Oklahoma Science 7.LS1.7

Science7th GradeFrom Molecules to Organisms: Structure and Function

The Standard

Develop a model to describe how food molecules in plants and animals are broken down and rearranged through chemical reactions to form new molecules that support growth and/or release of energy as matter moves through an organism.

Oklahoma Academic Standards for Science (2026)

Teacher's field guide

What This Standard Means

What Students Need to Do: Students trace food molecules that plants make or animals eat as those molecules move into cells. They model how food atoms are rearranged into molecules for growth, or into carbon dioxide and water as energy is released.
What Mastery Looks Like: A student can draw arrows from sugar and oxygen into a cell, then to carbon dioxide, water, and released energy. They can also show food atoms becoming new cell material. They can explain that both plants and animals break down food.
Common Misconceptions: Students may say food turns into energy and disappears, rather than tracking its atoms into new molecules. Some think only animals break down food, or that plants get their food from soil.
How to Assess It: Give students two cell outlines, one plant and one animal. Ask them to show where food comes from, how its atoms can support growth or leave as carbon dioxide and water, and where oxygen and released energy fit.

Lesson moves

Ways to Teach It

Give groups paper C, H, and O tiles to rearrange sugar and oxygen into carbon dioxide and water; label the energy released.
Ask: If a kitten gains weight from eating, where did its added atoms come from, and where do other food atoms go?
Give pairs molecule and energy cards; have them place sugar, oxygen, carbon dioxide, water, new cell material, and released energy on two reaction paths.
Show a photo of a growing puppy eating kibble; ask students to trace food atoms into new tissue or into its exhaled breath.

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