Science Knowledge & Skills - 7th Grade

Scientific Processes | Science Concepts
Return to Grade Level Skills
Page last edited 5/8/2009

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1. Collecting and Analyzing Safety Data - a 75 minute lab with an excellent table on page 22 listing the five leading causes of death, broken down by age range
2. Forces in Action - change track gradient and truck load as you collect data and come to a conclusion
3. Formatting Hypotheses - information to help your students get a handle on this process skill
4. How We See Things - Think through the assignment given, using a variety of mirrors to complete the task.
5. Labs With Hypotheses - three sample labs
6. Linking Conclusions to Hypotheses - examples from a biology lab
7. Reasoning in Science - a basic introduction to the scientific method from Biology4Kids
8. Sample Hypotheses (dependent and independent variables identified)
   1. Biology
   2. Earth & Physical Science
9. Test Your Hypothesis - Read Jenna's Diary in this exceprt from the science fair toolkit to see an example of designing an experiment with a testable hypothesis.
10. Towel Testing - the purpose of this lab is to practice the skills used to design experiments
11. Writing Hypotheses - a student lesson

1. Calculate the density of two blocks and then identify the material that the blocks are made of
2. Changing Circuits - test a variety of materials to determine which best completes the circuit
3. Create a New Hawaiian Island - read the page then click on the link at the bottom of the page to experiment with these local effects on climate by creating a new Hawaiian island!
4. Density - This is an interactive Web-Lab
5. Density Challenge
6. Leap Frog - [this link opens on a new page] Students design an experiment to answer a question, collect information, and interpret the results using charts. (Author - Michaél Dunnivant)
7. Mass, Volume, Density & Gravity - An interactive exercise where the user conducts experiments in weight, mass, volume, density and gravity.
8. Mass vs. Weight Quiz
9. Mass Volume Density Quiz (Level 1)
10. Mass Volume Density Quiz (level 2)
11. Reversable and Irreversable Changes - experiment with a variety of substances and conditions to determine which changes can or can not be reversed, and then take a quiz
12. Volume, Mass and Density - a supplementary activity for students

1. Boil Water with Shockwave - Run an experiment, changing the water amount, the starting water temperature, and the heating power. Enter how long you think it will take to boil the water. The accuracy of your guess, as a percentage of the actual time, will be displayed

1. Bar Graph - Enter data to create a bar graph, then manipulate the graph's maximum and minimum values
2. Circle Graph - Enter data categories and the value of each category to create a circle graph (similar to "Pie Chart" but the user can define the data set)
3. Create-a-Graph - lessons and activities on a variety of graphs
4. Data Picking - students collect data, enter tally marks or numbers and then select which graph is appropriate
5. Gere's Bike Shop - Read and Interpret Graphs at this BBC site
   1. After you finish the lesson at Gere's Bike Shop, take a test
6. The Hot Tub - This is a fun activity where students tell the story behind a graph and relate slope to rate of change.
7. How It All Stacks Up - [this link opens on a new page] Students interpret and compare information using a bar graph. (Author - Sandi King)
8. Interpreting Column Graphs - students practice by answering ten questions about the graph
9. Overview of a Bar Graph by Nicole Carroll followed by a practice quiz
10. Overview of a Line Graph by Nicole Carroll followed by a practice quiz
11. Play Ball - [this link opens on a new page] Students collect data to put on a picture graph. (Author - Sandi King)
12. Pie Chart - Students view pie charts (parameters: number of sectors, size of sector as a percent)
13. Reading a Column Graph - five questions related to a graph (good real-world activity)
14. Spy Guys Interactive - Understanding and Interpreting Graphs - Lesson 10

1. Boil Water with Shockwave - Run an experiment, changing the water amount, the starting water temperature, and the heating power. Enter how long you think it will take to boil the water. The accuracy of your guess, as a percentage of the actual time, will be displayed

1. Devices Used To Make Weather Measurements - links to information about how the weather instruments work from USA Today Weather
2. Make Your Own Weather Station - You can become an amateur meteorologist by building your own weather station and keeping a record of your measurements.
3. Make Your Own Weather Instruments - try this at home
4. More Weather Instruments to Build
5. Weather Instruments - Meteorologists need many kinds of data before the weather can be predicted.
6. Weather Instruments and Clouds - a matching game from Quia [select the list of terms for a quick review]

