Unit Overview – Astronomy

Next Generation Science Standards – Middle School (NGSS-MS):

ESS1-1. Develop and use a model of the Earth-sun-moon system to describe the cyclic patterns of lunar phases, eclipses of the sun and moon, and seasons.

Examples: models can be physical, graphical, or conceptual

Core ideas: Patterns of the apparent motion of the sun, the moon, and stars in the sky can be observed, described, predicted, and explained with models.This model of the solar system can explain eclipses of the sun and the moon. Earth’s spin axis is fixed in direction over the short-term but tilted relative to its orbit around the sun. The seasons are a result of that tilt and are caused by the differential intensity of sunlight on different areas of Earth across the year.

ESS1-2. Develop and use a model to describe the role of gravity in the motions within galaxies and the solar system.

Emphasize: the model is on gravity as the force that holds together the solar system and Milky Way galaxy and controls orbital motions within them. Examples of models can be physical (such as the analogy of distance along a football field or computer visualizations of elliptical orbits) or conceptual (such as mathematical proportions relative to the size of familiar objects such as their school or state). Do not include Kepler’s Laws of orbital motion or the apparent retrograde motion of the planets as viewed from Earth.

Core ideas: The solar system appears to have formed from a disk of dust and gas, drawn together by gravity. Earth and its solar system are part of the Milky Way galaxy, which is one of many galaxies in the universe.

MS-ESS1-3. Analyze and interpret data to determine scale properties of objects in the solar system.

Emphasize: analysis of data from Earth-based instruments, space-based telescopes, and spacecraft to determine similarities and differences among solar system objects. Examples of scale properties include the sizes of an object’s layers (such as crust and atmosphere), surface features (such as volcanoes), and orbital radius. Examples of data include statistical information, drawings and photographs, and models.

Core ideas: The solar system consists of the sun and a collection of objects, including planets, their moons, and asteroids that are held in orbit around the sun by its gravitational pull on them.

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.

Emphasize: analyses of rock formations and the fossils they contain are used to establish relative ages of major events in Earth’s history. Examples of Earth’s major events could range from being very recent (such as the last Ice Age or the earliest fossils of homo sapiens) to very old (such as the formation of Earth or the earliest evidence of life). Examples can include the formation of mountain chains and ocean basins, the evolution or extinction of particular living organisms, or significant volcanic eruptions

Core ideas: The geologic time scale interpreted from rock strata provides a way to organize Earth’s history. Analyses of rock strata and the fossil record provide only relative dates, not an absolute scale.

PS1-1. Develop models to describe the atomic composition of simple molecules and extended structures.

Emphasize: developing models of molecules that vary in complexity.

Examples of molecular-level models could include drawings, 3D ball and stick structures, or computer representations showing different molecules with different types of atoms.

Core Idea: Substances are made from different types of atoms, which combine with one another in various ways. Atoms form molecules that range in size from two to thousands of atoms.

ETS1-2. Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.

ETS1-3. Analyze data from tests to determine similarities and differences among several design solutions to identify the best characteristics of each that can be combined into a new solution to better meet the criteria for success.

Core ideas: There are systematic processes for evaluating solutions with respect to how well they meet the criteria and constraints of a problem. Sometimes parts of different solutions can be combined to create a solution that is better than any of its predecessors. Although one design may not perform the best across all tests, identifying the characteristics of the design that performed the best in each test can provide useful information for the redesign process—that is, some of those characteristics may be incorporated into the new design.

Science and Engineering:

• Develop and use a model to describe phenomena.
• Analyze and interpret data to determine similarities and differences in findings.
• Construct a scientific explanation based on valid and reliable evidence obtained from sources (including the students’ own experiments) and the assumption that theories and laws that describe the natural world operate today as they did in the past and will continue to do so in the future.
• Develop a model to generate data to test ideas about designed systems, including those representing inputs and outputs.
• Analyze and interpret data to determine similarities and differences in findings.
• Evaluate competing design solutions based on jointly developed and agreed-upon design criteria.

Crosscutting concepts:

• Patterns can be used to identify cause-and-effect relationships.
• Time, space, and energy phenomena can be observed at various scales using models to study systems that are too large or too small.
• Models can be used to represent systems and their interactions.
• Engineering advances have led to important discoveries in virtually every field of science and scientific discoveries have led to the development of entire industries and engineered systems.
• Science assumes that objects and events in natural systems occur in consistent patterns that are understandable through measurement and observation.

California Science Standards: Earth Science:

4a. Students know galaxies are clusters of billions of stars and may have different shapes.

4b. Students know that the Sun is one of many stars in the Milky Way galaxy and that stars may differ in size, temperature, and color.

4c. Students know how to use astronomical units and light years as measures of distances between the Sun, stars, and Earth.

4d. Students know that stars are the source of light for all bright objects in outer space and that the Moon and planets shine by reflected sunlight, not by their own light.

4e. Students know the appearance, general composition, relative position and size, and motion of objects in the solar system, including planets, planetary satellites, comets, and asteroids.

Investigation and Experimentation Standards:

9a. Plan and conduct a scientific investigation to test a hypothesis.

9b. Evaluate the accuracy and reproducibility of data.

9c. Distinguish between variable and controlled parameters in a test.

9e. Construct appropriate graphs from data and develop quantitative statements about the relationships between variables.