Courses

Alberta · Grade 7

Science 7

Alberta’s Grade 7 science course, from Interactions and Ecosystems to Planet Earth.

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Units
5
Lessons
34
Skills
100
Provincial exam
None
Official curriculum
Alberta Education

Unit by unit

Every skill in the course, numbered by unit.

Unit 1 · 20 skills

Interactions and Ecosystems

What living things need

  • How an environment supports life

    I can explain how a place meets a living thing's needs for nutrients, energy, moisture, habitat and gases.

    1.1

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  • Biotic and abiotic parts

    I can name an ecosystem's biotic and abiotic parts and describe how they affect each other.

    1.2

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  • How species depend on each other

    I can describe how two species depend on each other and the adaptations involved.

    1.3

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Humans and the environment

  • Changing human relationships with the land

    I can describe how people's ties to the land have changed over time and differ between cultures.

    1.4

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  • Human impacts and the needs behind them

    I can link a human impact on an ecosystem to the need or want behind it.

    1.5

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  • Environmental decisions and testable questions

    I can turn an environmental issue into a testable question that helps someone decide.

    1.6

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Energy in food webs

Cycles of matter

Monitoring a local environment

Making environmental decisions

  • Intended and unintended consequences

    I can name the intended and unintended consequences of a human activity, near and far.

    1.17

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  • Investigations that inform decisions

    I can explain how a scientific study helped people make an environmental decision.

    1.18

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  • Science's limits and Indigenous knowledge

    I can give an example of a limit of science and of what Indigenous knowledge adds.

    1.19

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  • Analyzing a local environmental issue

    I can weigh evidence on a local issue and choose an action, knowing its consequences.

    1.20

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The official wording · 20 outcomes
1.1
Investigate and describe relationships
1.2
the flow of energy and materials within an ecosystem
1.3
Investigate and describe relationships
1.4
relationships between humans and their environments
1.5
Investigate and describe relationships between humans and their environments
1.6
identify related issues and scientific questions
1.7
Trace and interpret the flow of energy
1.8
the flow of energy and materials within an ecosystem
1.9
interpret the flow of energy and materials within an ecosystem
1.10
materials within an ecosystem
1.11
Trace and interpret the flow of energy and materials
1.12
the flow of energy and materials
1.13
the flow of energy and materials within an ecosystem
1.14
Monitor a local environment
1.15
assess the impacts of environmental factors on the growth, health and reproduction of organisms
1.16
Monitor a local environment
1.17
the relationships among knowledge, decisions and actions
1.18
Describe the relationships among knowledge, decisions and actions in maintaining life-supporting environments
1.19
knowledge, decisions and actions in maintaining life-supporting environments
1.20
Describe the relationships among knowledge, decisions and actions

Key ideas

  1. An environment supports life when it meets five needs: nutrients, an energy source, moisture, suitable habitat and the exchange of gases, and a slough meets all five for a muskrat.

    Nutrients are the materials a body is built and repaired from, and the energy source powers everything it does.

  2. People are part of ecosystems, not outside them: an Edmonton family eats food grown in soil, breathes oxygen that plants released, and drinks tap water drawn from the North Saskatchewan River.

    A city looks separate from nature, with pavement, buildings and stores, but everything that keeps its people alive passes through ecosystems.

  3. Every organism in an ecosystem has one of three roles: producers make their own food from sunlight, consumers eat other organisms, and decomposers break down dead matter and wastes.

    Grasses, trees, mosses and algae are producers.

  4. Matter is never used up in an ecosystem, only moved: as fungi and bacteria break down a fallen aspen leaf, its nitrogen and other nutrients go into the soil, where roots take them up, and its carbon goes into the air as carbon dioxide, which new leaves take in the next spring.

    No new supply of atoms arrives from space; an ecosystem runs on the same matter for millions of years.

  5. A distribution pattern is where a species is found across a habitat: around a park slough, sedges and cattails grow in a band along the wet edge, while grasses and wild rose grow on the drier slope above.

    The factors that act on every organism, the biotic and abiotic ones, leave a trace in where things grow.