1. Discover Our Earth: Volcanoes - a fantastic new site posted by Cornell University Cornell University. This is part of a Geoscience Information Project funded by the National Science Foundation
2. The Mighty Volcano is an Internet Field Trip put together by Scholastic.
3. Volcano World - The Web's Premier Source of Volcano Info. This site is hosted by the University of North Dakota.
4. Volcanoes: Can We Predict Volcanic Eruptions? - A complete volcano unit from Annenberg/CPB
5. Volcanoes: Nature's Fury - from National Geographic
6. Volcano Resources for Educators - from the USGS.
7. Volcanoes Page from the Michigan Technological University

1. Plant Adaptations in Arid Environments - The plants that grow in the arid eastern region near the Columbia River and the Columbia Basin have a number of traits which help them to be successful in the desert.
2. How Cactus survive in the desert

1. Forces in Action - change track gradient and truck load as you collect data and come to a conclusion
2. Inclined Plane - This Java applet demonstrates a motion on an inclined plane with constant velocity and the corresponding forces.
3. Lever - attach a new mass piece or put it to another place with pressed mouse button
4. Machines Make Life Easier - a set of lessons and activities about simple machines
5. Move Our Principal - [this link opens on a new page] Students learn about the six simple machines then use their knowledge to assist their principal. (Author - Sandi King)
6. Pulley - Investigate mechanical advantage of a pulley with this interactive java applet
7. Pulley System - (raise or lower the load with the mouse) If you click on the mouse button, a spring balance will appear showing the tension in the string.
8. Simple Machines - a 26 slide show written by Tom Benson (NASA)
9. Simple Machines
10. Simple Machines - An excellent overview from the Franklin Institute On-Line
11. Simple Machines Activities: Learn about simple and compound machines while you explore the House (simple machines) and Tool Shed (compound machines) at E-Heads!
12. Simple Machines game from Harcourt School
13. Simple Machines Construction Site - work your way through a set of learning activities
14. Simple Machines Made Simple - [this link opens on a new page] an introduction to the six simple machines (Author - Sandi King)
15. Sunken Millions - a Simple Machines review game

1. Experiment with falling objects using a Shockwave simulation of objects falling in a vacuum tube and in air.
2. The Galileo Games - In this PBS feature, you'll get a sampling of Galileo's thought experiments and conduct virtual versions of his experiments, including those using an inclined plane and a pendulum.
3. An index of Newton's Laws animations from the Physics Classroom
4. An index of Newton's laws tutorials from the Physics Classroom (a total of 16 separate lessons)
5. Kinetic Energy - more good diagrams and 4 practice problems
6. The Law of Action-Reaction (Revisited)
7. Mass, Force and Acceleration - Watch as you fill out the chart to see how mass, force, and acceleration are related. When you are done, see if you can write a rule.
8. Momentum - "mass in motion"
9. Momentum and Impulse Connection - this tutorial includes a large number of practice questions to check understanding
10. Motion with Constant Acceleration - This Java applet shows a car moving with constant acceleration
11. Newton's Second Law Experiment - During movement a red point in the t-s-diagram (time - displacement) indicates the present time and the covered distance. This Java applet allows students to collect data for graphing.
12. Objects falling to Earth from a variety of locations
13. Potential Energy - excellent diagrams and 3 practice questions
14. QuickTime movie showing the motion of a roller coaster car down a vertical drop, through two vertical loops, over a small hill, and to the end of the track. The animation portrays the relative amounts of kinetic energy, potential energy, and total mechanical energy of the car as it moves along the track.
15. Recognizing Forces - The purpose of this activity is to practice an understanding of the various types of forces

1. The Heart: an Online Exploration - Explore the heart. Discover the complexities of its development and structure. Follow the blood through the blood vessels. Wander through the web-like body systems. Learn how to have a healthy heart and how to monitor your heart's health. Look back at the history of heart science.
2. Heart Animation - you can select external or internal view

