NGSS MS-LS1-7
The Standard
Develop a model to describe how food is rearranged through chemical reactions forming new molecules that support growth and/or release energy as this matter moves through an organism.
Next Generation Science Standards
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students build a model that tracks matter from food as it moves through an organism. They show food molecules breaking apart and their atoms forming new molecules for growth while energy is released.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can label food molecules, show bonds changing, and account for the same atoms before and after the reaction. The model connects new molecules to growth and shows energy being released.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may say food turns directly into energy or disappears after digestion. They may also think energy is a type of matter, or that atoms are used up during reactions.
How to Assess It
- Give students six labeled atom symbols and ask them to draw a before-and-after model showing new molecules, conserved atoms, growth, and energy release.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give groups colored beads as atoms, then have them break apart food molecule models and rebuild them while keeping every atom accounted for.
Ask students to write a response to: If food becomes part of your body, what changes and what stays the same?
Run a molecule sorting relay where teams match input atom cards to possible product molecules and reject choices with missing or extra atoms.
Compare nutrition labels for bread, oil, and protein bars, then discuss how each provides matter for growth and energy release.
Free download
Printable MS-LS1-7 Worksheet
A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to MS-LS1-7, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.
PDF, US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white.
Download the worksheetBefore This Standard
If students are struggling here, check these first.
What This Unlocks
Mastery here sets students up for these next.
- HS-LS1-6
Students must understand food atoms are chemically rearranged in organisms before explaining sugar atoms becoming amino acids and macromolecules.
- HS-LS2-5
Understanding food molecules rearranged in respiration supports modeling how photosynthesis and respiration move carbon through Earth systems.
- HS-LS1-7
MS tracks food molecules being rearranged for growth and energy, which supports modeling bond changes and energy transfer in respiration.
- HS-LS1-5
Understanding food molecules as chemically rearranged for growth and energy supports modeling photosynthesis as energy stored in new molecules.
Keep exploring
Related Standards
- MS-LS2-3
Develop a model to describe the cycling of matter and flow of energy among living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem.
- 5-LS2-1
Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment.
- HS-PS1-4
Develop a model to illustrate that the release or absorption of energy from a chemical reaction system depends upon the changes in total bond energy.
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