7th Grade Science

Course Overview:

The GMS science curriculum emphasizes “Great Ideas in Science”, ideas that changed the way we understand the world.  Each year focuses on different content areas and includes a “History of Science” unit that traces our understanding of a concept from ancient times to the present.

8^th grade science emphasizes the structure and organization of life and matter, zooming in from the macroscopic scale of the human body to the progressively smaller scales of body systems, organs, cells, molecules, and finally atoms.  We place particular emphasis on how each topic relates to the student herself, and how her choices affect her health and well-being.  The year starts with an overview of the human body and its systems, and then focuses in depth on the brain and nervous system and nutrition and the digestive system.  From here we move to the study of cells and genetics.  This leads to an understanding of traits and variations within species, which finishes with a brief look at how species evolve.  We finish the year by shrinking the scale of our study to matter, the elements of the periodic table, and the structure of atoms.

Course Goals:

By the end of their 8^th grade year, students will:

• View science as a means of understanding the world.
• Understand how choices they make affect their health and well-being.
• Have the knowledge and skills to excel in high school science.

Course Content

Human Body Systems

• Essential Questions: How is the human body organized?
• Major Topics: 12 systems of the human body
• Project: Body System teaching poster

Digestion and Nutrition

• Essential Questions: Why do we eat? Why does what we eat matter? What happens to food after it enters our mouths?
• Major Topics: Nutrition - Nutrients, Calories, Food Groups and Food Pyramid. Digestion - Gastrointestinal Tract, physical vs. chemical digestion
• Projects: Food Logs/Nutritional Analysis, Nutrient Testing, Calorimeter lab, GI Tract illustration, Digestion lab

Brain and Nervous System

• Essential Questions: How do the brain and nervous system work? What affects or alters the natural processes of the brain and nervous system?
• Major Topics: Brain, Neurons, Senses, Learning
• Labs/Projects: Modeling the brain and neurons, Blood-Brain Barrier, Effects of Drugs, Sleep-Learning Experiment

Cells

• Essential Questions: What are cells? What roles do they play in our bodies?
• Major Topics: Cell Theory, Structure and Functions of Cells, Cell Division
• Labs/Projects: Microscope Work, Cell Model, Cell Analogy PowerPoint, DNA molecule model, DNA extraction

Genetics

• Essential Questions: What makes us who we are? How are traits passed on?
• Major Topics: Traits and variations, Heredity, Dominant and Recessive Genes
• Labs/Projects: DNA replication, Family Pedigrees, genetics "aliens"

Evolution

• Essential Questions: How do species change over time?
• Major Topics: Mutations, Natural Selection

Independent Research Project

• Essential Questions: Student poses a question to research
• Major Topics: Student chooses a topic related to cells, genetics, and/or evolution, extending knowledge beyond what we learn in class.
• Labs/Projects: Student has a variety of options for presenting information including science fair poster, PowerPoint presentation, web page, video, game, etc.

Chemistry

• Essential Questions: What is the structure of matter? How do we organize elements? what do atoms "look like"? What happens during a chemical reaction?
• Major Topics: Matter, Elements and the Periodic Table, Chemical Reactions and Balancing Chemical Equations, Structure of Atoms
• Labs/Projects: Oobleck, Periodic Table of..., Atom Models, Chemical Reactions

Textbooks/Resources:

The curriculum we use was developed by the Human Biology Department at Stanford University, specifically for middle school students. It is very hands-on and relates directly to what is going in their own bodies, making the information intrinsically interesting and accessible to them. The curriculum consists of a small textbook for each unit. The four that we use are:

• Digestion and Nutrition
• Lives of Cells
• Genetics
• Nervous System

B.S., Geological Engineering, Colorado School of Mines
M.S., Structural Engineering, Stanford

Laura worked six years in the aerospace industry and nine years in the classroom before joining GMS as a founding faculty member.