7th Advanced General Science Essential Learning Targets

• I can identify the characteristic properties of solids, liquids, and gases.
• I can describe and model how changes in the thermal energy of a substance relate to its state of matter.
• I can define and identify mixtures and pure substances.
• I can observe and describe how changing the composition of a mixture changes its properties.
• I can observe and analyze properties of matter to determine if a chemical reaction has taken place.
• I can define and identify elements and compounds.
• I can classify elements based on their characteristic properties.
• I can model the structure of a compound related to its individual elements.
• I can compare and contrast the properties of a compound and the elements that make it.
• I can compare the mass of reactants and products in both an open and closed system.
• I can construct a simple chemical equation based on an observed chemical reaction.

• I can reference specific animal behavior and describe how those behaviors affect the animal’s probability of survival.
• I can reference specific plant structures and how those structures affect the plant’s probability of survival.
• I can predict and analyze the effect of resource availability on a population.
• I can predict and explain how specific traits increase an individual’s survival rate in a specific environment.
• I can analyze data and draw conclusions about the reasons for a population’s growth or decline over time.
• I can research the human impact on inheritance of traits.

• I can order the stages of cell division and model the behavior of chromosomes during these stages.
• I can explain the purpose of cell division within an organism.
• I can investigate and explain how pairs of genes interact to express dominant or recessive traits.
• I can set up a Punnett square to show possible combinations of genes in a cross between two parents.
• I can research and describe how genetic mutations affect the structure and function of an organism.
• I can investigate the impact environmental and genetic factors have on an organism’s growth.
• I can identify similarities between embryos of different species.
• I can analyze the anatomical similarities and differences between organisms from different time periods

• I can analyze data related to the planets’ sizes and distances from the Sun.
• I can use a scale factor to make calculations related to a scientific model.
• I can model and explain the cyclic pattern of lunar phases.
• I can model and explain the interactions between Earth, the Moon, and Sun.
• I can model and explain the cyclic pattern of the seasons.
• I can relate the strength of gravity between two objects to their masses.
• I can related the strength of gravity between two objects to the distance between them.
• I can differentiate between mass and weight and describe the effect gravity has on each of these factors.
• I can compare gravity’s effect on an object’s weight.
• I can compare a planet’s distance from the Sun to its motion within the solar system.
• I can investigate the role that gravity plays in the motion of the solar system.

Electricity, Waves & Information Transfer

• I can draw a schematic of an electric circuit using proper symbols.
  
• I can understand how current is influenced by different variables, including circuit arrangement, resistance, voltage, etc.
  
• I can diagram how circuits transform different types of energy.
  
• I can conduct an investigation that measures thermal energy transfer.
• I can evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of digital communication.
• I can diagram wave characteristics.
• I can perform wave characteristic calculations.

Exploring Plate Tectonics

• I can explain how medium influences seismic wave behavior.
  
• I can explain that different types of waves behave differently in different types of medium.
• I can analyze and interpret data to map locations of earthquakes and explain how patterns of earthquake locations reveal plate boundaries.
  
• I can explain how plate movements and faults cause earthquakes and volcanoes.
  
• I can show that convection influences earthquakes and volcanoes (and plate movements) at the surface.
  
• I can explain the rock cycles and indicate what energy flows drives the process.

Digestion & Motion

• I can describe how body systems are made of organs that work together.
• I can evaluate how digestion of nutrients occurs using mechanical and chemical processes throughout the digestive tract (includes enzymes and the nutrients digested by those enzymes).
• I can describe how the different sections of the digestive system work together (including which nutrients are digested in each section, which organs are involved, and which digestive enzymes are used).
• I can develop a model of the muscular skeletal system (and compare it to the human arm).
• I can argue that body systems work together in maintaining a relatively stable internal environment.

The Nature of Science

• I can construct a hypothesis in the If.....then.....format and include reasoning.
• I can construct an accurate experiment when given a testable question.
• I can construct data tables and graphs to interpret data.
• I can analyze data and draw conclusions