidence that living things are made of cells, either one cell or many different numbers and types of cells.
2) Develop and use a model to describe the function of a cell as a whole and ways parts of cells contribute to the function.
3) Use argument supported by evidence for how the body is a system of interacting subsystems composed of groups of cells.
4) Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for the role of photosynthesis in the cycling of matter and flow of energy into and out of organisms.
5) Develop a model to describe how food is rearranged through chemical reactions forming new molecules that support growth and/or release energy as this matter moves through an organism.
WEBSITES
Describe what cells are and how they relate to all living things.
Video: Eukaryotic vs Prokaryotic Cells
Reading: Life's Building Blocks
Check for Understanding: What Are Cells
Describe the special structures that make up cells, and explain the special roles of each structure.
Interactive: Plant vs Animal Cells
Check for Understanding: Structure and Function of Cells
Describe how the body is a system organized into many interacting smaller systems.
Reading: What is a Body System
Reading: Organization of Cells
Video: How Your Digestive System Works
Website: Explore the Human Body
Check for Understanding: Body Systems
Describe how and why producers use the process of photosynthesis.
Video: Vegetation Transformation
Video: Study Jams Photosynthesis
Video: Where Do Trees Get Their Mass From?
Interactive: Photosynthesis Overview
Video: Every Breath You Take is Connected
Check for Understanding: Photosynthesis
Describe how and why food is chemically changed as it moves through an organism.
Check for Understanding: Cellular Respiration
Identify which organisms use cellular respiration and which organisms can also use photosynthesis, and describe the purpose of each process.
Reading: Types of Organisms That Can Use Photosynthesis
Video: The Simple Story of Photosynthesis and Food
Reading: Connecting Photosynthesis and Respiration
Slideshow: Photosynthes and Respiration
Video: Photosynthesis and Respiration
ACTIVITIES
LTF Lessons
Microscope Mystery Lab
Calculator Lab
Excel Lab
LAB: Students will learn how to use a microscope and look at pre-prepared slides to identify tissues, cells and cell parts.
Photosynthesis StudyJams Video
Cell Sizes SAS Activity
Organelle Functions SAS Activity
Human Body Systems SAS Activity
BEHAVIOR & REPRODUCTION
Green Book C "Animal Diversity" Chapter 5 Animal Behavior and Green Book B "From Bacteria to Plants" Chapter 4 "Plant Reproduction"
Students will; 1) Use argument based on empirical evidence and scientific reasoning to support an explanation for how characteristic animal behaviors and specialized plant structures affect the probability of successful reproduction of animals and plants respectively.
2) Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for how environmental and genetic factors influence the growth of organisms.
WEBSITES
Describe how different living things reproduce.
Slideshow: Sexual vs Asexual Reproduction
Video: Sexual vs Asexual Reproduction
Interactive: Sexual vs Asexual Reproduction
Check for Understanding: Sexual vs Asexual Reproduction
Identify how different animal behaviors increase their chance of reproduction and the survival of their offspring.
Reading: Raising Offspring and Animal Behavior
Check for Understanding: Animal Reproduction
Describe how plants reproduce.
Check for Understanding: Plant Reproduction
Check for Understanding: Plant Reproduction
Describe how both genes and the environment can affect the growth of organisms.
Video: Why is Your Grandma So Short?
Check for Understanding: Factors Affecting Growth & Survival
Reading: Genes, Environment, and Behavior
ENERGY UNIT
Read Glencoe Science Green Textbook Ch 24 Energy and Energy Resources
Students will 1) Develop a model to describe that when the arrangement of objects interacting at a distance changes, different amounts of potential energy are stored in the system.
2) Apply scientific principles to design, construct, and test a device that either minimizes or maximizes thermal energy transfer.
3) Plan an investigation to determine the relationships among the energy transferred, the type of matter, the mass, and the change in the average kinetic energy of the particles as measured by the temperature of the sample.
4) Construct, use, and present arguments to support the claim that when the kinetic energy of an object changes, energy is transferred to or from the object.
WEBSITES
Vocabulary: Conservation of Energy
Describe how potential energy is dependent on the position of objects.
Gravitational Potential Energy
Describe how energy will automatically move from hotter areas to colder areas.
Flashcards: Types of Heat Transfer
Explain why changing the motion energy of an object results in some other change in energy at the same time.
Energy Transformations Practice
Potential vs Kinetic Energy Practice
Describe factors that influence the amount of energy needed to change the temperature of a material.
ACTIVITIES
PRESENTATION: Students will learn about energy and energy resources and then choose one energy resource to learn about in detail and then write a report or give a multimedia presentation about the resource they choose.
LAB: Kinetic & Potential Energy Virtual Lab (SAS)
Potential & Kinetic Energy Virtual Lab
Students will review series and parallel circuits and create them with wires motors and batteries.
ELECTRICITY & MAGNETS
Blue Book "N" Electricity & Magnetism Chapter 1 Electricity, Chapter 2 Magnetism, Chapter 3 Electronics & Computers
Students will 1) Ask questions about data to determine the factors that affect the strength of electric and magnetic forces.
2) Conduct an investigation and evaluate the experimental design to provide evidence that fields exist between objects exerting forces on each other even though the objects are not in contact.
3) Integrate qualitative scientific and technical information to support the claim that digitized signals are a more reliable way to encode and transmit information than analog signals.
WEBSITES
Describe the properties of electric and magnetic (electromagnetic) forces.
Video: Electric Charge and Electric Fields
Reading: Electric Charge and Electric Force
Check for Understanding:Forces on Charged Objects
Check for Understanding: Electric Charge and Electric Force
Describe how fields can be used to explain the effect of forces that act at a distance.
Website: Electric & Magnetic Forces
Video: Gravitational vs Electric vs Magnetic Fields
Interactive: Can You Score a Goal in a Magnetic Field?
Reading: Earth's Magnetic Field
Check for Understanding: Compass Poles
Describe the difference between analog and digital signals and explain why digital signals are more reliable.
Video: The Physics of Analog vs Digital
Check For Understanding: Analog vs Digital
ACTIVITIES
Web Links
WAVES
Blue Book "O" Waves, Sound, & Light, Ch 1 Waves, Chapter 2 Sound - only section 1 "What is Sound?", Chapter 4 Light, Mirrors, and Lenses
1) Use mathematical representations to describe a simple model for waves that includes how the amplitude of a wave is related to the energy in a wave.
2) Develop and use a model to describe that waves are reflected, absorbed, or transmitted through various materials.
Describe the properties of a wave.
Video: Transverse and Longitudinal Waves
Reading: Tranverse and Longitudinal Wave Motion
Check for Understanding: Wave Properties
Describe that waves are reflected, absorbed, or transmitted through various materials.
Reading: How Light Interacts with Matter
Video: Light Absorption, Reflection, and Transmission
Check for Understanding: Visable Light & Matter
Check for Understanding: Light
ACTIVITIES
Web Links
SPACE UNIT
(Forces & Interactions)
Glencoe Science Green Textbook Ch 7 Earth in Space
Students will 1) Construct and present arguments using evidence to support the claim that gravitational interactions are attractive and depend on the masses of interacting objects.
2) Conduct an investigation and evaluate the experimental design to provide evidence that fields exist between objects exerting forces on each other even though the objects are not in contact.
ACTIVITIES
LTF Lessons
Significant Digits Lab
"Graphing Skills"
"Green Beans the Wonderful Fruit"
"Moon Watch"
Web Links
Weight and Gravitational Acceleration SAS Activity | Earth, Sun, MoonAirliner | Lunar Phases Airliner |