Standard 5.8 Earth Science

All students will gain an understanding of the structure, dynamics, and geophysical systems of the earth.

Big Idea: Earth’s dynamic systems are made up of the geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere and biosphere. Interactions among these spheres have resulted in ongoing changes to the system. Some of these changes can be measured on human time scale, but others occur so slowly that they must be inferred from geological evidence.

5.8 A. Earth Properties and Materials

Essential Questions

Enduring Understandings

Areas of Focus/Cumulative Progress Indicators

Comments and Examples

1.         Observe and describe rocks and soil.

1.         Observe that most rocks and soils are made of several substances or minerals.

2.         Observe that the properties of soil vary from place to place and will affect the soil’s ability to support life.

Instructional/Assessment Focus:
• Soils have properties of color and texture, capacity to retain water, and ability to support the growth of many kinds of plants, including those in our food supply.

Sample Performance Task:
You and your classmates want to establish a vegetable garden on the school’s property.
• Conduct simple tests to identify three basic components of soil (sand, clay, humus) and to compare and contrast the properties of each of the components.
• Interpret test results (touch and roll, smear, settling, ability to absorb and retain water) and draw conclusions about a soil’s components.
• Record and organize the results of soil tests and explain these results through writing, drawing and discussion.
• Reflect on the test results and predict how plants will grow on the school grounds. Apply this knowledge to describe what you would need to do in order to successfully grow plants.

3.         Recognize that fossils provide evidence about the plants and animals that lived long ago and the nature of the environment at that time.

5.8 B. Atmosphere and Weather

Essential Questions

Enduring Understandings

Areas of Focus/Cumulative Progress Indicators

Comments and Examples

 4.         Describe daily and seasonal changes and patterns in the weather.

1.         Recognize that air is a substance that surrounds us, takes up space, and moves around us as wind.

Suggested Instructional/Assessment Strategies:

􀂃 Using common items such as wind mills, kites, or demonstrations to show that there is air all around and that the wind is moving air.

􀂃 Use instruments to quantitatively measure wind speed and describe by using a simplified Beauford scale.

2.         Recognize that most of Earth’s surface is covered by water and be able to identify the characteristics of those sources of water.

·        oceans

·        rivers

·        lakes

·        underground sources

·        glaciers

Suggested Instructional/Assessment Strategy
􀂃 Create a model that illustrates the flow of water through a water cycle while the quantity of water remains constant.

3.         Observe weather changes and patterns by measurable quantities such as temperature, wind direction and speed, and amounts of precipitation.

Instructional/Assessment Focus

􀂃 Large masses of air with certain properties moves across the surface of the Earth.

􀂃 The movement and interaction of these air masses is used to forecast the weather

Suggested Instructional/Assessment Strategies:
􀂃 Keep daily records of weather conditions (wind speed and direction, type and amount of precipitation, cloud cover and type, temperature) and use these records to identify short term and seasonal patterns in New Jersey.
􀂃 Identify and describe different types of storm systems that occur in New Jersey (i.e., tornadoes, hurricanes, thunderstorms, blizzards). From observed and gathered historical data, identify the times of the year when these storms are most likely to occur.

4.         Observe that when liquid water disappears, it turns into a gas (vapor) in the air and can reappear as a liquid when cooled, or as a solid if cooled below its freezing point.

5.         Observe that rain, snow, and other forms of precipitation come from clouds, but that not all clouds produce precipitation.

Instructional/Assessment Focus:
• Not all clouds produce precipitation.
• Cloud shapes can be used to help forecast the weather.

Suggested Instructional/Assessment Strategies:
• Keep daily records of weather conditions (wind speed and direction, type and amount of precipitation, cloud cover and type, temperature) and use these records to identify short term and seasonal patterns in New Jersey.

• Using student data about cloud type and precipitation, students propose and modify as appropriate, hypothesize about the types of clouds that they observe and the likelihood that they will produce rain.
 

Sample Assessment Items:
1. Omar and Norma are planning to go on a picnic today.  They look out of the window and see some high, thin clouds.

• Is it likely it will rain on their picnic today?
• Explain your answer.

6.         Recognize that clouds and fog are made of tiny droplets of water and possibly tiny particles of ice.

Instructional/Assessment Focus:

• Clouds and fog are made of tiny droplets of frozen crystals of water.
•Clouds are shaped by winds and are made of small water droplets or ice crystals

 • Cloud shape can be used to help forecast weather.

Sample Test Items:
1. Imagine that you are the pilot of a restored biplane who is about to fly across country. Using a published weather map, write a description of the weather that you are likely to encounter if you travel in a straight line from Newark, NJ to San Francisco, CA. Then write a flight plan for the return flight that will allow you the best weather for your cross country flight. Use latitude and longitude to describe the location of the nightly rest stops.

