Standards are the floor. Mastery and understanding are the goal.

Explore how each subject becomes a coherent sequence of knowledge, reasoning, practice, and transfer—not a disconnected checklist.

Grade 7 Science

18 curriculum outcomes with explicit teaching progressions

Select a record to inspect its progression

Ecosystems · MS-LS2-1

Analyze how resource availability affects organisms and populations

Independently analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for cause-and-effect relationships between resource availability and both the growth of individual organisms and the size of populations in an ecosystem during periods of abundant and scarce resources. across representations and contexts.

Component progression

  1. 1I can identify which resource in a data set, such as water, food, sunlight, or space, is limiting organism growth or population size during a specified time period.
  2. 2I can compare organism-growth and population data across periods of resource abundance and periods of resource scarcity to find a pattern.
  3. 3I can use the identified data pattern to construct a claim, supported by evidence, that explains how resource availability caused the observed change in individual growth or population size.
Ecosystems · MS-LS2-2

Predict patterns of organism interactions across ecosystems

Independently construct an explanation that predicts consistent patterns of competitive, predatory, and mutually beneficial interactions among organisms, and between organisms and abiotic components, across multiple ecosystems. across representations and contexts.

Component progression

  1. 1I can classify a described interaction between organisms as competitive, predatory, or mutually beneficial based on its effect on each organism involved.
  2. 2I can compare examples of the same interaction type, such as competition or predation, occurring in different ecosystems to identify what makes the pattern consistent.
  3. 3I can construct an explanation that uses an identified interaction pattern to predict how organisms in an unfamiliar ecosystem will likely interact.
Ecosystems · MS-LS2-3

Model matter cycling and energy flow in an ecosystem

Independently develop a model that defines an ecosystem's boundaries and describes how matter cycles and energy flows among producers, consumers, and decomposers and between the living and nonliving parts of the system, consistent with conservation of matter. across representations and contexts.

Component progression

  1. 1I can define the boundaries of an ecosystem model and identify its living parts, including producers, consumers, and decomposers, and its nonliving parts.
  2. 2I can model how matter, including nutrients released by decomposition, cycles repeatedly among the living and nonliving parts of the ecosystem.
  3. 3I can model how energy flows into the ecosystem from the sun and moves in one direction through producers, consumers, and decomposers, distinguishing this flow from matter cycling.
Ecosystems · MS-LS2-4

Argue from evidence how ecosystem changes affect populations

Independently construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that a change to a physical or biological component of an ecosystem affects one or more populations, using patterns in data to make a warranted inference. across representations and contexts.

Component progression

  1. 1I can identify a described change to a physical or biological component of an ecosystem and the population or populations it could plausibly affect.
  2. 2I can recognize a pattern in empirical population data that suggests a relationship between the ecosystem change and a shift in population size.
  3. 3I can construct an argument, supported by the empirical evidence and pattern identified, that explains how the ecosystem change affected the population.
Ecosystems · MS-LS2-5

Evaluate design solutions for biodiversity and ecosystem services

Independently evaluate competing design solutions for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services, such as water purification, nutrient recycling, or prevention of soil erosion, against scientific, economic, and social constraints. across representations and contexts.

Component progression

  1. 1I can identify the criteria and constraints, including scientific, economic, and social considerations, relevant to a design solution for maintaining biodiversity or an ecosystem service.
  2. 2I can evaluate how well one proposed design solution meets the identified biodiversity or ecosystem-service criteria and constraints.
  3. 3I can compare multiple competing design solutions against the same criteria and constraints and justify which one best maintains biodiversity or ecosystem services.
Heredity · MS-LS3-1

Model how gene mutations affect proteins and traits

Independently develop and use a model to describe why a structural change (mutation) to a gene located on a chromosome may result in a different protein being produced, and why that change can have a harmful, beneficial, or neutral effect on the organism's structure and function. across representations and contexts.

