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Skills available for Pennsylvania seventh-grade science standards

Standards are in black and IXL science skills are in dark green. Hold your mouse over the name of a skill to view a sample question. Click on the name of a skill to practice that skill.

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Science, Technology & Engineering, Environmental Literacy and Sustainability (STEELS) Standards Science, Technology & Engineering, Environmental Literacy and Sustainability (STEELS) Standards
Pennsylvania Core Standards: Grades 6-8 Reading in Science and Technical Subjects Pennsylvania Core Standards: Grades 6-8 Reading in Science and Technical Subjects
Pennsylvania Academic Standards - Science and Technology and Engineering: Biological Sciences Pennsylvania Academic Standards - Science and Technology and Engineering: Biological Sciences
Pennsylvania Academic Standards - Science and Technology and Engineering: Earth and Space Sciences Pennsylvania Academic Standards - Science and Technology and Engineering: Earth and Space Sciences
Pennsylvania Academic Standards - Science and Technology and Engineering: Physical Sciences: Chemistry and Physics Pennsylvania Academic Standards - Science and Technology and Engineering: Physical Sciences: Chemistry and Physics
Pennsylvania Academic Standards - Science and Technology and Engineering: Technology and Engineering Education Pennsylvania Academic Standards - Science and Technology and Engineering: Technology and Engineering Education
Pennsylvania Assessment Anchors Pennsylvania Assessment Anchors
Pennsylvania Academic Standards - Environment and Ecology: Environment and Ecology Pennsylvania Academic Standards - Environment and Ecology: Environment and Ecology

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Physical Science

Structure and Properties of Matter
- 1 Develop models to describe the atomic composition of simple molecules and extended structures.
- 2 Gather and make sense of information to describe how synthetic materials come from natural resources and impact society.
- 3 Develop a model that predicts and describes changes in the particle motion, temperature and state of a pure substance when thermal energy is added or removed.
Chemical Reactions
- 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.
  - Count atoms and molecules in chemical reactions (7-F.2)
  - Calculate amounts of reactants or products in chemical reactions (7-F.3)
- 3 Undertake a design project to construct, test, and modify a device that either releases or absorbs thermal energy by chemical processes.
Forces and Interactions
- 1 Apply Newton's Third Law to design a solution to a problem involving the motion of two colliding objects.
  - Predict forces using Newton's third law (7-G.8)
- 2 Plan an investigation to provide evidence that the change in an object's motion depends on the sum of the forces on the object and the mass of the object.
- 3 Ask questions about data to determine the factors that affect the strength of electric and magnetic forces.
  - Compare magnitudes of magnetic forces (7-G.10)
- 4 Construct and present arguments using evidence to support the claim that gravitational interactions are attractive and depend on the masses of interacting objects.
  - Identify changes in gravitational potential energy (7-H.1)
- 5 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.
Energy
- 1 Construct and interpret graphical displays of data to describe the relationships of kinetic energy to the mass and speed of an object.
  - Use tables and graphs to identify patterns about kinetic energy (7-H.2)
- 2 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.
  - Identify changes in gravitational potential energy (7-H.1)
- 3 Apply scientific principles to design, construct, and test a device that either minimizes or maximizes thermal energy transfer.
  - Predict heat flow and temperature changes (7-I.1)
  - Compare thermal energy transfers (7-I.2)
- 4 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.
  - How does particle motion affect temperature? (7-J.1)
- 5 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.
  - Explore energy transformations: roller coaster ride (7-H.3)
  - Explore energy transformations: bike ride (7-H.4)
Waves and Electromagnetic Radiation
- 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.
  - Compare amplitudes, wavelengths, and frequencies of waves (7-K.1)
  - Compare energy of waves (7-K.2)
- 2 Develop and use a model to describe how waves are reflected, absorbed, or transmitted through various materials.
- 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.

