Texas TEKS 7.5

7.5 is a TEKS knowledge and skills statement. These are the student expectations under it.

• 7.5.A

  identify and apply patterns to understand and connect scientific phenomena or to design solutions

• 7.5.B

  identify and investigate cause-and-effect relationships to explain scientific phenomena or analyze problems

• 7.5.C

  analyze how differences in scale, proportion, or quantity affect a system's structure or performance

• 7.5.D

  examine and model the parts of a system and their interdependence in the function of the system

• 7.5.E

  analyze and explain how energy flows and matter cycles through systems and how energy and matter are conserved through a variety of systems

• 7.5.F

  analyze and explain the complementary relationship between structure and function of objects, organisms, and systems

• 7.5.G

  analyze and explain how factors or conditions impact stability and change in objects, organisms, and systems.

01

What Students Need to Do

Students find useful patterns in observations and data. They trace causes, explain how parts work together, and track matter and energy. They use models to predict changes or improve a system.

02

What Mastery Looks Like

Given an unfamiliar phenomenon, students identify a supported pattern and explain a clear chain of causes and effects. Their models show connected parts, transfers of energy, movement of matter, and predicted changes under new conditions.

03

Common Misconceptions

Students may treat correlation as proof of cause or assume matter disappears when it changes form. They may think energy cycles like matter, models are exact copies, or a larger quantity always improves system performance.

04

How to Assess It

Give students a diagram of a sealed terrarium with plants, snails, water, and sunlight. Ask them to trace matter and energy, then predict and explain what changes after one week without light.

1. 01

   Build two foil boats with different shapes, add pennies, and graph how hull structure and load affect stability.

2. 02

   Given a pond food web after a drought, write a claim tracing one cause, one energy transfer, and one matter pathway.

3. 03

   Play System Match with cards showing parts, functions, inputs, outputs, and changes, then defend each completed system aloud.

4. 04

   Measure temperatures on asphalt, grass, and shade, then use surface structure and energy transfer to explain the pattern.

• 6.5

  The 6th Grade version of this standard.

• 5.5

  The 5th Grade version of this standard.

• 4.5

  The 4th Grade version of this standard.

• 3.5

  The 3rd Grade version of this standard.