Cambridge Assessment is the trademark of the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES), which is itself a department of the University of Cambridge. This document is a worksheet created by Cambridge Assessment International Education for Cambridge Lower Secondary Science Stage 7. You do not need to use the ideas in this worksheet to teach Cambridge Primary Lower Secondary Stage 7.
This worksheet is designed to indicate the types of activities you can use and the intended depth and breadth of each learning objective. These activities are not designed to take up the entire class time at this level. The accompanying Cambridge Lower Secondary Science Teacher's Guide will help you plan and deliver lessons using effective teaching and learning approaches.
You can use this scheme of work as a starting point for your planning and adapt it to the requirements of your school and the needs of your students. This long-term plan shows the units in this scheme of work and a suggestion of the time you can spend teaching each unit.
Cells
The proposed teaching time is based on 90 total teaching hours for Science Stage 7 at 3 hours per week.
Classifying matter
Forces in space
Some students may be confused about the biological use of the term "cell" and the use of electrochemistry. Make sure students are aware of any risks associated with using the chosen stain. Ask students to illustrate their flow charts with appropriate drawings of cells, tissues, organs, and organ systems.
Animations (or videos) can be shown to illustrate some common differences between metals and non-metals. Using the periodic table, students can locate the metals and nonmetals and use their chemical symbols (and atomic numbers) when comparing differences. Students may become confused with some terminology in this learning objective and how.
Some learners may confuse the everyday use of the word 'vacuum' with reference to the household. The particle model can be described while you (or the learners) physically handle samples of the three different states of matter (eg 7ESs.02 Know that gravity is the force that keeps components of the Solar System in orbit around the Sun.
Discuss how the formation of the Solar System and planets must have taken a long time.
Classifying life
Explaining properties of matter
Explain clearly that cells are the basic units of living things and that structures are components of cells. 7Cm.06 Describe the three states of matter as solid, liquid and gas in terms of. Explain that each element is made up of atoms, and the atoms in each element are all of the same type.
Students can spin a ball (attached to a string) overhead to model how gravity holds the components of the Solar System in orbit around the Sun. Ask students to place physical models of the Earth, Sun, and Moon on a surface; they model the movements that occur during a solar eclipse. Ask students to work in small groups to create a physical model of the Earth, Sun, and Moon just before, during, and after a solar eclipse.
Ask students to place physical models of the Earth, Sun, and Moon on a surface; they model the movements that occur during a lunar eclipse. Some students may think that having just one or two of the characteristics makes something alive. Add to their correct answers if necessary so they have a list of the seven characteristics.
Students, working in pairs, plan an investigation to find the pH of substances using both.
Energy and sound
This energy model allows students to consider how energy can be transferred from one type of energy to another type of energy. Once it has been explained that energy is neither created nor destroyed but transferred from one type of energy to another type of energy, you need to make sure that the correct terms are used when talking about energy. Be aware of any misuse of the term 'energy' such as 'energy causes change' or 'energy makes things happen' and correct these where necessary.
Some students may think that an object at rest 'has no energy' or 'has run out of energy' and/or that only objects in motion are 'full of energy'. When a disposable battery is said to have "run out of power," it has actually transferred all of its chemical energy to another type of energy. When someone says, 'I'm out of energy', they're still converting chemical energy into useful energy.
Students sometimes confuse sources of energy (eg fuels, wind, solar) with types of energy (eg chemical, kinetic). Introduce the different types of energy such as: thermal (ie heat), chemical, nuclear, electrical, light, sound, mechanical, elastic and gravitational. Introduce the idea that some of these types of energy can be stored (eg potential energy, chemical energy).
Create a "circus" of several events (or processes) involving different types of energy and energy transfers. At each 'station' students, working in pairs, identify what types of energy and energy transfers are occurring. Was it difficult to identify the types of energy and energy transfers involved in any of the examples?
Can you think of any other examples and what kind of energy/energy transfers would work. Make sure they understand that the total amount of energy in the universe is always the same, but can be transferred from one store of energy to another during an event or process. Working in small groups, provide students with examples of energy transfers (eg eating a chocolate bar, swinging a pendulum, bouncing a ball) and ask them to suggest how they could reduce the amount of energy dissipated.
Environment and ecosystems
Chemical changes and reactions
An unpeeled apple can be used to model the very thin layer of the Earth's crust (represented by the peel). Do not let the level rise too close to the top of the filter paper. Finally, show the whole class an animation illustrating a particle model of the reaction (or a similar reaction).
Ask students to complete a table to compare the strengths and weaknesses of the models they have examined.
Electricity
The model shows that electricity is everywhere in a circuit, that electricity flows at the same rate around all parts of a circuit, and that no time is required for energy to reach components of the circuit. By moving the string faster, models the effect of increasing the current (ie increasing the flow rate of the free electrons). Remind learners of the speckled rope model; the number of specks on the string (i.e. number of free electrons) does not depend on the number of people holding the string in their hands (i.e. number of . components).
However, the electron flow rate can pass with several components. As soon as the rope started to move, the energy was transferred by the movement of the system as a whole). Ask students to write a short description of how the rope model shows the flow of electrons around a circuit.
Ask learners to make a table with the column headings: the name of the material, whether it is a metal or a non-metal, predicted result, actual result. Encourage learners to put units (A) in the column heading and not keep repeating the unit in the body of the table. This activity can be extended by learners researching to identify examples of the practical uses of series circuits (eg torches, domestic water heaters, Christmas tree lights, dimmer switch circuits).
Establish the context of the lesson/learning by explaining to learners that they are going to do what they may have seen on television, which is taking cotton in the mouth. By measuring the sizes of the micro-organisms in the pictures, learners can calculate the actual size of the micro-organisms using the formula: .. actual size = size in picture/magnification. Learning objectives 7Cc.01 Identify whether a chemical reaction has occurred by observing the loss of reactants and/or the formation of products that have different properties than the reactants (including the evolution of a gas, formation of a precipitate or change of color).
Ask them to arrange the cards to show the reactants (ie magnesium sulfate and sodium carbonate) and arrange the remaining cards to suggest the names of the new substances formed. They may need a hint (ie the name of the metallic element always comes first in the chemical . compound). Ask students to add descriptions of reactants and products to their copied equation using the terms: soluble/insoluble and solution/precipitate.