1. What is the difference between chemical and physical change?
2. Physical and Chemical Changes - Quiz 1 - The difference between physical and chemical changes
3. Physical or Chemical Change? - Determine if each is a physical or chemical change. (a quia quiz)
4. Physical or Chemical Change? - test your knowledge
5. Physical vs Chemical Change - an interactive lesson
6. Physical and Chemical changes quiz

1. 1001 Periodic Table Quiz Questions - Over 1300 free science and chemistry questions per age and topic for school, college and university students
2. The Catalyst has an extensive list of periodic table links
3. ChemicalElements.com has a nice table with Internet links to sites about the elements.
4. Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev - We will never be able to attribute to a single individual the development of the basic building blocks of writing. Yet we do know the name of the man who devised the method of classifying the basic building blocks of matter. Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev!
5. Flash version of the table - Move your cursor over an elements for information.
6. Periodic Table of the Elements
7. Periodic Table from ChemiCool
8. Periodic Table - This common chemistry tool is presented as a PowerPoint show with web links to pages about each element. Invisible buttons are used on slide 2. (There are 109 invisible buttons on one slide.) Download the show and take a look!
9. A small Periodic Table of the Elements with limited information about each element. This site loads quickly.
10. Proton Don - a FunBrain game using a periodic table that contains the elements' symbols and their periodic numbers.
11. Visual Elements offers two versions. One requires the Shockwave plug-in Flash, and the other is an HTML document

1. Element Flash Cards - a student is given an element and they must then supply the element's chemical name, symbol or atomic number
2. Element hangman
3. Element math game
4. Elements, Compounds, and Mixtures
5. Elements, Compounds & Mixtures - posted by Purdue University
6. Elements, Mixtures and Compounds - a quiz with pull down choices
7. Molecular structure animation of four common substances

1. Build Your Own Roller Coaster - experiment with "g" force while you ride the coaster
2. Potential Energy - excellent diagrams and 3 practice questions
3. Kinetic Energy - more good diagrams and 4 practice problems
4. QuickTime movie showing the motion of a roller coaster car down a vertical drop, through two vertical loops, over a small hill, and to the end of the track. The animation portrays the relative amounts of kinetic energy, potential energy, and total mechanical energy of the car as it moves along the track.

1. Cell Organelles: The Chloroplast
2. Corn and Photosynthesis - efficient photosynthetic system and a long period of seasonal growth allow corn to produce high yields (reading level is a bit high, but this is short and succinct)
3. Plant Pigments and Photosynthesis - from the Lab Bench at Prentice Hall - several chapters, each with excellent animations
4. Photosynthesis - a large document with lots of good illustrations
5. Photosynthesis - the process by which plants use energy from sunlight to produce sugar (high reading level, but a large number of really good illustrations)
6. Photosynthesis: How do plants make food? - a Teacher's Guide to show number 907 in the Newton’s Apple series.
7. Photosynthesis animation
8. Photosynthesis - how life keeps going...and going...and going...
9. Photosynthesis: Don't "Leaf" Out Fall's Most Valuable Lesson! - (a lesson planning article from Education World) They have raked up a pile of activities for you to "leaf" through.
10. Photosynthesis Study Guide - No answers, but good review questions to test your knowledge.
11. Transpiration - transfer of water from plants to the atmosphere
12. Virtual Photosynthesis Experiments - on-line virtual experiments with Dr. Gene Splicer which show some of the ways scientists study photosynthesis
13. Why Do Leaves Change Color in the Fall? - To answer that question, you first have to understand what leaves are and what they do.

