Grade 7 Science
11 units matched to the Nova Scotia Curriculum.
Learning focus
- Environmental Action. Learners will analyse particle theory in relation to substances in environments.
- Environmental Action. Learners will analyse the interconnectiveness of living things and the environment, in relation to the concept of Netukulimk.
- Environmental Action. Learners will investigate factors that affect species adaptation and evolution.
- Environmental Action. Learners will implement an environmental stewardship plan.
- Engineering Structures. Learners will test the strength and efficiency of shapes and materials used in construction.
- Engineering Structures. Learners will test various forces affecting structures.
- Engineering Structures. Learners will construct a structure in response to a design challenge.
- Geological Evolution. Learners will analyse how geographic features are formed and changed.
- Geological Evolution. Learners will analyse factors that affect coastline change.
Units
Unit 1
Ecosystems
Biotic and abiotic parts of an ecosystem, how they interact, and the limiting factors and carrying capacity that decide how many organisms an ecosystem can support.
Learning outcome: Environmental Action · ecosystems and the living things in them
Unit 2
Food Chains & Energy
Producers, consumers and decomposers, food chains and webs, how energy shrinks as it passes up a chain (about 10% each step), and what happens when part of a chain changes.
Learning outcome: Environmental Action · food chains and energy in an ecosystem
Unit 3
People & Ecosystems
How agriculture, harvesting and technologies affect ecosystems, such as monoculture, overfishing, invasive species and runoff, and ways to protect and restore balance. Includes reading simple data about an environmental measure.
Learning outcome: Environmental Action · how people affect ecosystems
Unit 4
Netukulimk & Interconnected Life
Practises how living things and their environment are connected: food webs, energy flow, populations, relationships and human impact. It includes Netukulimk, the Mi’kmaw approach of taking what is needed from the land and sea in a way that keeps everything healthy for the future. Indigenous content is light and will be reviewed with community partners.
Learning outcome: Environmental Action · food webs, producers, consumers, decomposers, relationships, human impact, Netukulimk and stewardship
Unit 5
Particles & Mixtures
The particle theory of matter, the states of matter, pure substances versus mixtures, and homogeneous versus heterogeneous mixtures.
Learning outcome: Environmental Action · particles and mixtures
Unit 6
Heat & Particles
Heat as energy linked to particle motion, temperature, expansion and contraction, changes of state, and the ways heat is generated (friction, electricity, burning, chemical reactions and the Sun).
Learning outcome: Environmental Action · heat and particles
Unit 7
Structures & Forces
Solid, frame and shell structures, centre of gravity and stability, symmetry, and the size, direction and point of application of forces, including tension, compression, torsion and shear.
Learning outcome: Engineering Structures · forces acting on structures
Unit 8
Safe Structures
Why structures fail (overloading, fatigue, corrosion, freeze-thaw), choosing materials, how engineers assess and maintain safety, the engineering design process, and social, economic and environmental factors in design, including ergonomics.
Learning outcome: Engineering Structures · designing structures that are safe and strong
Unit 9
Restless Earth
Earth's layers, plate tectonics, earthquakes and volcanoes, fossils in rock layers, and the order of major events in Earth's 4.6-billion-year history. Includes how First Nations oral histories and scientific evidence together date the great 1700 earthquake.
Learning outcome: Geological Evolution · Earth's changing crust, fossils and geological time
Unit 10
Natural Selection
Variation, inherited versus acquired traits, adaptations, and how natural selection changes populations over generations, with fossils and other evidence. Includes reading data from a predator–prey model.
Learning outcome: Geological Evolution · how living things change over time
Unit 11
Changing Coastlines
Practises how Nova Scotia’s coastlines are shaped by erosion and deposition, the tides of the Bay of Fundy, storm surges and sea-level rise, and how people protect the shore with salt marshes, dykes, living shorelines and seawalls.
Learning outcome: Geological Evolution · erosion, deposition, coastal landforms, tides, sea-level rise and ways to protect the coast
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