Watch out for

  • Thinking a living thing needs only food and water, and forgetting habitat and the exchange of gases.
  • Thinking humans are separate from nature rather than part of an ecosystem.
  • Thinking decomposers are unimportant, rather than recyclers that return materials.

Every skill’s key ideas, worked examples and checks are in MapleMind.Practise this unit

Unit 2 · 20 skills

Plants for Food and Fibre

Plants and people

  • Why ecosystems need plants

    I can explain the jobs plants do in an environment and what happens without them.

    2.1

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  • Plants for food and raw materials

    I can name plant sources of food and raw materials and identify grain crops with a key.

    2.2

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  • Medicines, herbs and other plant uses

    I can describe plant uses as herbs, medicines and fuel, and trace a product to its plants.

    2.3

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Natural and managed land

  • From natural to managed land

    I can describe a change from natural to managed land and show it in a table or graph.

    2.4

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  • Problems in keeping plants productive

    I can describe a long-term problem with irrigation or fertilizer and ask a question to study it.

    2.5

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Plant structures and processes

Plant adaptations

Plant reproduction

Increasing yields

  • Changing the environment to raise yields

    I can explain how changing one growing condition raises a crop's yield, and test it fairly.

    2.13

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  • Greenhouses and hydroponics

    I can explain how a greenhouse or a hydroponic system controls a plant's conditions.

    2.14

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Soil

Managing crops

The official wording · 20 outcomes
2.1
Investigate plant uses
2.2
Investigate plant uses
2.3
identify links among needs, technologies, products and impacts
2.4
identify links among needs, technologies, products and impacts
2.5
Investigate plant uses; and identify links among needs, technologies, products and impacts
2.6
Investigate life processes and structures of plants
2.7
life processes and structures of plants
2.8
interpret related characteristics and needs of plants in a local environment
2.9
related characteristics and needs of plants
2.10
interpret related characteristics and needs of plants in a local environment
2.11
Investigate life processes
2.12
related characteristics and needs of plants in a local environment
2.13
Analyze plant environments, and identify impacts of specific factors and controls
2.14
identify impacts of specific factors and controls
2.15
Analyze plant environments
2.16
identify impacts of specific factors and controls
2.17
the culture and use of living things as sources of food and fibre
2.18
impacts of specific factors and controls
2.19
relationships among human needs, technologies, environments
2.20
Identify and interpret relationships

Key ideas

  1. Plants are the producers at the base of almost every land food web: every animal in a grassland, from a grasshopper to a coyote, runs on energy that prairie grasses captured from sunlight.

    Remove the plants and there is nothing for the plant-eaters, and then nothing for the predators.

  2. A natural environment is shaped mostly by natural processes, such as a native fescue grassland or a boreal forest, while a managed environment is shaped by people, such as a canola field, a vegetable garden or a greenhouse.

    The difference is who decides what grows there.

  3. A flowering plant, such as a dandelion or canola, has four main parts with different jobs: the roots anchor it and absorb water and mineral nutrients, the stem supports it and links roots to leaves, the leaves make food, and the flower makes seeds.

    Most seed plants are flowering plants, but not all: conifers such as spruce and pine are seed plants that have no flowers and make their seeds in cones.

  4. Root systems vary with the environment: a dandelion's deep taproot reaches water far below the surface, while a clump of prairie grass spreads a mat of fibrous roots that soak up rain in the top layers of soil.

    A taproot is one thick main root going straight down, with smaller roots branching off.

  5. A seed is a tiny plant packed with food inside a protective coat: a soaked bean split open shows the embryo plant, with its first root and leaves, beside two large seed leaves that store food.

    The seed coat keeps the embryo from drying out or being damaged until conditions are right.

Watch out for

  • Thinking plants are just background scenery, when every other living thing in an ecosystem depends on what they do.
  • Thinking managed land, such as a park lawn or a wheat field, is natural because it is green and full of plants.
  • Thinking fertilizer is food for plants, when it adds mineral nutrients and the plant makes its own food in its leaves.

