Grade 7 Life Science Assignments

REVIEW FOR FINAL-- BODY SYSTEMS

 

Here are some information sources you can use to review for the body systems portion of our final. 

You are not responsible for all this information-- use your study guide to know how to focus your time.

22.Creature Features STEM05. Students will make their own playdough, then create a family of creatures that have six different traits, similar to how Gregor Mendel analyzed pea plants. This is a chance for students to be creative, to review Punnett squares, and to realize how much variety is possible with just a few features. 

23.QUIZ12. This is our final quiz of the year, on "Change Over Time." The focus is on genetic coding, natural selection, reproductive strategies (sexual, asexual), cell division (mitosis), Punnett squares, and pedigrees. Attached find the practice quiz, along with an answer key.

20. CW14 Dominant and Recessive Traits. Here, we read a biography of Gregor Mendel, and recount his genetics experiments with pea plants. Students will complete a variety of Punnett squares, which is a mathematical way of showing how the genes of mom and dad mix to produce different offspring.

21. CW14 Nature versus nurture. The sum of a person is a combination of genetics and environment, nature and nurture. Environment might mean experiences, starting inside the womb, as well as nutrition, exposure to toxins, etc. We will consider why twin studies are so useful to scientists studying the influence of genetics.

19.Quiz11 Mitosis and Meiosis. This assignment, which will count as a quiz, has students completing an interactive simulation online, then making a model of mitosis. Students may work alone or in pairs.

18. HW11 Strategies for Continuity. Species continue over time by reproducing. We will compare and contrast two methods of reproduction-- asexual and sexual.

16. CW11 Communicating with Codes. Codes of different kinds govern human communication (alphabet, Braille, Morse code, binary code, etc), as well as biological processes (DNA replication). This exercise encourages students to think about how codes work, and what can happen when the code changes.

(ungraded) Species Diversity. As preparation for a special class on natural selection, we will be reading a biography of Charles Darwin, and also watching a video showing followup studies on the finches of the Galapagos Islands.

17.CW12 The Peppered Moth. Here, we will consider a classic case of natural selection. Students will use a simulation to gather and graph data on the changes to the peppered moth population over time.

15.STEM04 DNA model. Students will make models of DNA that are able to lay flat, or to flex into the classic double helix. UPDATE: After making flexible models of DNA with pipe cleaners, students will create a computer model showing how DNA replicates. To access the link that follows, first log into your Google account. Then click on this link. Then "file-make a copy" to move a copy into your account. 

 

14. HW10 Bill Nye #83 Genes. This video introduces our last unit for the year, "Change over Time." We start with the parts of the cell that contain information. The cell uses this information to grow, function, and reproduce. 

13. LAB07. Students will choose one of the following assignments.

 

Nervous System. The first choice is to conduct a short lab, "Sound Localization." This lab investigates the value of having two ears instead of one. This lab must be done as a group.

 

Digestive System. The second choice is to design three balanced meals based on the "My Plate" guidelines set forth by the United States Department of Agriculture. This lab is to be done individually.

12. Digestive System story. This is an informational introduction to the parts and process of digestion. Students may complete this assignment individually, or in pairs.

11.QUIZ10. Body systems #1. This quiz covers with musculo-skeletal system and the circulo-respiratory system. A practice quiz will be uploaded shortly. Update: Attached find the practice quiz. UPDATE: Attached find an answer key for the practice quiz.

09. CW08 The Respiratory System. Students will complete a model lung and a story of how respiration works.

10.CW10 How Blood Circulates. Students will complete a "circulation hop" game and a story/diagram of how blood circulates.

8.QUIZ09 Body System Organizer. This assignment adds to our understanding and appreciation of body systems. We are focusing on six body systems. Students will research assigned topics, then present their findings in the form of graphic organizers. Attached find a general introduction to body systems, suggested organizers, a list of helpful links for research, and a feedback rubric for grading. UPDATE: This project will now be due on March 26, by 9pm (Monday). There will not be time in class to work; students must finish this project as homework.

