Seventh-grade Life Science at LTS involves investigation of the complex interactions between all types of organisms and their environments. Students learn that ecosystems consist of communities of plants, animals, and other organisms that are dependent on each other as well as on the non-living parts of the environment. Students concentrate on the ecosystem and habitat of Lake Tahoe and its watershed. Emphasis is placed on experiments in and out of the classroom. Topics explored include ecology, life and nutrient cycles, introduction to plants and animals, human influence on environment, how to make our community more sustainable, and vertebrate anatomy and physiology.
Specific topics explored include:
Specific topics explored include:
- characteristics shared by all living things
- cell structure, function, and division
- patterns of heredity, DNA, and modern genetics
- the history of life on Earth
- classification of living things
- population dynamics
- viruses, single-celled organisms, plants, and animals
- ecosystems, biomes, and human impact on them
- the structure and function of human organ systems