Every skill’s key ideas, worked examples and checks are in MapleMind.Practise this unit

Unit 3 · 21 skills

Heat and Temperature

Heat technologies

  • Heat technologies in the past

    I can describe a heat technology from the past, the need it met and the fuel it used.

    3.1

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  • From human needs to heat technologies

    I can trace how a human need led to a heat-related material or device.

    3.2

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  • Devices that make, move and remove heat

    I can name devices that make, move, control or remove heat, and say what each one is for.

    3.3

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  • Choices in using energy for heat

    I can name choices a family or a community makes about using energy for heat and hot water.

    3.4

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The nature of thermal energy

How heat travels

Natural heat sources

Controlling heat

  • Designing to control heat transfer

    I can judge designs that speed up or slow down heat transfer, and test one fairly.

    3.15

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  • Devices that respond to temperature

    I can explain how a thermometer, a bimetallic strip or a thermostat responds to temperature.

    3.16

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  • How heaters, furnaces and refrigerators work

    I can explain in general terms how a furnace or a refrigerator moves heat.

    3.17

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  • Problems in controlling thermal energy

    I can describe a problem with heat in a home, ask a testable question about it and suggest a fix.

    3.18

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Choosing heat technologies

  • Sources of heat and their impacts

    I can compare two sources of heat and defend one for a particular use.

    3.19

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  • Comparing technologies for heating and cooking

    I can compare the energy two cooking or heating technologies use, and their safety.

    3.20

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  • Consequences of energy use and conservation

    I can name a good and a bad consequence of energy use and a way to conserve energy.

    3.21

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The official wording · 21 outcomes
3.1
Illustrate and explain how human needs have led to technologies for obtaining and controlling thermal energy and to increased use of energy resources
3.2
how human needs have led to technologies for obtaining and controlling thermal energy
3.3
technologies for obtaining and controlling thermal energy
3.4
increased use of energy resources
3.5
Describe the nature of thermal energy and its effects on different forms of matter
3.6
using informal observations, experimental evidence and models
3.7
its effects on different forms of matter
3.8
experimental evidence and models
3.9
Describe the nature of thermal energy
3.10
the nature of thermal energy and its effects on different forms of matter
3.11
Describe the nature of thermal energy and its effects on different forms of matter
3.12
Describe the nature of thermal energy
3.13
Apply an understanding of heat and temperature in interpreting natural phenomena
3.14
interpreting natural phenomena and technological devices
3.15
Apply an understanding of heat and temperature
3.16
technological devices
3.17
Apply an understanding of heat and temperature in interpreting natural phenomena and technological devices
3.18
Apply an understanding of heat and temperature
3.19
Analyze issues related to the selection and use of thermal technologies
3.20
explain decisions in terms of advantages and disadvantages for sustainability
3.21
advantages and disadvantages for sustainability

Key ideas

  1. People have always used heat for four kinds of jobs: cooking food, keeping warm, making materials such as pottery and metal, and making machines move, and each job led to its own heat technologies.

    A heat technology is any way of getting heat and putting it where it is needed: a cooking fire, a stove, a kiln for pottery or the boiler of a steam engine.

  2. The particle model of matter has four parts: all matter is made of tiny particles, the particles are always moving, they attract each other, and there are spaces between them.

    These four ideas explain almost everything about heat in this unit.

  3. Conduction is heat passed from particle to particle as they bump into each other: in a metal spoon standing in hot soup, the fast-moving particles at the hot end bump their neighbours and pass energy along until the handle warms.

    Each particle stays in its place and vibrates; the energy travels, not the particles.

  4. Solar radiation is Earth's main source of thermal energy: sunlight absorbed by land and water warms them, and they warm the air above them.

    Nearly all the warmth at Earth's surface began as sunlight.

  5. To slow heat transfer, a design must deal with all three paths: insulation and trapped still air slow conduction and convection, and shiny surfaces reflect radiation.

    Heat escapes by whichever path is left open.