1. Basic Anatomy - Tissues & Organs
2. The Heart: an Online Exploration - Explore the heart. Discover the complexities of its development and structure. Follow the blood through the blood vessels. Wander through the web-like body systems. Learn how to have a healthy heart and how to monitor your heart's health. Look back at the history of heart science.
3. Human Anatomy On-Line: fun, interactive and educational views of the human body.
4. Neuroscience for Kids - The smell of a flower - The memory of a walk in the park - The pain of stepping on a nail. These experiences are made possible by the 3 pounds of tissue in our heads...the BRAIN!! Explore their activities to learn more about this part of you.
5. Organ Systems of the Human Body - Challenge your knowledge with this Quia quiz
6. Seeing, Hearing, and Smelling the World is an excellent set of short in-depth discussions about how these three senses function. The site is a report from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
7. Virtual Body - select English of Spanish and explore body systems
8. The Visible Human Project - Start with this page for a guided tour of the Visible Human project.
9. Your Body's Systems - from Fact Monster

1. Cooling of the Human Body - a simplified model of the process by which the human body gives off heat

1. An index of Mitosis/Meiosis animations
2. Asexual Reproduction from the New York Regents Test prep site
3. Meiosis tutorial - This exercise is designed to help you understand the events that occur in process of meiosis, which takes place to produce our gametes.
4. Multiple choice quiz on Asexual Reproduction [6 questions]
5. Multiple choice quiz on Sexual Reproduction [8 questions]
6. Pollination Methods
7. Sexual Reproduction from the New York Regents Test prep site
8. Sexual Reproduction from the New York Regents Test prep site
9. Stages of meiosis in animated gif format

1. Dominant and Recessive Characteristics - Characteristics in the left-hand column dominate over those characteristics listed in the right-hand column.
2. Dominant and Recessive Traits - a worksheet
3. Dragon Genetics. This activity explores the relationship between genotype and phenotype, using both sex-linked and autosomal dominant and recessive traits. By manipulating alleles (genotype), you create corresponding changes in the dragon's physical appearance (phenotype).
4. Greenomes - laboratory and bioinformatics exercises to introduce students to modern plant genetics
5. Heredity and Genetics - Determining Your Genes
6. Human Genetics – a PowerPoint show on dominant and recessive traits by Timothy G. Standish, Ph. D.
7. Learning Activity - students pair off and work with a normal male and female karyotype
8. Mendel's Peas Web Lab - The Princess and the Wrinkled Peas.
9. Mendel's Monohybrid Cross
10. Monohybrid Cross Problem Set - The following problems have multiple choice answers. Correct answers are reinforced with a brief explanation. Incorrect answers are linked to tutorials to help solve the problem.
11. Monohybrid Cross - an interesting interactive site
12. Model For A Monohybrid Cross Exhibiting Simple Dominance

1. Abiotic factors in a freshwater community - the non-living components that effect the living organisms
2. Abiotic factors in a freshwater community - how water conditions effect living organisms
3. Albuquerque 's Environmental Story - the natural environment, abiotic and biotic profiles
4. Biotic vs. Abiotic - from Regents Prep Living Environment section on Ecology
   1. Multiple choice quiz to follow up this topic [2 questions]
   2. Quizzes on other Ecology topics [also 2 questions each]
5. Consideration of Abiotic and Biotic factors
6. Ecology - Abiotic vs Biotic - a Quia quiz to help you practice differentiating between biotic and abiotic [10 questions]

1. Chapter 9 - Examples of mutualism and commensalism
2. Chapter 12 - Examples of parasitism
3. Interactions - Examples of parasitism, mutualism and commensalism and allelopathy
4. Mutualism and commensalism - simple definitions and a list of links to use
5. Symbiosis - background information on symbiosis, mutualism, commensalism, and parasitism
6. Symbiosis and Commensalism from the Sea Slug Forum
7. Types of ecological interactions - this show has a large number of images

1. Animation of Earth's yearly revolution around the sun - In order to illustrate how much sunlight different parts of Earth receive through the year, this model shows our planet much larger and closer to the sun than it actually is.
2. Do Shadows Change With The Seasons? - a worksheet to print and use with your class
3. How Does Sunrise and Sunset Change with the Seasons? - a worksheet to print and use with your class
   1. Closure activity to use with the seasons lesson plan
4. Observe seasonal changes in the amount of sunlight reaching locations on Earth - This animation shows a satellite view of Earth every day for a year. Examine the sunlit side of the globe to recognize the continent of Australia and peninsulas and islands of Southeast Asia.
5. Reasons for the Seasons - includes some excellent illustrations
6. The Reasons for the Seasons – This lesson plan is actually three activities in one to be conducted over a three-day period (one day in the fall, one in the winter, and one in the spring).
7. Seasons - explanation from MSN Encarta
8. Seasons Reasons - What is the cause of the seasons? This explanation features an animation of the earth’s movement during a year. [careful, you may get seasick watching it!]
9. The Seasons - very good diagrams
10. What causes Earth’s seasons? - Our planet's tilt dictates cycle of spring and fall