Component progression

  1. 1I can model how a gene located on a chromosome directs the production of a specific protein that affects an organism's traits.
  2. 2I can model how a structural change, or mutation, to a gene can result in a different protein being produced.
  3. 3I can use a model to describe why a resulting protein change could have a harmful, beneficial, or neutral effect on the organism's structure and function.
Heredity · MS-LS3-2

Model how reproduction type determines genetic variation

Independently develop and use a model, such as a punnett square, diagram, or simulation, to describe why asexual reproduction results in offspring with genetic information identical to a single parent, while sexual reproduction, in which offspring inherit a random combination of genes from two parents, results in genetic variation. across representations and contexts.

Component progression

  1. 1I can model why asexual reproduction, involving a single parent, results in offspring with genetic information identical to the parent.
  2. 2I can use a model such as a punnett square to describe how each parent contributes half of the genes acquired at random by offspring during sexual reproduction.
  3. 3I can use a model to describe why the random combination of genes from two parents during sexual reproduction results in genetic variation among offspring.
Evolution · MS-LS4-1

Analyze fossil-record patterns of life's history

Independently analyze and interpret data on the chronological order of fossil appearance in rock layers to find patterns of increasing complexity, diversity, extinction, and change in life forms over time, under the assumption that the natural laws operating today also operated in the past. across representations and contexts.

Component progression

  1. 1I can use the position of fossils within rock layers to determine their chronological order of appearance.
  2. 2I can analyze chronologically ordered fossil data to identify a pattern of increasing anatomical complexity or changing diversity of life forms over time.
  3. 3I can interpret fossil-record data patterns as evidence for the existence, diversity, extinction, and change of life forms, assuming natural laws operating today also applied in the past.
Evolution · MS-LS4-2

Infer evolutionary relationships from anatomical evidence

Independently apply scientific ideas to construct an explanation for the anatomical similarities and differences in the gross appearance of structures among modern organisms, and between modern and fossil organisms, to infer their evolutionary relationships. across representations and contexts.

Component progression

  1. 1I can compare the gross appearance of anatomical structures among modern organisms to identify similarities and differences.
  2. 2I can compare the gross appearance of anatomical structures between modern organisms and fossil organisms to identify similarities and differences.
  3. 3I can apply scientific ideas about common ancestry to construct an explanation for how anatomical similarities and differences indicate evolutionary relationships among organisms.
Evolution · MS-LS4-3

Compare embryological development to infer relationships

Independently analyze displays of pictorial data to compare patterns of similarity in the gross appearance of embryological development across multiple species, and use those patterns to infer relationships among species that are not evident in their fully formed anatomy. across representations and contexts.

Component progression

  1. 1I can read a display of pictorial data to identify the stages and gross anatomical features shown in the embryological development of a species.
  2. 2I can compare patterns of similarity in embryological development, at corresponding stages, across multiple species.
  3. 3I can use identified patterns of embryological similarity to infer a relationship between species that is not evident by comparing their fully formed anatomy alone.
Evolution · MS-LS4-4

Explain how trait variation affects survival probability

Independently construct an explanation, based on evidence and using simple probability statements and proportional reasoning, that describes how genetic variation of a trait within a population increases some individuals' probability of surviving and reproducing in a specific environment. across representations and contexts.

Component progression

  1. 1I can identify a genetic trait that varies among individuals within a population in a specific environment.
  2. 2I can use simple probability statements and proportional reasoning to compare how a trait variant affects an individual's probability of surviving and reproducing in that environment.
  3. 3I can construct an explanation, supported by evidence, for how the trait variation increases some individuals' probability of surviving and reproducing in the specific environment.
Evolution · MS-LS4-6

Use mathematical representations to explain trait-frequency change

Independently use mathematical representations, probability statements, and proportional reasoning, without applying hardy-weinberg calculations, to support explanations of how natural selection leads specific traits to increase or decrease in frequency within a population over time. across representations and contexts.

