Earth-Space

Earth-Space science is a Junior-Senior class that covers a wide range of topics that build upon the sciences students have been learning since middle school and earlier. There are five ESS standard topics: Space Systems, History of Earth, Earth’s Systems, Weather and Climate, and Human Sustainability. (Adapted from NGGS)

Space Systems will help students formulate answers to the questions: “What is the Universe and what goes on in stars?” and “What are the predictable patterns caused by Earth’s movement in the solar system?” Students will examine the processes governing the formation, evolution, and workings of the solar system and universe. Some concepts studied are fundamental to science, such as understanding how the matter of our world formed during the Big Bang and within the cores of stars. Others concepts are practical, such as understanding how short-term changes in the behavior of our sun directly affect humans.

History of Earth will help students to formulate the answers to questions: “How do people reconstruct and date events in Earth’s planetary history?” and “Why do the continents move?” Students will construct explanations for the scales of time over which Earth processes operate. An important aspect of Earth and space science involves making inferences about events in Earth’s history based on a data record that is increasingly incomplete that farther you go back in time. A mathematical analysis of radiometric dating is used to comprehend how absolute ages are obtained for the geologic record. A key to Earth’s history is the coevolution of the biosphere with Earth’s other systems, not only in the ways that climate and environmental changes have shaped the course of evolution but also in how emerging life forms have been responsible for changing Earth.

Earth’s Systems students formulate answers to the questions: “How do the major Earth systems interact?” and “How do the properties and movements of water shape Earth’s surface and affect its systems?” Students will develop models and explanations for the ways that feedbacks between different Earth systems control the appearance of Earth’s surface. Central to this is the tension between internal systems, which are largely responsible for creating land at Earth’s surface (e.g., volcanism and mountain building), and the sun-driven surface systems that tear down the land through weathering and erosion. Students understand the role that water plays in affecting weather. Students understand chemical cycles such as the carbon cycle. Students can examine the ways that human activities cause feedbacks that create changes to other systems.

Weather and Climate students formulate answers to the question: “What regulates weather and climate?” Students will look at the system interactions that control weather and climate, with a major emphasis on the mechanisms and implications of climate change. They will analysis and interpret the different kinds of geoscience to construct explanations for the many factors that drive climate change over a wide range of time scales.

Human Impact students will formulate answers to the questions: “How do humans depend on Earth’s resources?” and “How do people model and predict the effects of human activities on Earth’s climate?” Students will look at the complex and significant interdependencies between humans and the rest of Earth’s systems through the impacts of natural hazards, our dependencies on natural resources, and the environmental impacts of human activities.

Engineering and technology plays a large role in obtaining and analyzing the data that support the theories of Earth-Space sciences. We will be using models; mathematical & computational thinking; constructing explanations; engaging in argument from evidence; and obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information.