Life Science

Structure, Function, and Information Processing
- 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.
  - Understanding cells (7-O.1)
- 2 Develop and use a model to describe the function of a cell as a whole and the ways that parts of cells contribute to the function.
- 3 Use arguments supported by evidence for how the body is a system of interacting subsystems composed of groups of cells.
  - Organization in the human body: the heart and the circulatory system (7-P.1)
- 4 Gather and synthesize information about how sensory receptors respond to stimuli by sending messages to the brain for immediate behavior or storage as memories.
  - Science literacy: how does the nervous system produce phantom pain? (7-P.2)
Matter and Energy in Organisms and Ecosystems
- 1 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.
  - How do plants use and change energy? (7-U.1)
  - Identify the photosynthetic organism (7-U.2)
- 2 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.
  - Understanding the chemistry of cellular respiration (7-N.2)
- 3 Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for the effects of resource availability on organisms and populations of organisms in an ecosystem.
  - Describe populations, communities, and ecosystems (7-W.1)
- 4 Develop a model to describe the cycling of matter and flow of energy among living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem.
- 5 Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations.
Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems
- 1 Construct an explanation that predicts patterns of interactions among organisms across multiple ecosystems.
  - Classify symbiotic relationships (7-X.5)
- 2 Evaluate competing design solutions for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services.
  - Coral reef biodiversity and human uses: explore a problem (7-Y.1)
  - Coral reef biodiversity and human uses: evaluate solutions (7-Y.2)
Growth, Development, and Reproduction of Organisms
- 1 Use arguments 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.
  - How can animal behaviors affect reproductive success? Identify evidence to support a claim (7-R.1)
- 2 Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for how environmental and genetic factors influence the growth of organisms.
  - Inherited and acquired traits: use evidence to support a statement (7-Q.1)
  - How do genes and the environment affect plant growth? (7-Q.10)
- 3 Develop and use a model to describe why structural changes to genes (mutations) located on chromosomes may affect proteins and may result in harmful, beneficial, or neutral effects to the structure and function of the organism.
  - Genes, proteins, and traits: understanding the genetic code (7-Q.8)
  - Describe the effects of gene mutations on organisms (7-Q.9)
- 4 Develop and use a model to describe why asexual reproduction results in offspring with identical genetic information and sexual reproduction results in offspring with genetic variation.
- 5 Gather and synthesize information about the technologies that have changed the way humans influence the inheritance of desired traits in organisms.
Natural Selection and Adaptations
- 1 Analyze and interpret data for patterns in the fossil record that document the existence, diversity, extinction, and change of life forms throughout the history of life on Earth under the assumption that natural laws operate today as in the past.
  - Compare ages of fossils in a rock sequence (7-S.2)
- 2 Apply scientific ideas to construct an explanation for anatomical similarities and differences among modern organisms and between modern and fossil organisms to infer evolutionary relationships.
  - Compare fossils to modern organisms (7-S.1)
- 3 Analyze displays of pictorial data to compare patterns of similarities in anatomical structures across multiple species to identify relationships not evident in the fully formed anatomy.
- 4 Construct an explanation based on evidence that describes how genetic variations of traits in a population increase some individuals' probability of surviving and reproducing in a specific environment.
- 5 Use mathematical representations to support explanations of how natural selection may lead to increases and decreases of specific traits in populations over time.

Earth and Space Science

Space Systems
- 1 Develop and use a model of the Earth-sun-moon system to describe the cyclic patterns of lunar phases, eclipses of the sun and moon, and seasons.
- 2 Develop and use a model to describe the role of gravity in the motion within galaxies and the solar system.
- 3 Analyze and interpret data to determine scale properties of objects in the solar system.
  - Analyze data to compare properties of planets (7-HH.4)
History of Earth
- 1 Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence from rock strata for how the geologic time scale is used to organize Earth's 4.6-billion-year-old history.
  - Compare ages of fossils in a rock sequence (7-S.2)
- 2 Construct an explanation based on evidence for how geoscience processes have changed Earth's surface at varying time and spatial scales.
- 3 Analyze and interpret data on the distribution of fossils and rocks, continental shapes, and seafloor structures to provide evidence of past plate motions.
  - Label Earth features at tectonic plate boundaries (7-BB.2)
  - Describe tectonic plate boundaries around the world (7-BB.3)
Earth's Systems
- 1 Develop a model to describe the cycling of Earth's materials and the flow of energy that drives this process.
- 2 Develop a model to describe the cycling of water through Earth's systems driven by energy from the sun and the force of gravity.
  - Label parts of water cycle diagrams (7-DD.1)
  - Select parts of water cycle diagrams (7-DD.2)
- 3 Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for how the uneven distributions of Earth's mineral, energy, and groundwater resources are the result of past and current geoscience processes.
Weather and Climate
- 1 Collect data to provide evidence for how the motion and complex interactions of air masses result in changes in weather conditions.
- 2 Develop and use a model to describe how unequal heating and rotation of the Earth cause patterns of atmospheric and oceanic circulation that determine regional climates.
  - Factors affecting climate: latitude (7-EE.)
  - Factors affecting climate: distance from the ocean (7-EE.)
- 3 Ask questions to clarify evidence of the factors that have caused the rise in global temperatures over the past century.
  - Evaluate claims about natural resource use: fossil fuels (7-Z.2)
  - The greenhouse effect (7-FF.1)
Human Impacts
- 1 Analyze and interpret data on natural hazards to forecast future catastrophic events and inform the development of technologies to mitigate their effects.
  - Analyze natural hazard maps (7-GG.1)
- 2 Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing human impact on the environment.
  - Coral reef biodiversity and human uses: explore a problem (7-Y.1)
  - Coral reef biodiversity and human uses: evaluate solutions (7-Y.2)
- 3 Construct an argument supported by evidence for how increases in human population and per capita consumption of natural resources impact Earth's systems.
  - Evaluate claims about natural resource use: groundwater (7-Z.1)
  - Evaluate claims about natural resource use: fossil fuels (7-Z.2)

