SC15.ESS.9 | ALEX

Science (2015) Grade(s): 09-12 - Earth and Space Science

Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information

Stability and Change

Students know:

Plate movements are responsible for most continental and ocean-floor features and for the distribution of most rocks and minerals within Earth's crust.

Students are able to:

Develop the claim based on evidence that constructive and destructive processes shape Earth's land features.
Identify and describe evidence supporting the claim, such as specific internal processes like volcanism, mountain building or tectonic uplift as causal agents in building up Earth's surface over time; specific surface processes, like weathering and erosion as causal agents in wearing down Earth's surface over time.

Students understand that:

The appearance of land features and sea-floor features are a result of both constructive forces and destructive mechanisms.
Earth's systems, being dynamic and interacting, cause feedback effects that can increase or decrease the original changes.

Students:

From a given explanation, identify the claims, the evidence and the reasoning that will require evaluation.
Based on evidence, evaluate the mode and ease with which energy moves from one Earth system to another.
Evaluate explanations for changes in Earth's mean temperature via changes in the energy budget of Earth's systems.
Research and compile a set of explanations both supporting and disavowing the impact of human activities on the increase of carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere.

Weathering