S.7.13.C | TEKS Guide

Recurring themes and concepts — Connections to the content

Recurring themes and concepts provide a connective structure for scientific ideas across disciplines. The connection(s) below show some ways that teachers can help students understand how the content they are learning fits into the broader understanding of science. These connections do not represent all possible connections that might be made but highlight some that are appropriate for this grade level.

Patterns

Patterns are regular sequences that can be found throughout nature.

Sexually and asexually reproducing populations have different patterns of diversity. Sexually reproducing populations have more diverse offspring while asexually reproduction populations have more uniform offspring. This pattern allows for predictions regarding how a population of organisms may change over time.

Cause-and-effect relationships

Cause-and-effect relationships are relationships between two or more variables or phenomena whereby one variable or event leads to a predictable response. Events have causes—sometimes simple, sometimes multi-faceted.

The offspring of sexually reproducing populations have a mixture of parental genetic material (cause), increasing the variability of traits in the population (effect). The offspring of asexually reproducing populations have genetic material that is identical to the parent (cause), which results in no variability of traits in the population (effect).

Scale, proportion, and quantity in systems

It is important to consider how changes in scale, proportion, or quantity affect a system’s structure or performance. Scale refers to the size of an object in relation to another object or its environment. Proportion is the ratio of one quantity to another. Quantity is a count of a set of objects or a measurement of a substance.

Population diversity is most easily discussed in terms of the quantity of organisms with a particular trait in relation to the total population (proportion). While the ratio of a specific trait to the total population is static in asexually reproducing populations, in sexually reproducing populations it can change over time.

Stability and change

Stability describes a system that does not change at the observed scale. In a stable system, a small disturbance will die out and the system will return to a stable state. Change in the system can come from modifying a factor or condition.

The genetic diversity of sexually reproducing organisms creates a stable population that can withstand environmental changes.

Cross-curricular Connections

The cross-curricular connections are designed to help educators make content connections between the science TEKS and math, English language arts and reading, social studies, and technology applications. The standards below illustrate alignment between grade level content areas which may help educators develop cross-curricular lessons. These connections do not represent all possible connections that might be made.

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Math

English Language Arts and Reading

Science.7.13.C

SCIENCE.7.13.C — Vertical Alignment

Recurring themes and concepts — Connections to the content

Cross-curricular Connections