Engineering, Technology, and Applications of Science

Engineering Design (Define Problems, Develop Solutions and Improve Designs)
- 1 Define the criteria and constraints of a design problem with sufficient precision to ensure a successful solution, taking into account relevant scientific principles and potential impacts on people and the natural environment that may limit possible solutions.
- 2 Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.
- 3 Analyze data from tests to determine similarities and differences among several design solutions to identify the best characteristics of each that can be combined into a new solution to better meet the criteria for success.
  - Use data from tests to compare engineering-design solutions (7-C.3)
  - Coral reef biodiversity and human uses: evaluate solutions (7-Y.2)
- 4 Develop a model to generate data for iterative testing and modification of a proposed object, tool, or process such that an optimal design can be achieved.
  - Explore the engineering-design process: going to the Moon! (7-C.4)

Environmental Literacy and Sustainability

Agricultural and Environmental Systems and Resources
- Agricultural Systems
  - 1 Develop a model to describe how agricultural and food systems function, including the sustainable use of natural resources and the production, processing, and management of food, fiber, and energy.
- Environment & Society
  - 1 Analyze and interpret data about how different societies (economic and social systems) and cultures use and manage natural resources differently.
- Watersheds and Wetlands
  - 1 Develop a model to describe how watersheds and wetlands function as systems, including the roles and functions they serve.
Environmental Literacy Skills
- Investigating Environmental Issues
  - 1 Gather, read, and synthesize information from multiple sources to investigate how Pennsylvania environmental issues affect Pennsylvania's human and natural systems.
- Environmental Experiences
  - 1 Collect, analyze, and interpret environmental data to describe a local environment.
    - Use data to describe climates (7-EE.1)
- Evaluating Solutions
  - 1 Obtain and communicate information on how integrated pest management could improve indoor and outdoor environments.
Sustainability and Stewardship
- Environmental Sustainability
  - 1 Obtain and communicate information to describe how best management practices and environmental laws are designed to achieve environmental sustainability.
- Environmental Stewardship
  - 1 Design a solution to an environmental issue in which individuals and societies can engage as stewards of the environment.
    - Coral reef biodiversity and human uses: explore a problem (7-Y.1)
    - Coral reef biodiversity and human uses: evaluate solutions (7-Y.2)
- Environmental Justice
  - 1 Construct an explanation that describes regional environmental conditions and their implications on environmental justice and social equity.
    - Describe ecosystems (7-W.3)

Pennsylvania

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Physical Science

Structure and Properties of Matter

1 Develop models to describe the atomic composition of simple molecules and extended structures.

2 Gather and make sense of information to describe how synthetic materials come from natural resources and impact society.

3 Develop a model that predicts and describes changes in the particle motion, temperature and state of a pure substance when thermal energy is added or removed.

Chemical Reactions

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.

Forces and Interactions

1 Apply Newton's Third Law to design a solution to a problem involving the motion of two colliding objects.

2 Plan an investigation to provide evidence that the change in an object's motion depends on the sum of the forces on the object and the mass of the object.

3 Ask questions about data to determine the factors that affect the strength of electric and magnetic forces.

4 Construct and present arguments using evidence to support the claim that gravitational interactions are attractive and depend on the masses of interacting objects.

