What Ontario grade 7 students learn in science and technology

Your child will be able to use a step-by-step scientific process to do experiments and investigations.

Your child will be able to use a scientific method to do experiments and investigations.

Your child will be able to use an engineering design process to plan, create, and test different devices, models, structures, or systems.

Your child will understand how to follow safety rules during science experiments, including wearing the right protective gear and using tools and materials carefully.

Your child will be able to share their scientific discoveries and ideas using words and methods that make sense for different people and situations.

Your child will be able to write and use computer code to explore scientific ideas and create models, focusing on planning and designing their programs.

Your child will be able to explain how computer coding and new technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) affect daily life, including different jobs and trades.

Your child will learn how science and technology are used in different jobs, including skilled trades, to solve real-world problems.

Your child will look at how science and technology can team up with other school subjects to help solve problems we face in the real world.

Your child will learn that people from many different backgrounds and cultures have helped create the science and technology we use today.

Your child will be able to understand how different technologies affect the environment, both positively and negatively.

Your child will be able to figure out how well different actions work to lessen the bad things people do to the environment and improve the good things.

Your child will learn how different Indigenous groups in Canada have traditionally cared for the environment and how their ways of thinking can help us live more sustainably today.

Your child will learn that an ecosystem is a community where living things like plants and animals interact with each other and their surroundings, such as water, air, and soil.

Your child will be able to identify living (biotic) and non-living (abiotic) parts of an ecosystem and understand how they interact with each other.

Your child will be able to explain how living things in an ecosystem depend on each other, like how plants (producers) make their own food, animals (consumers) eat plants or other animals, and decomposers (like bacteria and fungi) break down dead things.

Your child will be able to explain how energy moves from one living thing to another in a food chain, and understand what happens if any part of that chain is changed.

Your child will learn how materials like water and nutrients move through the environment in a continuous cycle, and how this natural recycling process helps keep our planet healthy and balanced.

Your child will be able to explain the difference between how life returns to an area where there was no life before (primary succession) and an area where life was present but was disturbed (secondary succession).

Your child will be able to explain how living things (biotic factors) and non-living things (abiotic factors) in an environment control how many plants and animals can live there.

Your child will learn how different ways of farming and gathering food from nature can affect an ecosystem. They will also understand how to use strategies to help keep these ecosystems healthy or bring them back into balance.

Your child will be able to understand how the materials used in electronics and other devices affect our world, both close to home and globally, from when they are made to when they are thrown away.

Your child will be able to explain how different ways of separating mixtures in industry can affect the environment and people.

Your child will understand that all matter is made up of tiny particles too small to see, and these particles are always moving.

Your child will be able to use the particle theory (which says that all matter is made of tiny particles) to tell the difference between pure substances and mixtures.

Your child will be able to tell the difference between two kinds of mixtures: homogeneous mixtures, where everything is evenly mixed (like sugar in water), and heterogeneous mixtures, where you can still see the different parts (like a salad).

Your child will learn how the tiny particles that make up substances explain why some things dissolve better or faster than others.

Your child will be able to explain what makes a solution saturated (meaning it can't dissolve any more of a substance) or unsaturated (meaning it can still dissolve more), and describe how much of a substance is dissolved in both cases.

Your child will be able to explain why water is called the "universal solvent," meaning it can dissolve many different substances.

Your child will learn about different ways to separate mixtures, like salt and water, back into their original parts, and understand how these methods are used in everyday life.

Your child will learn that pure substances are made of only one type of material, which can be either an element (like gold) or a compound (like water), and that these are all built from tiny particles called atoms.

Your child will learn to think about how building things like houses or bridges affects the environment, the people living there, and the cost, so that these structures meet the needs of individuals and communities.

Your child will learn how the design of tools, objects, and workspaces affects a person's health, safety, and how well they can do their job. They will also be able to suggest improvements for their own spaces and activities based on this understanding.

Your child will be able to tell the difference between different kinds of structures, like solid structures (think of a brick wall), frame structures (like a house frame), and shell structures (like an eggshell).

Your child will be able to explain how the center of gravity (the point where an object's weight is evenly balanced) of a structure impacts how stable it is.

Your child will be able to identify how strong a force is, the direction it's pushing or pulling, where it's being applied on a structure, and the flat surface it's acting upon.

Your child will learn how symmetry is used in buildings and other structures, and be able to find examples of symmetry in different structures.

Your child will learn about the different things that can make a building or other structure break or fall apart.

Your child will be able to figure out what materials are best to use when making a product or building something, based on what the item needs to do.

Your child will learn about how engineers and other experts make sure buildings and other structures are safe, and how they keep them safe over time.

Your child will be able to explain how technologies that prevent heat from escaping or entering buildings can benefit both people and the environment.

Your child will be able to understand how using different energy sources, like fossil fuels or solar power, affects our society, economy, and environment, including how they contribute to climate change.

Your child will be able to use the particle theory (which says that all matter is made of tiny particles that are always moving) to explain how heat changes the way these particles move in solids, liquids, and gases.

Your child will learn about the different ways heat is made, like from the sun, friction, or burning things.

Your child will learn how heat affects the size of solids, liquids, and gases, and how this relates to things like ice melting or water boiling.

Your child will learn how heat moves through objects by touching them (this is called conduction) and understand how this process happens in nature.

Your child will learn how heat moves through liquids and gases, like water or air, in a process called convection. They will also understand how convection causes natural events like weather patterns.

Your child will learn how the sun's heat travels to Earth through radiation (energy moving in waves) and how different surfaces on Earth are affected by this heat.

Your child will learn about how radiation helps heat and cool the Earth, and how greenhouse gases in the atmosphere can affect this process.

Your child will learn about the main things that create greenhouse gases, including those caused by people. They will also understand how humans can lessen the amount of these gases released into the air.