Ohio's Academic Content Standards in Science

By the end of grade 7

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Earth and Space Sciences
Students demonstrate an understanding about how Earth systems and processes interact in the geosphere resulting in the habitability of Earth. This includes demonstrating an understanding of the composition of the Universe, the Solar System and Earth. In addition, it includes understanding the properties and the interconnected nature of Earth's systems, processes that shape Earth and Earth's history. Students also demonstrate an understanding of how the concepts and principles of energy, matter, motion and forces explain Earth systems, the Solar System, and the Universe. Finally, they grasp an understanding of the historical perspectives, scientific approaches and emerging scientific issues associated with Earth and space sciences. Indicators for grade 7 1. Explain the biogeochemical cycles which move materials between the lithosphere (land), hydrosphere (water) and atmosphere (air). (ORC Resources) 2. Explain that Earth's capacity to absorb and recycle materials naturally (e.g., smoke, smog, sewage) can change the environmental quality depending on the length of time involved (e.g. global warming). (ORC Resources) 3. Describe the water cycle and explain the transfer of energy between the atmosphere and hydrosphere. (ORC Resources) 4. Analyze data on the availability of fresh water that is essential for life and for most industrial and agricultural processes. Describe how rivers, lakes and groundwater can be depleted or polluted becoming less hospitable to life and even becoming unavailable or unsuitable for life. (ORC Resources) 5. Make simple weather predictions based on the changing cloud types associated with frontal systems. (ORC Resources) 6. Determine how weather observations and measurements are combined to produce weather maps and that data for a specific location at one point in time can be displayed in a station model. (ORC Resources) 7. Read a weather map to interpret local, regional and national weather. (ORC Resources) 8. Describe how temperature and precipitation determine climatic zones (biomes) (e.g., desert, grasslands, forests, tundra, alpine). (ORC Resources) 9. Describe the connection between the water cycle and weather-related phenomenon (e.g., tornadoes, floods, droughts, hurricanes). (ORC Resources)

Life Sciences
Students demonstrate an understanding of how living systems function and how they interact with the physical environment. This includes an understanding of the cycling of matter and flow of energy in living systems. An understanding of the characteristics, structure, and function of cells, of organisms and of living systems are developed as well as a deeper understanding of the principles of heredity, biological evolution, and the diversity and interdependence of life. Students also demonstrate an understanding of different historical perspectives, scientific approaches and emerging scientific issues associated with the life sciences. Indicators for grade 7 1. Investigate the great variety of body plans and internal structures found in multicellular organisms. (ORC Resources) 2. Investigate how organisms or populations may interact with one another through symbiotic relationships and how some species have become so adapted to each other that neither could survive without the other (e.g., predator-prey, parasitism, mutualistism, commensalism). (ORC Resources) 3. Explain how the number of organisms an ecosystem can support depends on adequate biotic (living) resources (e.g., plants, animals) and abiotic (non-living) resources (e.g., light, water, soil). (ORC Resources) 4. Investigate how overpopulation impacts an ecosystem. (ORC Resources) 5. Explain that some environmental changes occur slowly while others occur rapidly (e.g., forest and pond succession, fires and decomposition). (ORC Resources) 6. Summarize the ways that natural occurrences and human activity affect the transfer of energy in Earth's ecosystems (e.g., fire, hurricanes, roads, oil spills). (ORC Resources) 7. Explain that photosynthetic cells convert solar energy into chemical energy that is used to carry on life functions or is transferred to consumers and used to carry on their life functions. (ORC Resources) 8. Investigate the great diversity among organisms. (ORC Resources)

Physical Sciences
Students demonstrate an understanding of the composition of physical systems and the concepts and principles that describe and predict physical interactions and events in the natural world. This includes demonstrating an understanding of the structure and properties of matter, the properties of materials and objects, chemical reactions and the conservation of matter. In addition, it includes understanding the nature, transfer and conservation of energy, as well as motion and the forces affecting motion, the nature of waves and interactions of matter and energy. Students also demonstrate an understanding of the historical perspectives, scientific approaches and emerging scientific issues associated with the physical sciences. Indicators for grade 7 1. Investigate how matter can change forms but the total amount of matter remains constant. (ORC Resources) 2. Describe how an object can have potential energy due to its position or chemical composition and can have kinetic energy due to its motion. (ORC Resources) 3. Identify different forms of energy (e.g., electrical, mechanical, chemical, thermal, nuclear, radiant and acoustic). (ORC Resources) 4. Explain how energy can change forms but the total amount of energy remains constant. (ORC Resources) 5. Trace energy transformation in a simple closed system (e.g., a flashlight). (ORC Resources)

Science and Technology
Students should recognize that science and technology are interconnected and that using technology involves assessment of the benefits, risks, and costs. Students should build scientific and technological knowledge, as well as the skill required to design and construct devices. In addition, they should develop the processes to solve problems and to understand that problems may be solved in several ways. Indicators for grade 7 1. Explain how needs, attitudes and values influence the direction of technological development in various cultures. (ORC Resources) 2. Describe how decisions to develop and use technologies often put environmental and economic concerns in direct competition with each other. (ORC Resources) 3. Recognize that science can only answer some questions and technology can only solve some human problems. (ORC Resources) 4. Design and build a product or create a solution to a problem given two constraints (e.g., limits of cost and time for design and production, supply of materials and environmental effects). (ORC Resources)

Scientific Inquiry
Students develop scientific habits of mind as they use the processes of scientific inquiry to ask valid questions, and to gather and analyze information. They understand how to develop hypotheses and make predictions. They are able to reflect on scientific practices as they develop plans of action to create and evaluate a variety of conclusions. Students are also able to demonstrate the ability to communicate their findings to others. Indicators for grade 7 1. Explain that variables and controls can affect the results of an investigation and that ideally one variable should be tested at a time; however it is not always possible to control all variables. (ORC Resources) 2. Identify simple independent and dependent variables. (ORC Resources) 3. Formulate and identify questions to guide scientific investigations that connect to science concepts and can be answered through scientific investigations. (ORC Resources) 4. Choose the appropriate tools and instruments and use relevant safety procedures to complete scientific investigations. (ORC Resources) 5. Analyze alternative scientific explanations and predictions and recognize that there may be more than one good way to interpret a given set of data. (ORC Resources) 6. Identify faulty reasoning and statements that go beyond the evidence or misinterpret the evidence. (ORC Resources) 7. Use graphs, tables and charts to study physical phenomena and infer mathematical relationships between variables (e.g., speed, density). (ORC Resources)

Scientific Ways of Knowing
Students realize that the current body of scientific knowledge must be based on evidence, be predictive, logical, subject to modification, and limited to the natural world. This includes demonstrating an understanding that scientific knowledge grows and advances as new evidence is discovered to support or modify existing theories, as well as to encourage the development of new theories. Students are able to reflect on ethical scientific practices and demonstrate an understanding of how the current body of scientific knowledge reflects the historical and cultural contributions of women and men who provide us with a more reliable and comprehensive understanding of the natural world. Indicators for grade 7 1. Show that the reproducibility of results is essential to reduce bias in scientific investigations. (ORC Resources) 2. Describe how repetition of an experiment may reduce bias. (ORC Resources) 3. Describe how the work of science requires a variety of human abilities and qualities that are helpful in daily life (e.g., reasoning, creativity, skepticism, openness). (ORC Resources)