Watch out for

  • Thinking people in the past had no technologies for controlling heat.
  • Thinking particles stop moving when matter is cold.
  • Thinking particles travel from the hot end to the cold end in conduction, when only the energy is passed along.

Every skill’s key ideas, worked examples and checks are in MapleMind.Practise this unit

Unit 4 · 19 skills

Structures and Forces

Types of structures

Function and design

Forces on structures

Keeping structures standing

Properties of materials

Designing safe structures

The official wording · 19 outcomes
4.1
Describe and interpret different types of structures encountered in everyday objects, buildings, plants and animals
4.2
identify materials from which they are made
4.3
different types of structures encountered in everyday objects, buildings, plants and animals
4.4
Describe and interpret different types of structures
4.5
different types of structures encountered in everyday objects, buildings
4.6
Investigate and analyze forces within structures, and forces applied to them
4.7
forces applied to them
4.8
forces within structures
4.9
Investigate and analyze forces within structures
4.10
Describe and interpret different types of structures
4.11
Investigate and analyze forces within structures
4.12
Investigate and analyze forces within structures, and forces applied to them
4.13
Investigate and analyze the properties of materials used in structures
4.14
properties of materials used in structures
4.15
Investigate and analyze the properties of materials
4.16
the properties of materials used in structures
4.17
Demonstrate and describe processes used in developing, evaluating and improving structures
4.18
meet human needs with a margin of safety
4.19
processes used in developing, evaluating and improving structures

Key ideas

  1. A structure is anything with a definite shape that holds itself up and supports a load, whether people build it or it is part of nature: a chair, a bridge, a bird's nest and a tree are all structures.

    The load is whatever the structure must hold: its own weight, plus anything resting on it or pushing on it, such as a person on the chair, cars on the bridge, eggs in the nest or snow on the tree.

  2. Structures that share one function can have very different designs, because each must suit its own loads, materials, place and budget: a garden shed, a farmhouse, a big-box store and a hockey arena all need a roof, and each has a different one.

    The function is the job the structure must do, here keeping rain and snow off the people and things beneath.

  3. Mass is the amount of matter in an object, measured in grams and kilograms with a balance, and an object's mass stays the same wherever it is taken: a 2 kg bag of flour has a mass of 2 kg in Calgary, on a mountaintop or on the Moon.

    A balance compares the object with known masses, so it gives the same answer anywhere the two sides can be compared.

  4. A structure's point of failure is the place it gives way first, often a joint, its weakest member or its foundation, and its mode of failure is how it gives way: snapping, crushing, buckling, shearing, bending out of shape, twisting, tipping over or sinking.

    Point is where; mode is how.

  5. A material's strength is tested by loading a sample until it fails: the strength of a wooden strip is the largest load it carries before it snaps or stays bent out of shape.

    Load the sample a little at a time and record the load each time, so the last load before it failed is known.

Watch out for

  • Thinking any hollow object is a shell structure, when a shell must hold its shape with its thin outer layer.
  • Thinking there is one best design for each job, whatever the place, load or cost.
  • Thinking mass and weight are the same thing, when weight is the pull of gravity on a mass.

Every skill’s key ideas, worked examples and checks are in MapleMind.Practise this unit

Unit 5 · 20 skills

Planet Earth

Studying the Earth

Minerals

How rocks form

Alberta's changing rocks

Moving plates

Changing landforms

Fossils

Geological time

The official wording · 20 outcomes
5.1
Describe and demonstrate methods used in the scientific study of Earth
5.2
the scientific study of Earth
5.3
methods used in the scientific study of Earth
5.4
the characteristics of particular rocks
5.5
observing and interpreting its component materials
5.6
Describe and demonstrate methods used in the scientific study of Earth and in observing and interpreting its component materials
5.7
interpret and explain the characteristics of particular rocks
5.8
Identify evidence for the rock cycle
5.9
use the rock cycle concept
5.10
use the rock cycle concept to interpret and explain the characteristics of particular rocks
5.11
Investigate and interpret evidence of major changes in landforms
5.12
evidence of major changes in landforms
5.13
major changes in landforms
5.14
the rock layers that underlie them
5.15
Investigate and interpret evidence of major changes in landforms and the rock layers that underlie them
5.16
Describe, interpret and evaluate evidence from the fossil record
5.17
interpret and evaluate evidence from the fossil record
5.18
evidence from the fossil record
5.19
Describe, interpret and evaluate evidence
5.20
evaluate evidence from the fossil record

Key ideas

  1. Earth's surface changes in two ways: suddenly, in seconds to days, as in earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and landslides, and gradually, over thousands to millions of years, as rivers and glaciers wear the land away.