2. Using the weather map above. Describe the changes in the weather that are most likely to occur in New Jersey over the next two days.

3. The average temperature of City X is warmer than the average temperature of City Y during the summer, but colder than City Y in the winter. Using the map shown below, explain why City Y has milder weather.

4. Wind occurs when air masses move from one place to another. What causes the movement of air masses?
A. position of the moon
* B. heating of the air
C. revolution of Earth
D. condensation of air

5.8 C. Processes that Shape the Earth

Essential Questions

Enduring Understandings

Areas of Focus/Cumulative Progress Indicators

Comments and Examples

1.         Recognize that some changes of the Earth’s surface are due to slow processes such as erosion and weathering, and some changes are due to rapid changes such as landslides, volcanic eruptions, and earthquakes.

Instructional/Assessment Focus:

• Earth is a dynamic system resulting from interactions among the geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere and biosphere.

• Water reshapes Earth’s land surface by eroding rock and soil in some areas and depositing them in others.

• The surface of the Earth changes constantly.  Some of these changes happen slowly and are difficult to detect on a daily basis. Other changes happen quickly and result from events (i.e., major storms and volcanoes).

• The surface of the Earth is shaped in part by the motion of water and wind over very long periods of time, which act to level mountain ranges.

• The interior of the earth is hot. Heat flow and movement of materials within the earth cause earthquakes and volcanic eruptions and create mountains and ocean basins.

Suggested Instructional/Assessment Strategies:
• Use stream tables to observe the creation of landforms as water flows over and through the land.  Describe changes that result from the flowing of water, using correct geographic terminology  (i.e., canyon, delta, tributary). Describe changes to the water as it flows over land (i.e., color, transparency).

• Describe how fast-moving water and slow-moving water over land affect erosion and deposition.
• Describe how heat flow within the Earth results in earthquakes and/or volcanic eruptions.

2.         Recognize that moving water, wind, and ice continually shape the Earth’s surface by eroding rock and soil in some areas and depositing them in other areas.

Instructional/Assessment Focus:

􀂃 Factors such as abrasion, frost/ice wedging, temperature change, and plant growth cause physical weathering of rocks.

􀂃 Erosion is the process by which materials are transported (i.e.,  mass movement and wind, water and ice processes).

􀂃 Sedimentary rocks are formed by the deposition of eroded materials.
 

Suggested Instructional/Assessment Strategies:
􀂃 Investigate and describe how factors such as abrasion, frost/ice wedging, temperature change, and plant growth cause physical weathering of rocks.

􀂃 Describe the environment in which the sedimentary particles were formed based on the results of weathering.

􀂃 Investigate how weathered materials are transported (i.e. mass movement and wind, water and ice processes) in the process of erosion. Explain how erosion shapes rock particles.

􀂃 Describe the process by which eroded materials can form horizontal layers of sedimentary rock.

1.         Explain how Earth’s landforms and materials are created through constructive and destructive processes.

Sample Test Items:
1. Which statement BEST describes the movement of the plates that make up Earth's surface over millions of years?
A. They moved for millions of years but have now stopped.
B. They stayed the same for millions of years but are now moving.
* C. They have been continually moving.
D. They have never moved.

2. A small, fast-moving river is in a V-shaped valley on the slope of a mountain. If you follow the river to where it passes through a plain, what will the river most likely look like compared with how it looked on the mountain slope? Explain why.

5.8 D. How We Study the Earth

Essential Questions

Enduring Understandings

Areas of Focus/Cumulative Progress Indicators

Comments and Examples

1.         Use maps to locate and identify physical features on the Earth.

Instructional/Assessment Focus:

􀂃 Maps are constructed using common symbols and those symbols represent both natural and human constructed objects.

􀂃 Users’ needs determine the scale of the map selected.
􀂃 Some satellites allow scientists to observe over time large-scale changes in the geosphere as well as the development of short term weather events.

􀂃 Students should be introduced to GPS and GIS technology
 

Suggested Instructional/Assessment Strategies:

􀂃 Using simple tools, construct an accurate map of a classroom and the school. 
􀂃 Using a variety of maps, identify natural and human constructed features (i.e., cities, roads, oceans, rivers, lakes, mountains).

􀂃 Compare and contrast the kinds of physical features that a person can observe on a small scale map vs. a large scale map.

􀂃 Observe and interpret satellite images and weather maps.

1.         Analyze the evidence produced by a variety of techniques that is used to understand changes in the Earth that have occurred over time.

·        topography

·        fossils

·        rock stratification

·        ice cores

·        radiometric data