What Will My Child Be Learning?

History of Earth

• • Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence from rock strata for how the geologic time scale is used to organize Earth's 4.6-billion-year-old history.

  • Construct an explanation based on evidence for how geoscience processes have changed Earth's surface at varying time and spatial scales.

  • Analyze and interpret data on the distribution of fossils and rocks, continental shapes, and seafloor structures to provide evidence of the past plate motions.

Earth’s Systems

• • Develop a model to describe the cycling of Earth's materials and the flow of energy that drives this process.

  • Develop a model to describe the cycling of water through Earth's systems driven by energy from the sun and the force of gravity.

  • Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for how the uneven distributions of Earth's mineral, energy, and groundwater resources are the result of past and current geoscience processes.

Weather and Climate

• • Collect data to provide evidence for how the motions and complex interactions of air masses results in changes in weather conditions.

  • Develop and use a model to describe how unequal heating and rotation of the Earth cause patterns of atmospheric and oceanic circulation that determine regional climates.

  • Ask questions to clarify evidence of the factors that have caused the rise in global temperatures over the past century.

Human Impacts

• • Analyze and interpret data on natural hazards to forecast future catastrophic events and inform the development of technologies to mitigate their effects.

  • Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment.