Course Outline: 7th Grade Project-Based Science 2010-11
How is all life related?
SKB, KS, Orinda Intermediate School 8.20.2010
I. Introduction.
Mini Poster Project: How will 7th gr. science get you to your future?
Survey: How will your curiosity, science skills and knowledge change over the year?
II. The “Grow Food” Project.
Investigation: What is alive in compost? How can we tell? What do living things need?
Objective, subjective, quantitative and qualitative observations.
Brainstorm & research: What do plants need? What are problems with growing plants
around here? What do we need to find out? What crops will grow in fall round here?
Investigation: What exactly is ‘dirt’? How does it affect plant growth?
Outside: How can you amend ordinary dirt to make it grow food?
Project management for making a meal and growing food.
Home-Grown Food Project: Grow something to eat! Which farming practice works best?
Farming practices and gardening skills to maximize plant growth and food production.
Scientific Survey: Design a taste test of organic, home-grown and regular foods.
III. The needs of life, cells and the start of life
How do you see cells? How big are they? How different are they?
Investigations: Find and identify microscopic life in pond scum, dirt and ‘alien slime’.
Review life’s needs, hallmarks, including energy needs and respiration.
How do plant and animal cells meet the needs of life?
Model making: Prokaryote, eukaryote, plant and animal candy cells.
Simulation game: The lollipop factory ‘cell’.
How & when did life evolve?
How is life classified into kingdoms? Where do we fit?
IV. How do microbes affect us? Epidemiology unit.
Patterns of disease in the past and now.
Using scientific problem-solving to make life better: The Pellagra Story
Protists, bacteria and viruses – what are they? How do they affect us?
Microscope Research: Identify microbes under the microscope.
How infectious epidemics spread, and how they can be stopped, especially the ‘flu.
Agar Plate Investigations: Where are the dirtiest places? What are the best ways to
clean up pathogens?
Why don’t we get sick all the time? The ‘flu and your immune system.
The discovery and use of antibiotics. Evolution of antibiotic resistance.
How are new drugs developed and tested on people?
Evaluating health claims and reliable websites.
Simulations: The placebo effect. Infectious epidemic ‘game’.
PowerPoint Project: Research and educate others about a disease you choose.
V. The Take Action Project
How are we connected to nature?
What world problems do YOU want to fix?
What could you DO that would work AND be fun?
Use your project management skills and science knowledge and skills to make the world a
better place! We’ll show you, guide you and let you go at it.
VI. How are we related to each other? Genetics, Reproduction and HIV.
Variation, nature and nurture.
Sexual and asexual reproduction.
Project: Trace a trait through your family tree.
From egg to adult in humans and animal comparisons.
Sex and Risk – HIV trends, science of HIV. Orinda risk stories, decision making
Dissection: Find how plants reproduce sexually with the flower dissection.
Ethics Debate: The pros and cons of science ethical issues in the news. TBA.
VI. How are we related to all life ecologically? Biodiversity unit.
Review what affects biodiversity.
What is a species? What isn’t?
Learn to use field guides to do a better estimate of local biodiversity.
Survey local biodiversity at school, home. What affects local biodiversity?
Class Challenge: Make a local food web from home species observations and research.
Where does our food come from?
What species do we eat? Survey the biodiversity of groceries.
What is happening to biodiversity? Why? How will that affect us? What can we do?
Photo Assignment: Stalk an animal in it’s natural habitat. Take a beautiful picture. Find
out about it and make it part of a local food web of yarn.
Powerpoint for TAP: Research and present a science related issue you care about. Pick
an issue to take informed and effective action on.
VII. How are we related to all life through evolution?
How are we related to other primates? Compare behavior and skulls to make a cladogram.
How are we related to other vertebrates?
Compare embryos and proteins to find more evidence for evolution.
Observe and infer relationships from fossils.
Has biodiversity changed over time? Learn about the history of life.
Who was Charles Darwin and what did he have to say?
How did life change over time? Natural selection games.
Simulations: Natural selection games.
Strip of Time Project: to show the history of life and see how long we’ve been here.
Dissection: Compare our arm to chicken wings for evidence of relatedness.
Dog Day: Compare our anatomy to dog anatomy and see where we all fit on a cladogram.
Photo Assignment: Take a picture of your favorite animal. How close is it related to us?
TAP Poster: Show you made a difference with a Take Action Project poster for Open
House
VIII. The Pathway to Perception - Light and optics unit.
How does light travel?
Bending light, how your eyes work.
Causes, prevention and correction of vision problems.
Evolution of eyes.
Is seeing believing? What affects your perception? Optical illusions.
Light box investigations: The law of reflection, refraction, correcting vision.
Photo Assignment: Snap an unusual example of reflection, refraction and optical illusions.