Students in grade 7 focus on systems and cycles to build a systems perspective using their understanding of structures and elements developed in earlier grades. Grade 7 begins with a review of science skills to ensure that students all start with the same skills that will carry them throughout the year.  The units then move through types of energy, electromagnetism and communication systems, motion and stability within technological systems, geologic events, adaptations, and ecosystem dynamics. Thermal energy narrows the focus after forms and types of energy by specifically concentrating on one form of energy that’s integral to understanding many of these units. The units about communication and technological systems, as well as geologic events, and ecosystems come after the units on energy because the understanding of particular forms of energy are necessary for understanding how these systems function.  Each unit is constructed to have students utilize skills and concepts to create a basis for exploring various concrete and abstract perspectives, which will prepare them for future understandings of the relationships between cause and effect in various fields of science.