1: Earth’s Place in the Universe

1: Create and manipulate models (e.g., physical, graphical, conceptual) to explain the occurrences of day/night cycles, length of year, seasons, tides, eclipses, and lunar phases based on patterns of the observed motions of celestial bodies.

2D Eclipse
3D Eclipse
Eclipse
Moonrise, Moonset, and Phases
Phases of the Moon
Seasons Around the World
Seasons in 3D
Seasons: Earth, Moon, and Sun
Seasons: Why do we have them?
Summer and Winter

2: Construct models and use simulations (e.g., diagrams of the relationship between Earth and man-made satellites, rocket launch, International Space Station, elliptical orbits, black holes, life cycles of stars, orbital periods of objects within the solar system, astronomical units and light years) to explain the role of gravity in affecting the motions of celestial bodies (e.g., planets, moons, comets, asteroids, meteors) within galaxies and the solar system.

Gravity Pitch
Solar System
Solar System Explorer

3: Develop and use models to determine scale properties of objects in the solar system (e.g., scale model representing sizes and distances of the sun, Earth, moon system based on a one-meter diameter sun).

Solar System
Solar System Explorer
Weight and Mass

2: Earth’s Systems

5: Use evidence to explain how different geologic processes shape Earth’s history over widely varying scales of space and time (e.g., chemical and physical erosion; tectonic plate processes; volcanic eruptions; meteor impacts; regional geographical features, including Alabama fault lines, Rickwood Caverns, and Wetumpka Impact Crater).

Erosion Rates
Plate Tectonics
River Erosion
Rock Cycle
Weathering

6: Provide evidence from data of the distribution of fossils and rocks, continental shapes, and seafloor structures to explain past plate motions.

Building Pangaea
Plate Tectonics

7: Use models to construct explanations of the various biogeochemical cycles of Earth (e.g., water, carbon, nitrogen) and the flow of energy that drives these processes.

Carbon Cycle
Cell Energy Cycle
Plate Tectonics
Rock Cycle
Water Cycle
Weathering

8: Plan and carry out investigations that demonstrate the chemical and physical processes that form rocks and cycle Earth materials (e.g., processes of crystallization, heating and cooling, weathering, deformation, and sedimentation).

Carbon Cycle
Cell Energy Cycle
Plate Tectonics
Rock Cycle
Weathering

9: Use models to explain how the flow of Earth’s internal energy drives a cycling of matter between Earth’s surface and deep interior causing plate movements (e.g., mid-ocean ridges, ocean trenches, volcanoes, earthquakes, mountains, rift valleys, volcanic islands).

Carbon Cycle
Cell Energy Cycle
Plate Tectonics
Rock Cycle
Weathering

10: Use research-based evidence to propose a scientific explanation regarding how the distribution of Earth’s resources such as minerals, fossil fuels, and groundwater are the result of ongoing geoscience processes (e.g., past volcanic and hydrothermal activity, burial of organic sediments, active weathering of rock).

Carbon Cycle

12: Integrate qualitative scientific and technical information (e.g., weather maps; diagrams; other visualizations, including radar and computer simulations) to support the claim that motions and complex interactions of air masses result in changes in weather conditions.

Coastal Winds and Clouds - Metric
Hurricane Motion - Metric
Weather Maps - Metric

12.a: Use various instruments (e.g., thermometers, barometers, anemometers, wet bulbs) to monitor local weather and examine weather patterns to predict various weather events, especially the impact of severe weather (e.g., fronts, hurricanes, tornados, blizzards, ice storms, droughts).

Coastal Winds and Clouds - Metric
Hurricane Motion - Metric
Weather Maps - Metric

14: Analyze and interpret data (e.g., tables, graphs, maps of global and regional temperatures; atmospheric levels of gases such as carbon dioxide and methane; rates of human activities) to describe how various human activities (e.g., use of fossil fuels, creation of urban heat islands, agricultural practices) and natural processes (e.g., solar radiation, greenhouse effect, volcanic activity) may cause changes in local and global temperatures over time.

Carbon Cycle
Greenhouse Effect - Metric

3: Earth and Human Activity

15: Analyze evidence (e.g., databases on human populations, rates of consumption of food and other natural resources) to explain how changes in human population, per capita consumption of natural resources, and other human activities (e.g., land use, resource development, water and air pollution, urbanization) affect Earth’s systems.

Carbon Cycle
Coral Reefs 2 - Biotic Factors

16: Implement scientific principles to design processes for monitoring and minimizing human impact on the environment (e.g., water usage, including withdrawal of water from streams and aquifers or construction of dams and levees; land usage, including urban development, agriculture, or removal of wetlands; pollution of air, water, and land).

GMOs and the Environment