The performance expectations in History of Earth help students formulate answers to the questions: “How do people reconstruct and date events in Earth’s planetary history?” and “Why do the continents move?” Students can construct explanations for the scales of time over which Earth processes operate. An important aspect of Earth and space sciences involves making inferences about events in Earth’s history based on a data record that is increasingly incomplete the farther one goes 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 co-evolution 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 the planet. The crosscutting concepts of patterns and stability and change are called out as organizing concepts for these disciplinary core ideas. In the HS. History of Earth performance expectations, students are expected to demonstrate proficiency in developing and using models, constructing explanations, and engaging in argument from evidence and to use these practices to demonstrate understanding of the core ideas.
The performance expectations in Earth’s Systems help 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 can develop models and explanations for the ways that feed backs 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 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 feed backs that create changes to other systems. The crosscutting concepts of energy and matter; structure and function; stability and change; interdependence of science, engineering, and technology; and influence of engineering, technology, and science on society and the natural world are called out as organizing concepts for these disciplinary core ideas. In the HS. Earth’s Systems performance expectations, students are expected to demonstrate proficiency in developing and using models, planning and carrying out investigations, analyzing and interpreting data, and engaging in argument from evidence and to use these practices to demonstrate understanding of the core ideas.