Grade 7 Science: how to help at home
What your child learns in Grade 7 science in the New Brunswick Curriculum, and simple things to try at home.
The Big Ideas this year
- Grade focus: Earth Surface Processes.
- Scientific Literacy: Investigation. Plan investigations to answer questions about relationships between and among variables observed in matter and Earth surface processes.
- Scientific Literacy: Sensemaking. Analyze and interpret qualitative and quantitative data to construct explanations and conclusions.
- Scientific Literacy: Communication. Communicate procedure, result, and conclusion using a variety of media and working collaboratively.
- Learning and Living Sustainably: Responsible and Sustainable Application. Apply scientific and technological knowledge and an understanding of sustainable practices responsibly with respect to matter and Earth surface processes.
Easy ways to practise science at home
- Turn everyday questions into investigations: “Which paper towel holds the most water?”
- Read a science news story together and ask what evidence it gives.
- Look up how a household machine works, such as a bike gear, a lamp or a fridge.
- Have your child draw and label a diagram of something they just learned.
What each unit covers
Ecosystems
Biotic and abiotic parts of an ecosystem, how they interact, and the limiting factors and carrying capacity that decide how many organisms an ecosystem can support.
Food Chains & Energy
Producers, consumers and decomposers, food chains and webs, how energy shrinks as it passes up a chain (about 10% each step), and what happens when part of a chain changes.
People & Ecosystems
How agriculture, harvesting and technologies affect ecosystems, such as monoculture, overfishing, invasive species and runoff, and ways to protect and restore balance. Includes reading simple data about an environmental measure.
Particles & Mixtures
The particle theory of matter, the states of matter, pure substances versus mixtures, and homogeneous versus heterogeneous mixtures.
Heat & Particles
Heat as energy linked to particle motion, temperature, expansion and contraction, changes of state, and the ways heat is generated (friction, electricity, burning, chemical reactions and the Sun).
Structures & Forces
Solid, frame and shell structures, centre of gravity and stability, symmetry, and the size, direction and point of application of forces, including tension, compression, torsion and shear.
Safe Structures
Why structures fail (overloading, fatigue, corrosion, freeze-thaw), choosing materials, how engineers assess and maintain safety, the engineering design process, and social, economic and environmental factors in design, including ergonomics.
Restless Earth
Earth's layers, plate tectonics, earthquakes and volcanoes, fossils in rock layers, and the order of major events in Earth's 4.6-billion-year history. Includes how First Nations oral histories and scientific evidence together date the great 1700 earthquake.
Natural Selection
Variation, inherited versus acquired traits, adaptations, and how natural selection changes populations over generations, with fossils and other evidence. Includes reading data from a predator–prey model.
What the report card levels look like at home
- Working below
- Just getting started with this idea. Short, regular practice with lots of support helps most.
- Approaching
- Understands parts of it and is building confidence. Keep practising the tricky parts.
- Meeting
- Has it! Mixed review now and then keeps it strong.
- Excelling
- Applies it confidently, even in new or harder situations. Try challenge mode and real-life problems.
Your child’s teacher decides the level on the report card. Read the New Brunswick report card guide.
Common questions
Turn everyday questions into investigations: “Which paper towel holds the most water?” Read a science news story together and ask what evidence it gives. Keep sessions short, about 10 to 15 minutes, and stop on a success.
The New Brunswick Curriculum Grade 7 science units include ecosystems, food chains & energy, people & ecosystems, particles & mixtures, heat & particles, structures & forces.
Free printable Grade 7 science practice sheet
Questions from every unit, with an answer key.