7.STEM03 Valve Engineering Challenge. There are valves inside the human heart that open and close to direct the flow of blood. Students will design their own one-way valve out of selected materials. In the "open" position, their valve will allow water to flow freely. In the "closed" position, their valve will stop the flow of water.

4.QUIZ08 Written assessment. This assignment uses biography to to inform, to inspire, and to explore what enables people to be happy and successful. Students will read a short biography of George Washington Carver, rate the scientist on several scales, then defend their top rating in a well-written paragraph. The rating scales are based on the book How Children Succeed Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character by Paul Tough (2012).

5.Frog Dissection Virtual HW09. Students will complete an online dissection that will serve to introduce our new unit on body systems. The "dissection" will end with an in-class activity comparing and contrasting frog and human body systems.

6.LAB06 Dissection Animal Parts. We will be dissecting chicken wings, chicken feet, and the heart of a young cow. Students will be working in groups, but have independent assignments.

3.QUIZ07 Microbes. A practice quiz will be posted shortly. UPDATE: Attached find a practice quiz, with study guide. UPDATE: The quiz will now be taken on Wednesday, February 21, the day after we return from winter break. Attached find an answer key to help with study. 

2.HW08 What Causes Ailments in People? This assignment asks students to consider the cause, spread, prevention, and treatment of several ailments. Some of these ailments have a genetic component, while some are caused by microbes. 

CW08 Seven Wonders of the Microbe World. This video complements what we are learning in class. Students are to complete questions on the attached worksheet, and be prepared to discuss. 

STREAMS11 Fair Presentation Boards and Talk. Students will prepare a trifold presentation board for the fair on January 30. They will also prepare to be interviewed by judges at the fair. Attached find guidelines. This grade will count for term 3.

1.LAB04 Microbes and Food Preparation and Preservation. This is a group project that involves research and presentation. See attached guidelines. This project will count for term 3.

MIDTERM Our midterm for science will be Friday, January 19. Attached find a practice midterm, along with an answer key. I will be available for extra help during recess/lunch on Tuesday (Jan 16) and Thursday (Jan 18), as well as after school on Wednesday (Jan 17) and Thursday (Jan 18).

QUIZ06 Microbes UPDATE: The osmosis project we are working on now will count as a quiz grade for term 2. Attached find class results that students will edit, then graph. UPDATE: Students will also be responsible for completing the packet questions that go with with graph: see attached.

STREAMS Projects: Students have received feedback from me regarding their projects. They have one week to update any of the following assignments: annotated bibliography, introduction, materials and procedure, results and conclusion, final report.

 

What remains after this is to complete a presentation board for the fair, which will be due January 25.  This will count as a term 3 grade, since term 2 ends on January 23.

STREAMS05 log book Students have been keeping logbooks on their fair projects-- ideas, problems/solutions, research, etc. Each entry is about a page in length, and includes both text and a visual (diagram, downloaded photo, data table, etc). Each group should make a weekly entry in the log book. By now, students should have at least 3-4 entries in the log book. Starting this week, be prepared for me to check the log book when we conference. Altogether, by this date there should be ten or more entries in the log book.

STEM01 Biodomes We are continuing this long-term project GROUP field notes. Our goal remains the same-- to guide a plant through its life cycle (seed-plant-flower-seed) in an artificial growing environment (bottle structures). Four field notes are due by this date.

STREAMS09 Results and Conclusion. This part of the STREAMS report includes data collected and translated into a graph. 

 

For science investigations, the conclusion reviews whether or not the data support the hypothesis. It also analyzes errors that might have occurred, further experiments that might be done, and a connection back to the real world.

 

For engineering challenges, the conclusion reviews whether or not the design met the criteria for success. It also suggests improvements for the future, and expands on how this design might be used in the real world.

 

UPDATE: Attached find the feedback form I will use to grade these assignments.

STREAMS10 Complete report. Students will compile their work into one report, and add a title page, table of contents, and acknowledgements. They will also draft an abstract, which is a summary (250 words or less) of the whole project. The abstract is useful to people who will visit or judge the project.

 

UPDATE: Attached find the feedback form I will use to grade this assignment.

