What does a student learn in StateOklahoma,GradeGrade 7,SubjectScience?

Students draw or diagram simple molecules to show which atoms bond together and how. This covers everyday substances like water, salt, and metals.

Students look at data from before and after two substances mix to decide whether a chemical reaction happened. Signs like a color change, gas bubbles, or a temperature shift tell students if a new substance formed.

Synthetic materials like plastic, nylon, and medicine start as natural resources. Students trace where those materials come from and weigh how making and using them affects people and the environment.

In a chemical reaction, no atoms appear or disappear. Students use models to show that the atoms just rearrange, which is why the total mass before and after a reaction stays the same.

Students design and build a device that uses a chemical reaction to heat up or cool down, then test it and adjust it based on what they observe. Think hand warmers or instant cold packs.

Students read and build graphs showing how a moving object's energy changes as it gets heavier or faster. A heavier car and a faster car both hit harder, the graphs show exactly how much.

Objects that interact from a distance store energy based on how they're arranged. Students model how that stored energy changes when the distance between objects, like a magnet and a paperclip or Earth and a falling ball, increases or decreases.

When a moving object speeds up or slows down, energy is moving too. Students build an argument explaining where that energy came from or where it went.

Plants use sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide to make sugar, releasing oxygen in the process. This is photosynthesis, and it's how energy enters the food chain and matter moves between living things and the air.

Plants and animals break food down into smaller pieces through chemical reactions, then rebuild those pieces into new materials for growth or fuel for energy. Students model how matter moves and changes inside a living thing.

Students look at data about food, water, or space to explain why animal and plant populations grow, shrink, or move when resources run short or bounce back.

Students study how animals, plants, and other living things affect each other, then predict whether those same patterns show up in different ecosystems. A wolf controlling deer populations works the same way a shark controls fish populations.

Students trace how matter (like water, carbon, and nutrients) moves through living things and the environment, and how energy flows from the sun through plants, animals, and decomposers. The model can be a diagram or food web.

When a river dries up or a new predator arrives, populations of animals and plants shift. Students use real data to argue why those changes happen.

Students compare real proposed solutions (like wildlife corridors or habitat restoration plans) to see which one best protects the variety of living things in an ecosystem and keeps it functioning.

Minerals, oil, and fresh water are not spread evenly across the planet. Students explain why using evidence from geology, such as how volcanic activity, plate movement, or ancient seas left resources concentrated in specific places.

Students design a plan to track and reduce a human activity that harms the environment, such as pollution or land use, using science to back up each choice they make.

Students build a written argument, backed by data, explaining how a growing population and rising resource use put pressure on land, water, and air. The goal is to connect real evidence to real consequences.

Students study real climate data to explain why global temperatures have risen over the past hundred years. They look at evidence, judge what it shows, and explain which natural and human factors are responsible.