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CLG Toolkit
Tools aligned to CLG expectations and/or indicators.
Goal 2: Concepts Of Earth/Space Science
The student will demonstrate the ability to use scientific skills and processes (Core Learning Goal 1) to explain the physical behavior of the environment, Earth, and the universe.
Expectation
2.1 The student will identify and describe techniques used to investigate the universe and Earth.
Indicator
- 2.1.1 The student will describe the purpose and advantage of current tools, delivery systems and techniques used to study the universe.
Assessment limits:
- Tools (optical and radio telescopes, spectrometers)
- Delivery systems (satellite-based, ground-based, space probe)
- Techniques (imaging, spectroscopy)
Indicator
- 2.1.2 The student will describe the purpose and advantage of current tools, delivery systems and techniques used to study the atmosphere, land and water on Earth.
Assessment limits:
- Tools (spectrometers, seismograph)
- Delivery systems (satellite-based, ground-based)
- Techniques (imaging, Geographic Information System, Global Positioning System, spectroscopy, Doppler, epicenter location/time-travel graphs)
Expectation
2.2 The student will describe and apply the concept of natural forces and apply them to the study of Earth/Space Science.
Indicator
- 2.2.1 The student will explain the role of forces in the formation and operation of the universe.
Assessment limits:
- Newton’s Universal Law of Gravitation
- Structure and evolution of galaxies and the universe (Big Bang Theory)
- Stellar structure and evolution (life cycle of stars, stellar systems, H-R diagram)
- Formation and evolution of the solar system (Nebular theory, small bodies)
- Keplers 3 Laws of Planetary Motion
- Sun-Earth connection (thermonuclear process, sunspot cycle, coronal mass ejection, flares, solar wind, auroras)
Indicator
- 2.2.2 The student will explain the role and interaction of revolution, rotation and gravity on the Sun-Earth-Moon system.
Assessment limits:
- Seasons (change in solar angle, yearly variation in length of day/night, absorption/reflection/scattering of insolation, solstices and equinoxes, rotation/revolution/precession, yearly variation of the sun’s altitude and azimuth)
- Eclipses (lunar, solar, total, annular, partial, umbra, penumbra, 2 eclipse “seasons” per Earth year, yearly/monthly variations in lunar position and length of visibility of the moon)
- Earth-moon interactions (relationship between lunar phase and tide, tidal bulge and rate of lunar revolution, tides and Earth-moon distance, sidereal and synodic lunar months)
Expectation
2.3 The student will explain how the transfer of energy and matter affect Earth systems.
Indicator
- 2.3.1 The student will describe how energy and matter transfer affect Earth systems.
Assessment limits:
- Atmospheric circulation (heat transfer systems – conduction/convection/radiation, phase change, latent heat, pressure gradients, general global circulation, Coriolis effect)
- Oceanic circulation (density differences, daily and seasonal land/sea breezes, Coriolis effect)
Indicator
- 2.3.2 The student will explain how global conditions are affected when natural and human-induced change alter the transfer of energy and matter.
Assessment limits:
- Atmospheric composition and structure (greenhouse gases, stratospheric ozone concentration and distribution, aerosols, temperature)
- Pollutants (particulates, tropospheric ozone concentration and distribution, acid rain)
- Ocean-atmosphere-land interactions (current changes, continental movement, El Niño, La Niña)
- Cloud cover (amount, type, albedo)
- Climate type and distribution (temperature and precipitation)
- Sea level, glaciers and sea ice, biome location and distribution, emergent and submergent coastlines
Expectation
2.4 The student will analyze the dynamic nature of the geosphere.
Indicator
- 2.4.1 The student will compare the origin and structure of igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks.
Assessment limits:
- Structure of matter (atoms, molecules, isotopes)
- Physical properties (density) and chemical composition of common rock-forming mineral groups
- Origin, texture (crystal size, shape) and mineral composition of common rock groups
Indicator
- 2.4.2 The student will explain how the transfer of energy drives the rock cycle.
Assessment limits:
- Destructive processes (weathering, erosion, subsidence, melting)
- Constructive processes (lithification, deformation, metamorphism, volcanism, cooling/crystallization, deposition)
- Landform change (surface & groundwater, coasts, glacial processes, desert processes)
Indicator
- 2.4.3 The student will explain changes in Earth’s surface using plate tectonics.
Assessment limits:
- Continental drift (rock/structure/climate/fossil evidence, jigsaw fit)
- Sea floor spreading (age evidence, mantle circulation, outer core circulation/magnetic reversals, seismic activity, volcanism, mountain building, ocean ridges)
- Theory of Plate Tectonics (crustal plate composition, mantle circulation, divergent/convergent/transform fault boundaries, subduction zones, trenches, island arcs, seismic activity, volcanism, mountain building)
Expectation
2.5 The student will investigate methods that geologists use to determine the history of Earth.
Indicator
- 2.5.1 The student will apply geologic principles used to date Earth’s geologic and biologic events.
Assessment limits:
- Relative dating (superposition in rock columns, core samples, unconformities; uniformitarianism; crosscutting relationships; correlation of rock layers, fossils)
- Absolute dating (radioactive dating)
Indicator
- 2.5.2 The student will compare events in Earth’s history that have been grouped according to similarities.
Assessment limits:
- Geologic time (scale and magnitude)
- Era, period, epoch