QUIZ05 Microbes. We have rescheduled this quiz to allow for extra review time in class. Due to holiday events during the school day, classes 7L and 7N will take the quiz on Monday, 18 December. class 7C will take the quiz on Tuesday, 19 December. UPDATE: Attached find an answer key for the practice quiz.

CLASSWORK In class, we are beginning our study of microbes. Students are keeping notes and completing written work as follows:

1. hierarchy of matter

2. scientific classification of living things

3. key structures in plant, animal, and bacterial cells

CLASSWORK We will learn what key facts scientists use to classify all living things into six kingdoms. 

CLASSWORK We will be sorting, discussing, and committing to memory the "hierarchy of matter." This hierarchy classifies living and non-living things in terms of scale and complexity. It is an effective way to put terms and ideas into perspective.

LAB03 Using the microscope. This hands-on activity will introduce our new unit on microbes. Note: There is reading that goes with this lab in our Glencoe text.

UPDATE: Attached find the feedback form I will use to grade this lab.

QUIZ04 This will be our last quiz for the ecosystems unit. Attached find a practice quiz that we will be reviewing on Tuesday. UPDATE: The quiz has been rescheduled for Monday, November 20.

STREAMS07 Introduction to the STREAMS Fair report.

 

For science projects, this will be a full paragraph (8-12 sentences in MLA format) that explains the question that the investigation will explore. It should include a connection to the real world, and how this topic fits in. It should end with a hypothesis, an independent variable, a dependent variable, and controls that will make the experiment fair. 

 

For engineering projects. this will be a full paragraph (8-12 sentences in MLA format) that explains a problem, want, or need that the design will address. It should include a connection to the real world, and how this item fits in. It should end with an engineering goal, criteria (how success will be measured), and constraints (considerations that limit or restrict the design).

 

STREAMS08 Materials and Procedure. Students should prepare this part of their report (MLA format). It may change in the next few weeks, but there should be enough here for me to feel confident that students know how they will proceed. This month (November) and into early December is when students must be doing their projects in order to have results and conclusions written up by Christmas break. 

STREAMS06 Background Research. Students are to find three or more expert sources for their topic. These sources could be online sites, books, encyclopedias, or people. Students will then write up what they learn from these sources in the form of an annotated bibliography (MLA style). Attached find an example. UPDATE: This assignment was moved from term 1 to term 2. Students who have completed it for their approved project do not have to do it over again, but students who changed their project will have to do it.

STEM02 Producers, Consumers, Decomposers. We have been focused on plants and trees, the producers of ecosystems. Now we are expanding our view to include consumers and decomposers. A consumer obtains its energy by eating other organisms. A decomposer consumes waste and dead organisms. They help to recycle once-living matter by breaking it down into simple, energy-rich substances.

 

For this project, each class will pick an ecosystem in Connecticut (marine, deciduous forest, freshwater, temperate grassland). Each student will then develop a short report on a producer, consumer, or decomposer of the class ecosystem. Students will also create a graphic using Googlesheets. Attached find an example report with specific categories of information to include, and a graphic.

 

After students finish this project for me in science class, Mrs. Swan will take over in art class. Students will use various materials to embellish their graphics. We will arrange finished work into "ecosystem quilts" for display.

 

UPDATE:  This assignment has been moved from quarter to quarter 2.

 

 

HW07 Inside the Perfect Predator. This assignment helps us to understand that organisms in ecosystems interact with each other in different ways.

STEM01 Biodomes. Students will start a long-term project engineering a growing environment out of a plastic bottle. The overall goal will be to complete the life cycle of an edible plant, from seed to plant to flower to seed. Students will make design choices, monitor their progress, and make changes over a series of weeks. UPDATE: Students must complete 4 field note pages by this date.

QUIZ03 This is the third and final quiz for term 1. Attached find a practice quiz, along with an answer key. UPDATE: This is an open notes quiz. Students will also have access to the textbook, but not to computers.

CW02 Photosynthesis. Students will be measuring the affect of light on the rate of photosynthesis. Update: Attached find summary data from grade 7, along with a picture of what the column graph should look like.

