Content Standard(s):
Science 4 ) Construct explanations from geologic evidence (e.g., change or extinction
of particular living organisms; field evidence or representations, including
models of geologic cross-sections; sedimentary layering) to identify patterns of
Earth's major historical events (e.g., formation of mountain chains and ocean
basins, significant volcanic eruptions, fossilization, folding, faulting,
igneous intrusion, erosion).
NAEP Framework
NAEP Statement::
NAEP Statement::
NAEP Statement::
Unpacked Content
Scientific And Engineering Practices:
Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions
Crosscutting Concepts: Patterns
Disciplinary Core Idea: Earth's Systems
Evidence Of Student Attainment:
Students:
Identify patterns of Earth's major historical events in geologic evidence.
Construct explanations from identified patterns regarding Earth's major historical events. Teacher Vocabulary:
Natural event
Catastrophic event
Mountain chain
Ocean basin
Fossilization
Folding
Faulting
Igneous intrusion
Erosion
Volcano
Volcanic eruption
Asteroid impact
Geologic time scale
Rock
Rock strata
Fossil record
Relative age
Mineral
Fossil
Sedimentary rock
Lava flow Knowledge:
Students know:
Major events in Earth's history include natural and catastrophic events.
Natural events may include formations of mountain chains, formations of ocean basins, fossilization, folding, faulting, igneous intrusion, and erosion.
Catastrophic events may include significant volcanic eruptions or asteroid impacts,
The geologic time scale interpreted from rock strata provides a way to organize Earth's history.
Analyses of rock strata and the fossil record provide only relative dates, not an absolute scale.
Rock strata are layers of rock visually distinguishable from other layers of rock.
Rocks are the solid mineral materials forming part of the surface of the Earth and other similar planets.
Fossils are a trace or print of the remains of a plant or animal of a past age preserved in plant or rock.
Unless they have been disturbed by subsequent activity, newer rock layers sit on top of older rock layers, allowing for a relative ordering in time of the formation of the layers (i.e., older sedimentary rocks lie beneath younger sedimentary rocks).
Any rocks or features that cut existing rock strata are younger than the rock strata that they cut (e.g., a younger fault cutting across older, existing rock strata).
The fossil record can provide relative ages based on the appearance or disappearance of organisms (e.g., fossil layers that contain only extinct animal groups are usually older than fossil layers that contain animal groups that are still alive today, and layers with only microbial fossils are typical of the earliest evidence of life).
Specific major events (e.g., extensive lava flows, volcanic eruptions, asteroid impacts) can be used to indicate periods of time that occurred before a given event from periods that occurred after it. Skills:
Students are able to:
Articulate a statement that relates a given phenomenon to a scientific idea, including that geologic evidence can be used to identify patterns of Earth's major historical events.
Identify and use multiple valid and reliable sources of evidence to construct an explanation identifying patterns of Earth's major historical events.
Use reasoning to connect the evidence and support an explanation of patterns in Earth's major historical events. Understanding:
Students understand that:
The geologic time scale interpreted from rock strata provides a way to organize Earth's history. Analyses of rock strata and the fossil record provide only relative dates, not an absolute scale.
Using a combination of the order of rock layers, the fossil record, and evidence of major geologic events, the relative time ordering of events can be constructed as a model for Earth's history, even though the timescales involved are immensely vaster than the lifetimes of humans or the entire history of humanity. AMSTI Resources:
AMSTI Module:
Alabama Alternate Achievement Standards
AAS Standard:
Science 6 ) Provide evidence from data of the distribution of fossils and rocks,
continental shapes, and seafloor structures to explain past plate motions.
NAEP Framework
NAEP Statement::
NAEP Statement::
Unpacked Content
Scientific And Engineering Practices:
Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions
Crosscutting Concepts: Patterns
Disciplinary Core Idea: Earth's Systems
Evidence Of Student Attainment:
Students:
Explain past plate motions with supporting evidence from data of the distribution of fossils, rocks, continental shapes, and seafloor structures. Teacher Vocabulary:
Evidence
Data
Fossils
Rock
Continent
Continental shelf
Geologic past
Pangea
Ridges
Volcanic ridges
Trenches
Theory of Continental Drift
Theory of Plate Tectonics
Crust
Mantle
Core
Lithosphere
Asthenosphere
Convection
Divergent boundary
Convergent boundary
Transform plate boundary
Seafloor
Seafloor structures
Alfred Wegener
Plastic flow Knowledge:
Students:
Fossils are a trace or print of the remains of a plant or animal of a past age preserved in plant or rock.
Rocks are the solid mineral materials forming part of the surface of the Earth and other similar planets.
A continent is any of the world's main continuous expanses of land (i.e.,, Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America).
The continental shelf is the part of a continent that lies under the ocean and slopes down to the ocean floor.
Regions of different continents that share similar fossils and similar rocks suggest that, in the geologic past, those sections of continent were once attached and have since been separated.
The shapes of the continents roughly fit together like pieces in a jigsaw puzzle, suggesting that those land masses were once joined and have since separated.
The hypothetical land mass that existed when all the continents were joined is called Pangea.
The separation of continents by the sequential formation of new seafloor at the center of the ocean is inferred by age patterns in the oceanic crust that increase in age from the center of the ocean to the edges of the ocean.
The distribution of seafloor structures (e.g., volcanic ridges at the centers of oceans, trenches at the edges of continents) combined with the patterns of ages of the seafloor (youngest ages at the ridge, oldest ages at the trenches) supports the interpretation that new crust forms at the ridges and then moves away from the ridges as new crust continues to form and that the oldest crust is being destroyed at seafloor trenches.
Ridges are underwater mountain systems formed by plate tectonics.
Trenches are long, narrow, steep-sided depressions in the ocean floor.
The Theory of Continental Drift was first proposed by Alfred Wegener and proposes that part of the Earth's crust slowly drifts atop a liquid core.
The Theory of Plate Tectonics states that the outer rigid layer of the Earth is divided into a couple of dozen "plates" that move around across the Earth's surface relative to each other.
The layers of the Earth include, from outmost to innermost, the crust, mantle, outer core, and inner core. The crust and upper mantle are broken into moving plates called the lithosphere. The asthenosphere is located below the lithosphere. In the asthenosphere, there is relatively low resistance to plastic flow and convection occurs, causing plates to move.
The three types of plate tectonic boundaries include divergent, convergent, and transform plate boundaries.
Divergent boundaries occur when two tectonic plates move away from each other.
Convergent boundaries occur when two tectonic plates come together.
Transform plate boundaries occur when two plates slide past one another. Skills:
Students are able to:
Articulate a statement that relates a given phenomenon to a scientific idea, including that past plate motions can be described with data from the distribution of fossils and rocks, continental shapes, and seafloor structures.
Organize given data in a way that facilitates analysis and interpretation.
Analyze the data to identify relationships between the data and Earth's past plate motions.
Identify and use multiple valid and reliable sources of data.
Use evidence and reasoning to construct an explanation for the given phenomenon, which involves past plate motions. Understanding:
Students understand that:
Maps of ancient land and water patterns, based on investigations of rocks and fossils, make clear how Earth's plates have moved great distances, collided, and spread apart. AMSTI Resources:
AMSTI Module:
Alabama Alternate Achievement Standards
AAS Standard:
