7th Grade Science Quarter 2 Curriculum Map 2020-2021
7th Grade Science Quarter 2 Curriculum Map 2020-2021
7th Grade Science Quarter 2 Curriculum Map 2020-2021
Shelby County Schools’ vision of science education is to ensure that from early childhood to the end of the 12 th grade, all students have heightened curiosity and an increased
wonder of science; possess sufficient knowledge of science and engineering to engage in discussions; are able to learn and apply scientific and technological information in their
everyday lives; and have the skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, and communication to enter careers of their choice, while having access to connections to science,
engineering, and technology.
To achieve this, Shelby County Schools has employed The Tennessee Academic Standards for Science to craft meaningful curricula that is innovative and provide a myriad of
learning opportunities that extend beyond mastery of basic scientific principles.
Introduction
In 2014, the Shelby County Schools Board of Education adopted a set of ambitious, yet attainable goals for school and student performance. The District is committed to these
goals, as further described in our strategic plan, Destination 2025. In order to achieve these ambitious goals, we must collectively work to provide our students with high quality
standards aligned instruction. The Tennessee Academic Standards for Science provide a common set of expectations for what students will know and be able to do at the end of
each grade, can be located in the Tennessee Science Standards Reference. Tennessee Academic Standards for Science are rooted in the knowledge and skills that students need
to succeed in post-secondary study or careers. While the academic standards establish desired learning outcomes, the curricula provides instructional planning designed to help
students reach these outcomes. The curriculum maps contain components to ensure that instruction focuses students toward college and career readiness. Educators will use
this guide and the standards as a roadmap for curriculum and instruction. The sequence of learning is strategically positioned so that necessary foundational skills are spiraled in
order to facilitate student mastery of the standards.
Our collective goal is to ensure our students graduate ready for college and career. Being College and Career Ready entails, many aspects of teaching and learning. We want our
students to apply their scientific learning in the classroom and beyond. These valuable experiences include students being facilitators of their own learning through problem
solving and thinking critically. The Science and Engineering Practices are valuable tools used by students to engage in understanding how scientific knowledge develops. These
practices rest on important “processes and proficiencies” with longstanding importance in science education. The science maps contain components to ensure that instruction
focuses students toward understanding how science and engineering can contribute to meeting many of the major challenges that confront society today. The maps are
centered around five basic components: the Tennessee Academic Standards for Science, Science and Engineering Practices, Disciplinary Core Ideas, Crosscutting Concepts, and
Phenomena.
The Tennessee Academic Standards for Science were developed using the National Research Council’s 2012 publication, A Framework for K-12 Science Education as their
foundation. The framework presents a new model for science instruction that is a stark contrast to what has come to be the norm in science classrooms. Thinking about science
had become memorizing concepts and solving mathematical formulae. Practicing science had become prescribed lab situations with predetermined outcomes. The framework
proposes a three-dimensional approach to science education that capitalizes on a child’s natural curiosity. The Science Framework for K-12 Science Education provides the
blueprint for developing the effective science practices. The Framework expresses a vision in science education that requires students to operate at the nexus of three
dimensions of learning: Science and Engineering Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Disciplinary Core Ideas. The Framework identified a small number of disciplinary core ideas
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that all students should learn with increasing depth and sophistication, from Kindergarten through grade twelve. Key to the vision expressed in the Framework is for students to
learn these disciplinary core ideas in the context of science and engineering practices. The importance of combining Science and Engineering Practices, Crosscutting Concepts
and Disciplinary Core Ideas is stated in the Framework as follows:
Standards and performance expectations that are aligned to the framework must take into account that students cannot fully understand scientific and engineering ideas
without engaging in the practices of inquiry and the discourses by which such ideas are developed and refined. At the same time, they cannot learn or show competence in
practices except in the context of specific content. (NRC Framework, 2012, p. 218)
To develop the skills and dispositions to use scientific and engineering practices needed to further their learning and to solve problems, students need to experience instruction
in which they use multiple practices in developing a particular core idea and apply each practice in the context of multiple core ideas. We use the term “practices” instead of a
term such as “skills” to emphasize that engaging in scientific investigation requires not only skill but also knowledge that is specific to each practice. Students in grades K-12
should engage in all eight practices over each grade band. Crosscutting concepts have application across all domains of science. As such, they are a way of linking the different
domains of science. Crosscutting concepts have value because they provide students with connections and intellectual tools that are related across the differing areas of
disciplinary content and can enrich their application of practices and their understanding of core ideas. There are seven crosscutting concepts that bridge disciplinary
boundaries, uniting core ideas throughout the fields of science and engineering. Their purpose is to help students deepen their understanding of the disciplinary core ideas and
develop a coherent and scientifically based view of the world.
The map is meant to support effective planning and instruction to rigorous standards. It is not meant to replace teacher planning, prescribe pacing or instructional practice. In
fact, our goal is not to merely “cover the curriculum,” but rather to “uncover” it by developing students’ deep understanding of the content and mastery of the standards.
Teachers who are knowledgeable about and intentionally align the learning target (standards and objectives), topic, text(s), task, and needs (and assessment) of the learners are
best-positioned to make decisions about how to support student learning toward such mastery. Teachers are therefore expected--with the support of their colleagues, coaches,
leaders, and other support providers--to exercise their professional judgment aligned to our shared vision of effective instruction, the Teacher Effectiveness Measure (TEM) and
related best practices. However, while the framework allows for flexibility and encourages each teacher/teacher team to make it their own, our expectations for student
learning are non-negotiable. We must ensure all of our children have access to rigor—high-quality teaching and learning to grade level specific standards, including purposeful
support of literacy and language learning across the content areas.
At the end of the middle school science experience, students can discover relationships by making observations and by the systematic gathering of data. They can identify
relevant evidence and valid arguments. Their focus has shifted from the general to the specific and from the simple to the complex. They use scientific information to make
wise decision related to conservation of the natural world. They recognize that there are both negative and positive implications to new technologies. As an SCS graduate,
former students should be literate in science, understand key science ideas, aware that science and technology are interdependent human enterprises with strengths and
limitations, familiar with the natural world and recognizes both its diversity and unity, and able to apply scientific knowledge and ways of thinking for individual and social
purposes.
The map is meant to support effective planning and instruction to rigorous standards. It is not meant to replace teacher planning, prescribe pacing or instructional practice. In
fact, our goal is not to merely “cover the curriculum,” but rather to “uncover” it by developing students’ deep understanding of the content and mastery of the standards.
Teachers who are knowledgeable about and intentionally align the learning target (standards and objectives), topic, text(s), task, and needs (and assessment) of the learners are
best-positioned to make decisions about how to support student learning toward such mastery. Teachers are therefore expected--with the support of their colleagues, coaches,
leaders, and other support providers--to exercise their professional judgment aligned to our shared vision of effective instruction, the Teacher Effectiveness Measure (TEM) and
related best practices. However, while the framework allows for flexibility and encourages each teacher/teacher team to make it their own, our expectations for student
learning are non-negotiable. We must ensure all of our children have access to rigor—high-quality teaching and learning to grade level specific standards, including purposeful
support of literacy and language learning across the content areas.
7th Grade Science Quarter 2 Curriculum Map
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ESL Supports and Scaffolds
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