Unit 1: Earth's History and Systems

Performance Expectations:

• MS-ESS1-4: 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.

• MS-ESS2-1: Develop a model to describe the cycling of Earth's materials and the flow of energy that drives this process.

• MS-ESS2-2: Construct an explanation based on evidence for how geoscience processes have changed Earth's surfaces at varying time and spatial scales.

• MS-ESS2-3: Analyze and interpret data on the distribution of fossils and rocks, continental shapes, and seafloor structures to provide evidence of the past plate motions.

• MS-ESS3-1: 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.

• MS-ESS3-2: Analyze and interpret data on natural hazards to forecast future catastrophic events and inform the development of technologies to mitigate their effects.

Essential Questions:

• How have geoscience processes changed the Earth’s surface over time?

• What evidence supports past tectonic plate motions?

• How do the materials in and on Earth’s crust change over time?

• How can evidence from rock strata be used to organize Earth’s 4.6 billion year old history?

• How can data about natural hazards be used to forecast future catastrophic events and inform the development of technologies to mitigate their effects?

• How do past and current geoscience processes result in an uneven distribution of Earth’s materials?

Disciplinary Core Ideas, Science & Engineering Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, Supporting Standards:

• • MS-ESS1-4

  • MS-ESS2-1

  • MS-ESS2-2

  • MS-ESS2-3

  • MS-ESS3-1

  • MS-ESS3-2

Concepts & Skills:

• The students will be able to...

  • Identify the layers of the Earth and their defining characteristics, such as temperature, composition, and state of matter.

  • Describe the motion of Earth's tectonic plates due to convection currents in the mantle.

  • Understand how the movement of tectonic has changed the surface of the Earth over time.

  • Create a model of how the movement of tectonic plates causes geoscience processes to occur (ex. earthquakes, formation of mountains, new crust).

  • Plot the location of earthquakes and volcanoes surrounding the Pacific Ocean on a coordinate graph.

  • Identify evidence that proves how Earth's surface has changed over time.

  • Identify the three different types of rocks based on their physical characteristics.

  • Explain how geoscience processes cause the formation of different rock types.

  • Create a model to explain how rocks change over time due to the rock cycle.

  • Observe and draw conclusions about Earth's 4.6 billion year history from rock strata (ex. Law of Superposition, index fossils).

  • Read and understand Earth's geological time scale.

  • Explain how geoscience processes help to create natural resources.

  • Understand that natural resources are distributed unevenly due to geoscience processes and human impact.