← Back to the activity

Class 7 Science — Adolescence: growth and change

Place adolescence among the stages of life, name the changes it brings and what drives them, and say what looks after health at this age.

Name: ________________________

Before you start

Slide along this line of ages and see where the chapter puts adolescence.

0510152025

Adolescence generally begins around 10 and usually runs to 19. Before about 10 to 12, most of what changes in a body is height and weight; the rest begins after that. These are the chapter's general ages, not a timetable anyone has to keep to.

  1. 1.A girl's menstrual cycle comes round once in 33 days. What does the chapter say about that?

    • a) Cycles longer than 30 days stop after a year
    • b) A cycle has to be 28 days, so this one is a sign of illness
    • c) Many healthy girls have cycles anywhere from 21 to 35 days
    • d) The length of a cycle has nothing to do with health

  2. 2.What is the name for the stage in which a child's body changes, inside and out, into an adult body capable of reproduction?

  3. 3.Sort each of these by what the chapter says it does to health during adolescence.

    Groups: Looks after health in adolescence · Harms health in adolescence

    • Eating a balanced diet
    • Drinking alcohol
    • Chewing tobacco
    • Taking regular exercise
    • Keeping the body clean

  4. 4.Why does an adolescent boy's voice often sound hoarse for a while?

    • a) His throat is short of water
    • b) His voice box is growing
    • c) His lungs have grown faster than his throat
    • d) He is speaking more loudly than he used to

  5. 5.What does it mean to say that a substance such as tobacco or alcohol is addictive?

    • a) It changes a person's mood while it is being taken
    • b) Once a person starts taking it, they develop a strong urge to take it again and again
    • c) It damages the lungs the very first time it is taken
    • d) It is against the law to sell it

  6. 6.Match each nutrient to what the chapter says it does for a growing body.

    • Calcium
    • Proteins
    • Iron
    • help growth, strength and energy
    • helps blood to form
    • helps bones grow well

  7. 7.Chemicals made in the body drive most of the changes of adolescence and are released on signals from the brain. What are they called?

  8. 8.The chapter gives an age around which adolescence generally begins. Which age is it?

    Mark the line with an X.

    012345678910111213141516171819202122232425

Answer key — Class 7 Science — Adolescence: growth and change

  1. 1. c) Many healthy girls have cycles anywhere from 21 to 35 days
  2. 2. puberty
  3. 3. Eating a balanced diet → Looks after health in adolescence; Taking regular exercise → Looks after health in adolescence; Keeping the body clean → Looks after health in adolescence; Chewing tobacco → Harms health in adolescence; Drinking alcohol → Harms health in adolescence
  4. 4. b) His voice box is growing
  5. 5. b) Once a person starts taking it, they develop a strong urge to take it again and again
  6. 6. Calcium → helps bones grow well; Proteins → help growth, strength and energy; Iron → helps blood to form
  7. 7.
    • hormones
    • hormone
  8. 8. 10