1. Earth and Moon Matchup - phases and other earth/moon terms are in this Quia Quiz
2. Moon Phases Java Applet - Select "both" for the point of view and run the simulation to see the cause of moon phases. Stop the animation and use their chart to see the name of the moon phase.
3. Virtual Reality Moon Phase Pictures - You can view the phase of the Moon for any date and time [1800-2199 A.D.].
4. Phases of the Moon - a very good diagram and a listing of the phases in order.
5. Earth-Moon-Sun system with Moon phases animation - The Sun is to the right of the Earth and Moon. (The animation is near the bottom of this page)
6. Eclipses
   1. Animation of a Lunar Eclipse
   2. Animation of a Solar Eclipse - simultaneous animation of total, partial, and annular eclipses
   3. Mechanics of Lunar Eclipses - great diagrams | Lunar Eclipses occurring between 1999 and 2020
   4. Mechanics of Solar Eclipses - great diagrams | Solar Eclipses occurring between 1999 and 2020
   5. Moon and Sun - A solar eclipse composite photo
   6. Solar Eclipses through Space and Time - this 41 slide show is filled with information, images and movies
7. Moon Phase Calendar - shows the moon phases for each day of the current month.
8. Moon Phases - Excel workbook to use with interactive whiteboard or projection - let students drag phases to the correct position
9. Phases of the Moon Quiz
10. Phases of the Moon Activity (from Newton's Apple)
11. Phases of the Moon - from Harcourt School (short, simple, well done)
12. Moon Phase Applet - use this page to see the phases of the moon for an entire year (from 1973 to 2107)
13. The Phases of the Moon - from Enchanted Learning
14. Phases of the Moon - This is one of the best animations for explaining moon phases. (from the Science Alberta Foundation)
15. Put the Moon's Phases in Correct Order - a Quia quiz
16. What Our Moon Looks Like During a Complete Lunar Cycle - from the Astronomy Picture of the Day
17. Phases of the moon from Earth and space - For each phase, examine how the view from Earth is related to the view from space.
18. Worksheet to use with Moon Phases - One sheet gives students places to draw and name the phase, the other worksheet asks students to identify positions of the moon and earth in relation to the sun for each of the eight phases

1. Acid Rain - from the US Environmental Protection Agency
2. Ozone Depletion - from the US Environmental Protection Agency
3. Global Warming - from the US Environmental Protection Agency
4. Toxic Air Pollutants - from the US Environmental Protection Agency

1. Animation showing how coal (nonrenewable) forms
2. Classify Resources - Click on Resource ID in the yellow Activities box to take a quiz.
3. Diagram Listing Energy Types - Caution: None of the links on this page work, but the diagram is really good.
4. Energy Kids - energy facts about various forms of renewable and nonrenewable energy sources
5. National Renewable Energy Laboratory
6. Natural Resources - Can We Use Them Forever?
7. Renewable and Nonrenewable Resources – a quiz written by Kathy Tucker
8. Renewable Energy and You - some things that everyone should know about renewable energy
9. Renewable Energy Fact Sheets - there is a section of fact sheets for kids and one for adults
10. Renewable Energy Policy Project - from the Center for Renewable Energy and Sustainable Technology
11. Renewable Energy vs. Fossil Fuels - Suggestion: create a Pro and Con list for each energy source. That will give you a a way to compare the various energy resources.
12. Renewable Energy Web Links - from the Texas Solar Energy Society (whose slogan is, “The Solution Comes Up Every Morning!”).
13. Renewable Resources in Saskatchewan - a long set of web links to use with the topic
14. Virtual Field Trips - In this investigation, you'll take virtual field trips to several protected places. Explore the Web site of each place to discover the unique features that make it worth protecting.