7

toc = 7th Grade Course Description = In this course the students will become scientists and engage in scientific inquiry, hands-on-activity learning by using multi-sensory methods, student-to-student interactions, discourse and reflective thinking, reading, and research. Students will develop the skills of observation, comparison, communication, and inferencing. Students will engage in inquiry-based Life Science investigations to understand how all living things impact one another and are interdependent in a world ecosystem. Students will explore Life Science units: Diversity of Life, Populations and Ecosystems, Harvard River City Simulation Project and Environmental Issues and Health and the Human Body/Comparative Anatomy,

= Vocabulary =

= Concept Maps =

= Topics List =

Diversity of Life

 * === Cells ===
 * Prokaryotes vs. eukaryotes
 * Cell organelles structure and function
 * Plant cells vs. animal cells
 * Passive transport across membranes
 * Mitosis


 * === Microscope ===
 * Parts and functions
 * History of
 * Focal plane
 * Measurement


 * === Microscopic Life ===
 * Protozoan groups and pond water/living material observations


 * === Plants ===
 * Seeds structures and functions
 * Stems structures and functions
 * Leaves structures and functions
 * Flowers structures and functions


 * === Classification ===
 * Taxonomic History, Carolous Linneaus
 * Dichotomous classification
 * Taxonomic keys, create and read
 * Binomial Nomenclature(Scientific Latin Naming)

Ecology

 * Levels of ecology
 * Food webs
 * Energy flow through ecosystems
 * Cycling of matter in ecosystems
 * Limiting factors and carrying capacity
 * Invasive species
 * Populations
 * Biomes
 * Adaptations
 * Genetics
 * basic Mendelian genetics
 * incomplete dominance
 * sex-linkage
 * double trait cross
 * pedigrees
 * meiosis

River City
Computer based environmental science inquiry program
 * Data collection using a variety of virtual tools
 * Data analysis for relevancy
 * Graphing techniques and analysis(bar, pie, line)
 * Scientific method/process
 * Lab report, inferential presentation(C.8.1-C.8.11)
 * Airborne, waterborne, insect born diseases and transmission

Human and Comparative Anatomy with Frogs

 * Respiratory system
 * Research and presentation of smoking related diseases
 * Tobacco facts and statistics
 * History of tobacco
 * Skeletal system(bones, joints, ligaments, tendons)
 * Digestive system
 * Circulatory
 * Nervous system
 * Frog Dissection for comparative anatomy