1: Earth and Space Sciences

1.A: Describe how the positions and motions of the objects in the universe cause predictable and cyclic events.

1.A.1: Describe how objects in the Solar System are in regular and predictable motions that explain such phenomena as days, years, seasons, eclipses, tides and moon cycles.

2D Eclipse
3D Eclipse
Comparing Earth and Venus
Phases of the Moon
Seasons Around the World
Seasons in 3D
Seasons: Earth, Moon, and Sun
Seasons: Why do we have them?
Solar System Explorer
Summer and Winter
Tides

1.A.2: Explain that the gravitational force is the dominant force determining motions in the Solar System and in particular keeps the planets in orbit around the Sun.

Gravity Pitch

1.B: Explain that the universe is composed of vast amounts of matter, most of which is at incomprehensible distances and held together by gravitational force. Describe how the universe is studied by the use of equipment such as telescopes, probes, satellites and spacecraft.

1.B.7: Examine the life cycle of a star and predict the next likely stage of a star.

H-R Diagram

1.E: Describe the processes that contribute to the continuous changing of Earth's surface (e.g., earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, erosion, mountain building and lithospheric plate movements).

1.E.9: Describe the interior structure of Earth and Earth's crust as divided into tectonic plates riding on top of the slow moving currents of magma in the mantle.

Plate Tectonics

1.E.10: Explain that most major geological events (e.g., earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, hot spots and mountain building) result from plate motion.

Earthquake - Recording Station
Plate Tectonics

1.E.11: Use models to analyze the size and shape of Earth, its surface and its interior (e.g., globes, topographic maps, satellite images).

Building Topographic Maps
Reading Topographic Maps

1.E.12: Explain that some processes involved in the rock cycle are directly related to the thermal energy and forces in the mantle that drive plate motions.

Rock Cycle

1.E.13: Describe how landforms are created through a combination of destructive (e.g., weathering and erosion) and constructive processes (e.g., crustal deformation, volcanic eruptions and deposition of sediment).

Plate Tectonics

1.E.15: Illustrate how the three primary types of plate boundaries (transform, divergent and convergent) cause different landforms (e.g., mountains, volcanoes, ocean trenches).

Plate Tectonics

2: Life Sciences

2.B: Describe the characteristics of an organism in terms of a combination of inherited traits and recognize reproduction as a characteristic of living organisms essential to the continuation of the species.

2.B.3: Explain how variations in structure, behavior or physiology allow some organisms to enhance their reproductive success and survival in a particular environment.

Evolution: Mutation and Selection
Evolution: Natural and Artificial Selection
Rainfall and Bird Beaks

2.D: Explain how extinction of a species occurs when the environment changes and its adaptive characteristics are insufficient to allow survival (as seen in evidence of the fossil record).

2.D.4: Explain that diversity of species is developed through gradual processes over many generations (e.g., fossil record).

Human Evolution - Skull Analysis

3: Physical Sciences

3.B: In simple cases, describe the motion of objects and conceptually describe the effects of forces on an object.

3.B.2: Explain that motion describes the change in the position of an object (characterized by a speed and direction) as time changes.

Golf Range
Measuring Motion
Shoot the Monkey

3.B.3: Explain that an unbalanced force acting on an object changes that object's speed and/or direction.

Fan Cart Physics

3.D: Describe that energy takes many forms, some forms represent kinetic energy and some forms represent potential energy; and during energy transformations the total amount of energy remains constant.

3.D.4: Demonstrate that waves transfer energy.

Heat Absorption
Radiation

3.D.5: Demonstrate that vibrations in materials may produce waves that spread away from the source in all directions (e.g., earthquake waves, sound waves).

Earthquake - Recording Station
Longitudinal Waves