Happy Friday 7th Grade Families!

This week, students dove into a variety of case studies, putting on their ethical, economic, and genetic thinking caps as they explored and analyzed their assigned topics. Through reading, discussion, and critical thinking, students began examining the real-world impacts and complexities connected to genetics and decision-making.

Next week, students will have the opportunity to become the teachers by sharing their case studies with one another. As a class, we will come together to compare, analyze, and discuss the similarities and differences between each case study while continuing to strengthen our critical thinking and collaboration skills.

​-Team 7

Happy Friday 7th Grade Families!

Next week, students will explore several powerful historical case studies that shaped the medical field and continue to influence scientific research today. Through investigations of Henrietta Lacks, the Havasupai Tribe, the Willowbrook Study, and the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, students will examine the complex intersections of genetics, ethics, medicine, and economics. As they analyze each case, students will evaluate how medical advancements were achieved, the ethical concerns involved, and the lasting impact these events have had on patient rights, informed consent, and trust in the healthcare system. This unit will encourage thoughtful discussion, critical thinking, and reflection on how science and ethics must work together in modern medicine.

​-Team 7

Happy Monday 7th Grade Families!

Last week in Expedition, students applied their understanding of Mendelian genetics by analyzing a variety of inheritance case studies. As they worked through these scenarios, they began to notice that not all patterns of inheritance neatly followed Mendel’s rules. This led to some powerful discoveries, students explored concepts like codominance, incomplete dominance, sex-linked traits, and multiple alleles, all of which fall under what we call non-Mendelian genetics.


This week, we’ll continue building on that curiosity and critical thinking by diving deeper into a focused case study on red-green color blindness. Students will investigate how this trait is inherited and use their growing knowledge to explain patterns that go beyond simple dominant and recessive traits.

​-Team 7

Happy Friday 7th Grade Families!!

Next week, expedition will be on the move! As we travel to Washington, D.C., students will have the opportunity to visit multiple museums and engage in learning experiences outside of the traditional classroom setting. The city itself will serve as our classroom, offering rich opportunities for exploration, observation, and connection to our studies.

Students will also participate in a discovery lesson on non-Mendelian genetics, which will take place on the train ride. During this activity, they will work with a partner to analyze different genetic scenarios and compare them to what they already know about Mendelian genetics. When the patterns don’t quite fit, students will be challenged to think critically and explain why, helping them build a deeper understanding of how genetics can be more complex than simple dominant and recessive traits.

​We’re excited for a week full of movement, curiosity, and real-world learning!

-Team 7

Happy Monday 7th Grade Families!!

Last week, students dove into the world of the stock market, taking on the challenge of investing a hypothetical $50,000 across 10 diversified companies. Today, they’ll step into the role of investors once again, this time selling their portfolios to evaluate their gains, losses, or break-even outcomes. It’s been exciting to watch them think critically about risk, strategy, and real-world financial decision-making!
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As we wrap up this experience, we’ll begin exploring the basics of macroeconomics later this week, expanding our lens from individual investments to the broader economy. Stay tuned!

-Team 7

Happy Friday 7th Grade Families!

This week, students continued diving into Mendelian genetics, exploring how geneticists use Punnett squares to predict the probability of offspring genotypes and phenotypes. They worked to understand how traits are inherited and how probability plays a key role in genetic outcomes. When we return, we will shift our focus back to economics, where students will begin exploring topics like the stock market and how financial systems operate in the real world.

-Team 7

Happy Monday 7th Grade Families!!

This week and into next, students will explore the fascinating world of genetics! We’ll learn about Gregor Mendel and how his observations of pea plants helped scientists understand how traits are passed from parents to offspring. Through simulations and hands-on activities, students will discover that genetics is really a form of probability and will practice predicting possible outcomes using tools like Punnett squares. This unit is a fun opportunity to explore the traits that make each of us unique. Take a moment at home to talk with your child about traits that run in your family, are there any similarities they notice?

​-Team 7

Happy Monday 7th Grade Families!!

This week we are venturing into a new unit as we continue our interdisciplinary journey with a focus on systems, specifically exploring economic and biological systems. We will begin the unit with a “Tragedy of the Commons” activity, which will give students a hands-on experience with how systems operate. Through this simulation, students will encounter key concepts from economic systems, such as scarcity, incentives, and competition as well as ideas from biological systems, including resource competition, survival, and carrying capacity.


From there, we will explore the foundations of both economics and genetics, while also examining how these two systems connect and influence one another. Our goal is for students to recognize patterns and relationships across disciplines and better understand how systems shape the world around us.

-Team 7

Happy Friday 7th Grade Families!!

Next week, students will transform their research into a creative final product, a poster, that explores their chosen crop from multiple perspectives. Each project will highlight the crop’s overall structure and ecological role while also taking a microscopic look at its cellular makeup. Students will connect these biological systems to the economic system of the period, the plantation economy, drawing meaningful comparisons between nature and history. Be sure to ask your students what they’ve been researching and discovering!

​-Team 7

Happy Monday 7th Grade Families!!

This week we are diving into Parts II and III of our interdisciplinary project on the cash crops of Saint-Domingue (present-day Haiti). Students are exploring the powerful similarities between economic systems during slavery in Saint-Domingue and cells as living systems. Both are made up of interconnected parts, each with specific roles that keep the system functioning. We are also examining how imbalance within a system, whether social or biological, can lead to breakdown and transformation, such as the Haitian Revolution.

Last week, students completed Part I, writing a historical analysis essay on the economic and global importance of their assigned crop: sugarcane, coffee, or indigo. This week, they shift into the science lens, researching the biology of their crop holistically, zooming in to the microscopic level of plant cells and zooming out to understand the crop’s role in larger ecosystems.

Their final product will be a visual poster that highlights their crop and draws a thoughtful comparison between the structure of the colonial economy and the structure of a plant cell. The goal is to help students bridge what can feel like two separate subjects and recognize that systems thinking connects science and history in powerful, meaningful ways.

​-Team 7