Grade: 7th

26 Feb 2021

Stream Health

August-June

The health of a stream can be assessed in several different ways.  Students will perform chemical, physical, and biological studies of a local Greenacres stream, and make conclusions about stream health and impacts of human activity on surface waters.

Ohio Science Standards:

  • SWK Grade 6-8: Science is a way of knowing about the world around us based on evidence from experimentation and observations.
  • SWK Grade 6-8: Science is a continual process and the body of scientific knowledge continues to grow and change.

NGSS Standards:

  • MS-PS1-2. Analyze and interpret data on the properties of substances before and after the substances interact to determine if a chemical reaction has occurred.
  • MS-ESS3-1. Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for how the uneven distributions of Earth’s mineral, energy, and groundwater resources are the result of past and current geoscience processes.
  • MS-ESS3-3. Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment.

Vocabulary:

biological, physical, chemical, pH, turbidity, dissolved oxygen, macroinvertebrate

Video Introduction: CLICK HERE for a video with a Greenacres educator

26 Feb 2021

Energy Flow in Nature

August-June

Energy is constantly moving in and through an ecosystem.  Students will conduct a survey of stream, field, and forest habitats at Greenacres and learn about the interrelationships between the organisms that they have observed as well as the movements of matter and energy throughout the ecosystem.

Ohio Science Standards:

  • LS Grade 7: Matter is transferred continuously between one organism to another and between organisms and their physical environments.
  • LS Grade 7: Energy can be transferred through a variety of ways.
  • LS Grade 7: In any particular biome, the number, growth and survival of organisms and populations depend on biotic and abiotic factors.

NGSS Standards:

  • MS-LS1-4. Use arguments based on empirical evidence and scientific reasoning to support an explanation for how characteristic animal behaviors and specialized plant structures affect the probability of successful reproduction of animals and plants respectively.
  • MS-LS1-6. Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for the role of photosynthesis in the cycling of matter and flow of energy into and out of organisms
  • MS-LS2-2. Construct an explanation that predicts patterns of interactions among organisms across multiple ecosystems.
  • MS-LS2-4. Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations.

Vocabulary:

food web, carnivore, omnivore, herbivore, ecosystem, population dynamics

Introduction: CLICK HERE for a poster from  a Greenacres educator

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