Monday, December 9, 2013

5 - ESS2 Earth Systems - FINAL (WND 12-7-13)

Module: Earth’s Systems
DCI: ESS2.A (A) Earth Materials and Systems – Earth’s major systems are the geosphere (solid and molten rock, soil, and sediments), the hydrosphere (water and ice), the atmosphere (air), and the biosphere (living things, including humans). The ocean supports a variety of ecosystems and organisms.

 PE: 5-ESS2-1 Develop a model using an example to describe ways the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and/or atmosphere interact.

[Clarification Statement: Examples could include the influence of the ocean on ecosystems, landform shape, and climate; the influence of the atmosphere on landforms and ecosystems through weather and climate; and the influence of mountain ranges on winds and clouds in the atmosphere. The geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere are each a system.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment is limited to the interactions of two systems at a time.]

Most questions should deal with an interaction between two of the systems listed. Questions that merely ask for details of a single system should be avoided.

Details about a system are fair game in a question that deals with system interactions.

Our belief is that the use of the word "model" in the NGSS does not always imply the construction of a physical representation, but more likely refers to a conceptual model (i.e. concept map) as per definition #8 of Model in the OED.

a. A simplified or idealized description or conception of a particular system, situation, or process, often in mathematical terms, that is put forward as a basis for theoretical or empirical understanding, or for calculations, predictions, etc.; a conceptual or mental representation of something. Freq. with modifying word. Cf. sense A. 1b.


Possible Question Starters:

Which of the following is the best example of how (system #1) affects (system#2)? 

When (something) occurs, this represents an interaction between which two systems?

Which of the following correctly identifies one of the interactions represented by the arrows in the diagram?

W = Plants and animals exchanging gases (wrong)
X = Course of a river changed by rising landform (right)
etc




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