5 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.

Energy

1 Construct and interpret graphical displays of data to describe the relationships of kinetic energy to the mass and speed of an object.

2 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.

3 Apply scientific principles to design, construct, and test a device that either minimizes or maximizes thermal energy transfer.

4 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.

5 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.

Waves and Electromagnetic Radiation

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 how waves are reflected, absorbed, or transmitted through various materials.

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.

Life Science

Structure, Function, and Information Processing

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 the ways that parts of cells contribute to the function.

3 Use arguments supported by evidence for how the body is a system of interacting subsystems composed of groups of cells.

4 Gather and synthesize information about how sensory receptors respond to stimuli by sending messages to the brain for immediate behavior or storage as memories.

Matter and Energy in Organisms and Ecosystems

1 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.

2 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.

3 Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for the effects of resource availability on organisms and populations of organisms in an ecosystem.

4 Develop a model to describe the cycling of matter and flow of energy among living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem.

5 Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations.

Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems

1 Construct an explanation that predicts patterns of interactions among organisms across multiple ecosystems.

2 Evaluate competing design solutions for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services.

Growth, Development, and Reproduction of Organisms

1 Use arguments 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.

3 Develop and use a model to describe why structural changes to genes (mutations) located on chromosomes may affect proteins and may result in harmful, beneficial, or neutral effects to the structure and function of the organism.

4 Develop and use a model to describe why asexual reproduction results in offspring with identical genetic information and sexual reproduction results in offspring with genetic variation.

5 Gather and synthesize information about the technologies that have changed the way humans influence the inheritance of desired traits in organisms.

Natural Selection and Adaptations

1 Analyze and interpret data for patterns in the fossil record that document the existence, diversity, extinction, and change of life forms throughout the history of life on Earth under the assumption that natural laws operate today as in the past.

2 Apply scientific ideas to construct an explanation for anatomical similarities and differences among modern organisms and between modern and fossil organisms to infer evolutionary relationships.

3 Analyze displays of pictorial data to compare patterns of similarities in anatomical structures across multiple species to identify relationships not evident in the fully formed anatomy.

4 Construct an explanation based on evidence that describes how genetic variations of traits in a population increase some individuals' probability of surviving and reproducing in a specific environment.

5 Use mathematical representations to support explanations of how natural selection may lead to increases and decreases of specific traits in populations over time.

Earth and Space Science

Space Systems

1 Develop and use a model of the Earth-sun-moon system to describe the cyclic patterns of lunar phases, eclipses of the sun and moon, and seasons.

2 Develop and use a model to describe the role of gravity in the motion within galaxies and the solar system.

3 Analyze and interpret data to determine scale properties of objects in the solar system.

History of Earth

1 Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence from rock strata for how the geologic time scale is used to organize Earth's 4.6-billion-year-old history.

2 Construct an explanation based on evidence for how geoscience processes have changed Earth's surface at varying time and spatial scales.

3 Analyze and interpret data on the distribution of fossils and rocks, continental shapes, and seafloor structures to provide evidence of past plate motions.

Earth's Systems

1 Develop a model to describe the cycling of Earth's materials and the flow of energy that drives this process.

2 Develop a model to describe the cycling of water through Earth's systems driven by energy from the sun and the force of gravity.

3 Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for how the uneven distributions of Earth's mineral, energy, and groundwater resources are the result of past and current geoscience processes.

Weather and Climate

1 Collect data to provide evidence for how the motion and complex interactions of air masses result in changes in weather conditions.

2 Develop and use a model to describe how unequal heating and rotation of the Earth cause patterns of atmospheric and oceanic circulation that determine regional climates.

3 Ask questions to clarify evidence of the factors that have caused the rise in global temperatures over the past century.

Human Impacts

1 Analyze and interpret data on natural hazards to forecast future catastrophic events and inform the development of technologies to mitigate their effects.

2 Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing human impact on the environment.

3 Construct an argument supported by evidence for how increases in human population and per capita consumption of natural resources impact Earth's systems.

Engineering, Technology, and Applications of Science

Engineering Design (Define Problems, Develop Solutions and Improve Designs)

1 Define the criteria and constraints of a design problem with sufficient precision to ensure a successful solution, taking into account relevant scientific principles and potential impacts on people and the natural environment that may limit possible solutions.

2 Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.