Component progression

  1. 1I can represent trait-frequency data for a population over time using a table, graph, or proportion.
  2. 2I can analyze a mathematical representation of trait-frequency data to identify a trend of increase or decrease over time.
  3. 3I can use the identified mathematical trend, supported by probability statements and proportional reasoning, to explain how natural selection produced the change in trait frequency.
Earth Systems · MS-ESS2-1

Model the cycling of Earth's materials and energy flow

Independently develop a model that describes how melting, crystallization, weathering, deformation, and sedimentation act together to cycle earth's materials into rocks, driven by the flow of energy from the sun and earth's interior. across representations and contexts.

Component progression

  1. 1I can identify melting, crystallization, weathering, deformation, and sedimentation as processes that act on earth's materials.
  2. 2I can model how the identified processes act together to transform earth's materials into rocks.
  3. 3I can model how energy flowing from the sun and earth's hot interior drives the continuous cycling of earth's materials.
Earth Systems · MS-ESS2-2

Explain how geoscience processes change Earth's surface across scales

Independently construct an explanation, based on evidence, for how geoscience processes such as plate motion, weathering, and deposition by water, ice, and wind change earth's surface at varying time and spatial scales, including gradual change punctuated by catastrophic events like earthquakes, volcanoes, and meteor impacts. across representations and contexts.

Component progression

  1. 1I can identify a geoscience process that changes earth's surface and classify whether it typically acts at a large or small time and spatial scale.
  2. 2I can distinguish evidence of gradual geoscience change from evidence of a catastrophic event that punctuates it.
  3. 3I can construct an explanation, based on evidence, for how one or more geoscience processes changed a specific earth surface feature over time.
Earth Systems · MS-ESS2-3

Analyze evidence of past plate motions

Independently analyze and interpret data on the distribution of matching fossil and rock types across continents, the shapes of continents including continental shelves, and the locations of seafloor structures such as ridges, fracture zones, and trenches, to provide evidence of past plate motions. across representations and contexts.

Component progression

  1. 1I can analyze data showing matching fossil and rock types found on the coastlines of different continents.
  2. 2I can analyze data on continental shapes, including continental shelves, and the locations of seafloor structures such as ridges, fracture zones, and trenches.
  3. 3I can interpret the fossil, rock, continental-shape, and seafloor-structure data together as evidence that continents have moved over time due to plate motion.
Engineering Design · MS-ETS1-3

Combine the best features of tested design solutions

Independently analyze data from tests of several design solutions to determine their similarities and differences, and identify the best characteristics of each solution that can be combined into a new solution that better meets the criteria for success. across representations and contexts.

Component progression

  1. 1I can analyze data from tests of several design solutions to determine their similarities and differences.
  2. 2I can identify which characteristic of each tested design solution performed best against the criteria for success.
  3. 3I can combine the best-performing characteristics from multiple design solutions into a new solution that better meets the criteria for success.
Computer Science · EEP-CS.7

Analyze data and computational models

Independently collect, transform, visualize, and interpret data while evaluating the limits of a computational model across representations and contexts.

Component progression

  1. 1I can explicitly teach and model how to clean and transform a documented data set using a concrete computing example.
  2. 2I can analyze how to choose a visualization that supports an accurate comparison using a traced example or representation.
  3. 3I can independently explain what a computational model captures, omits, and may bias in a new computing context and explain the evidence that the solution works.
Ai Literacy · EEP-AI.7

Design effective learning conversations with AI

Independently use iterative questions, constraints, examples, and self-explanation to learn with ai without outsourcing the task across representations and contexts.

Component progression

  1. 1I can explicitly teach and model how to state a learning goal and ask for explanation at an appropriate level with an age-appropriate ai-use scenario.
  2. 2I can analyze how to use follow-up questions and examples to resolve confusion by comparing responsible and irresponsible choices.
  3. 3I can independently close the conversation by solving or explaining independently without ai in a new learning context while preserving the learner's own thinking and responsibility.
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