    Sudden and gradual describe how fast a change happens, not how big it ends up.

  2. A mineral is a solid that forms naturally, is not alive and was not made from living things, has a set chemical make-up, and has its particles arranged in an orderly pattern that shows as crystals: quartz, calcite and halite, the mineral of rock salt, are minerals.

    Each part of the definition rules something out.

  3. Rocks are sorted into three classes by how they formed: igneous rock formed from melted rock that cooled, sedimentary rock from sediment laid down and stuck together, and metamorphic rock from an existing rock changed by heat and pressure without melting.

    The class is the rock's history in one word.

  4. Three different processes wear down the land and build it up: weathering breaks rock into smaller pieces where it is, erosion carries the pieces away, and sedimentation lays them down somewhere else.

    Weathering happens in place: a boulder cracking on a mountainside is weathering.

  5. Continental drift is the idea that the continents were once joined and have slowly moved apart: in 1912 Alfred Wegener, a German scientist, proposed that a single supercontinent, Pangaea, began to split apart about 200 million years ago.

    The idea of moving continents had been suggested before, but Wegener was the first to set it out as a full scientific theory backed by evidence of several kinds.

Watch out for

  • Thinking gradual changes are too small to matter, when over thousands of years they carve valleys.
  • Thinking rocks and minerals are the same thing.
  • Thinking granite formed from sediment pressed together, when it cooled slowly from magma underground.

Every skill’s key ideas, worked examples and checks are in MapleMind.Practise this unit

The official curriculum

This page follows Alberta’s own curriculum for Science 7.

Science Program of Studies, Science 7Alberta Education · curriculum.learnalberta.ca · Read July 21, 2026

Strands

StrandOutcomesTaught in
Interactions and EcosystemsOutcomes 4Taught in Unit 1
Plants for Food and FibreOutcomes 4Taught in Unit 2
Heat and TemperatureOutcomes 4Taught in Unit 3
Structures and ForcesOutcomes 4Taught in Unit 4
Planet EarthOutcomes 4Taught in Unit 5

Study it in MapleMind

MapleMind teaches Science 7 one skill at a time. Each skill gets a short lesson, practice as you go and a check worth up to three stars. It remembers where you stopped.

Mathematics 31 in the MapleMind app on a tablet: its units, Unit 1 open, and the skills done so far with their starsMathematics 31 in the MapleMind app on a phone: its units, Unit 1 open, and the skills done so far with their stars
Pictured: Mathematics 31, another Alberta course, partway through Unit 1.

Practise it

Course Companion

Your year in one workbook

A fun way to keep Science 7 organized, get to know your child better and see early when they need a hand. Fill it in on a screen, or print it.

Pages
36
Fillable fields
1,645
Price
$4.99
See the Course Companion

Questions about Science 7

What is Science 7?

Alberta’s Grade 7 science course: 5 units and 100 skills, from Interactions and Ecosystems to Planet Earth.

What units are in Science 7?

1. Interactions and Ecosystems, 2. Plants for Food and Fibre, 3. Heat and Temperature, 4. Structures and Forces and 5. Planet Earth.

Is there a provincial exam for Science 7?

No. Alberta gives no provincial exam for Science 7.

What comes after Science 7?

Science 8.

Can MapleMind help with Science 7?

Yes. MapleMind teaches every skill of Science 7, step by step, with practice and checks, and its tutor answers questions about any of them. It’s free with daily limits, on iPhone, Android and the web.

Before this course

After this course

Get ready for Science 7

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