Earth Science

The following learning targets represent the major concepts studied and assessed in this course.

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Semester 1

Unit 1: Astronomy

• Explain the relationship between a star’s properties and the released energy.
• Explain how stars produce different elements over their lifetimes.
• Use astronomical evidence to support the big bang theory.
• Use mathematical representations to predict orbital motions of objects in the solar system.

Unit 2: Geologic Time

• Describe using evidence to support that continental rocks are generally older than oceanic rocks.
• Explain how the Earth was formed.
• Construct an argument about the simultaneous coevolution of Earth’s systems and life on Earth.

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Semester 2

Unit 3: Plate Tectonics

• Construct a model to illustrate how Earth’s interior and exterior processes operate.
• Support a claim that a change in Earth’s surface can cause changes to other Earth systems.
• Evaluate evidence for the ages of different materials on Earth based on plate movements.
• Evaluate evidence of plate tectonics to show past and present plate movement.

Unit 4: Rocks and Minerals

• Model the cycling of carbon between the different Earth systems.
• Construct an explanation for how the availability of natural resources have influenced human activity.

Unit 5: Weather and Climate

• Explain how physical processes on Earth’s surface have shaped Earth’s features over time.
• Describe how carbon cycles between Earth’s systems.
• Use data to provide evidence for the current rate of climate change.