 

CW01 Leaf Identification. We are extending our study of plants by considering the classification of plant giants, the trees. Students will use online dichotomous keys to identify trees based on their branches and leaves. UPDATE: We have finished identifying 12 trees using the attached dichotomous key. For a future assessment, students are responsible for being able to navigate a dichotomous key for a collection of items (e.g. trees, rocks, baseball cards, etc). Attached find the key we used in class.

QUIZ02. This is our second quiz of the quarter. We will go through a practice quiz the day before. Update: Attached find a copy of the practice quiz, which includes a study guide, as well as an answer key for the practice quiz. I strongly advise students to try to finish the quiz independently before looking at the answers. We will go over any additional concerns on Monday, as we now plan to take the quiz on Tuesday (October 17). 

HW06 Reading about Photosynthesis. Students are to read in our Glencoe text about the processes of photosynthesis and respiration. Attached find questions to answer. For full credit, this assignment must be brought to class on the day it is due-- handwritten answers work best.

STREAMS05 Project Approval due, signed by both teacher and parent. We may make changes after this, but we need to settle in by this time with a workable project idea. The complete STREAMS Fair packet is attached here. Look inside for the permission form.

HW05 Biosphere 2 and Beyond. Students will find out about human efforts to create artificial living environments.

QUIZ01A Optional. This is an optional retake of our first quiz, with a focus on two skills-- drafting pie charts, and analyzing climographs. Students who take this quiz will have their results averaged with their results from QUIZ01.

HW03 Animals React to Environmental Conditions. This is a short research assignment  for students to consider how animals deal with changes in the abiotic conditions around them. It is also practice using a slideshow program and sharing work with me electronically, citing using the MLA format, and pairing scientific names with common names.

STREAMS04 Logbook #1. When we conference about possible STREAMS Fair topics, students are to show me their first logbook entry, entitled "Brainstorming." It is to be the equivalent of a paragraph in length, and include a visual (table, photo, diagram, etc). I expect one logbook per group.

QUIZ01 Ecosystems and Classification. We will review for this quiz on Wednesday, and students will take the quiz on Thursday.

LAB02 Climographs. Precipitation and temperature are the two deciding factors that form ecosystems. For this assignment, students will be color-coding biomes of the world, and completing three "climographs" that show patterns of precipitation and temperature change in different biomes.

LAB01 Soil Components. Soil is an abiotic factor that supports life on Earth. Students are practicing their graphing skills with this assignment. We are also evaluating whether or not a range of soils is made up of approximately 25% air.

STREAMS03 Invention Dissection. As we get ready to work on the STREAMS Fair, I would like students to consider the "form and function" of an everyday invention.

STREAMS03 Accidental Inventions and Spinoffs. As we get ready to work on the STREAMS Fair, I would like students to consider how one invention can turn into another.

HW02 Interactive Water Cycle. Water is another abiotic factor that supports life on Earth. Students are reviewing the water cycle by assembling an interactive diagram.

STREAMS02 Biomimicry in Action     This purpose of this assignment is to increase our awareness of how many design ideas come from nature. Perhaps some students will choose a biomimicry theme for their STREAMS Fair project.

HW01 Is it Alive or Not? Students are to complete this assignment in their marble composition books. It involves reading section 1.2 of the Glencoe text, which is posted on this website on the announcements page under "Resources for Grade 7 Life Science." The attached document is for reference only.

Forms to sign (not graded). Please sign and turn in two documents.

 

1. The Lab Safety Contract (attached).

 

2. The letter home (attached)

STREAMS01 (due 6 September Wednesday) This writing assignment is preliminary to finding projects for the STREAMS fair. Students are to view two videos about a self-taught inventor from Sierra Leon, Kelvin Doe. Kelvin uses three words to describe the lessons of his life so far-- creativity, perseverance, and passion. Students are to write a well-developed paragraph about how these ideas guide them in their own lives as well. This assignment also introduces the MLA writing format, and gets students familiar with sending me their work electronically.