Exploring Our Fluid Earth
Teaching Science as Inquiry
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Definition of Matter
NGSS Performance Expectations:
The content and activity in this topic will work towards building an understanding of how substances are categorized and their properties.
Matter
Matter is anything that takes up space and can be weighed. In other words, matter has volume and mass. There are many different substances, or types of matter, in the universe. Chemists describe matter based on both physical characteristics, such as color or mass, and chemical characteristics, such as how one type of matter interacts with another type of matter. There are many ways to describe and classify matter.
Table of Contents:
Activities:
Special Features:
Representative Image:
Table of Contents
- Physical
- World Ocean
- Introduction to the World Ocean
- Ocean Basins and Continents
- Map Distortion
- Locating Points on a Globe
- Weird Science: Polar Circles and Tropical Circles
- Weird Science: The Prime Meridian and Time Zones
- Compare-Contrast-Connect: Converting Decimal Degrees
- Activity: Locating Points on a Globe
- Activity: Mapping the Globe
- Activity: Pacific Scavenger Hunt
- Further Investigations: Locating Points on a Globe
- Density Effects
- Introduction to Density
- Density, Temperature, and Salinity
- Weird Science: Macroscopic Changes in Liquid Water Volume
- Compare-Contrast-Connect: Human Density
- Practices of Science: Making Simulated Seawater
- Activity: Density Bags
- Voice of the Sea: Submarines and Ocean Circulation
- Weird Science: Floating Aircraft Carriers
- Further Investigations: Density, Temperature, and Salinity
- Ocean Temperature Profiles
- Measuring Salinity
- Density Driven Currents
- Circulation in Marginal Seas and Estuaries
- Atmospheric Effects
- Introduction to Atmospheric Effects
- Wind Formation
- Wind Systems
- Ocean Surface Currents
- Question Set: Wind Generated Currents
- Weird Science: Marine Debris and Oceanic Gyres
- Weird Science: From Observation to Inference to Testable Hypothesis
- Compare-Contrast-Connect: Biogeography
- Activity: Current Observation Methods
- Activity: Build a Drifter
- Further Investigations: Ocean Surface Currents
- Effect of Surface Currents
- Climate and Atmosphere
- Waves
- Introduction to Waves
- Wave and Wave Properties
- Compare-Contrast-Connect: The Origin and Diversity of Surf Crafts
- Compare-Contrast-Connect: Estimating Wave Height
- Activity: Watching Waves
- Weird Science: Communicating Wave Sizes—Local Scale
- Question Set: Waves and Wave Properties
- Activity: Make Your Own Wave
- Activity: Standing Waves
- Further Investigations: Waves and Wave Properties
- Sea States
- Wave Energy and Wave Changes with Depth
- Coastal Interactions
- Tides
- Ocean Floor
- Introduction to the Ocean Floor
- Layers of Earth
- Change Over Time
- Continental Movement by Plate Tectonics
- Voice of the Sea: Volcanoes
- Activity: Modeling Plate Spreading
- Activity: Earth’s Plates
- Compare-Contrast-Connect: Volcanoes
- Activity: Continental Movement over Long Time Scales
- Practices of Science: Opinion, Hypothesis & Theory
- Question Set: Ocean Floor and Volcanoes
- Further Investigations: Continental Movement by Plate Tectonics
- Seafloor Features and Mapping the Seafloor
- The Oceanic Crust and Seafloor
- Navigation and Transportation
- Introduction to Navigation and Transportation
- Wayfinding and Navigation
- Voice of the Sea: Tara Oceans Expeditions
- Weird Science: Animal Migration
- Traditional Ways of Knowing: Polynesian Stick Charts
- Activity: Floating Magnetic Compass
- Activity: Determine Your Latitude
- Traditional Ways of Knowing: Estimating Latitude
- Voice of the Sea: Traditional Voyaging
- Activity: Navigating with Nautical Charts
- Question Set: Wayfinding and Navigation
- Further Investigations: Wayfinding and Navigation
- Transportation and Ship Design
- Ocean Depths
- World Ocean
- Biological
- What is Alive
- Introduction to What is Alive?
- Properties of Life
- Evolution by Natural Selection
- Weird Science: Species Flocks
- Activity: Modeling Evolution
- Practices of Science: Communication & Collaboration in the Scientific Community
- Weird Science: Deadly Flu
- Activity: Simulate Natural Selection
- Compare-Contrast-Connect: Natural and Sexual Selection
- Compare-Contrast-Connect: Marsupial Mammals versus Placental Mammals
- Practices of Science: Common Misconceptions on Evolution
- Further Investigations: Evolution by Natural Selection
- Classification of Life
- Aquatic Plants and Algae
- Introduction to Algae and Aquatic Plants
- What Are Aquatic Plants and Algae
- Structure and Function
- Weird Science: Penicillin and the Cell Wall
- Practices of Science: Microscope Use
- Weird Science: Kleptoplasty
- Activity: Identifying Cells and Cell Parts Using a Microscope
- Activity: Structure of Algae with Comparisons to Vascular Plants
- Further Investigations: Where are photosynthetic autotrophs found in your life?
- Evidence of Common Ancestry and Diversity
- Energy Acquisition
- Adaptations
- Growth, Development, and Reproduction
- Behavior
- Invertebrates
- Fish
- Amphibians Reptiles and Birds
- Mammals
- Marine Microbes
- What is Alive
- Chemical
- Matter
- Chemistry and Seawater
- Introduction to Chemistry and Seawater
- The Salty Sea
- The Nature and Organization of Elements
- Atoms, Molecules, and Compounds
- Elemental Abundance
- Ionic Compounds
- Question Set: Using The Periodic Table to Predict Ion Formation
- Question Set: Ions in Seawater
- Question Set: Ionic Compounds
- Question Set: Salts are Ionic Compounds
- Weird Science: Salt Fortification and Additives
- Compare-Contrast-Connect: The Role of Salt in Human History
- Further Investigations: Ionic Compounds
- Covalent Compounds
- Properties of Water
- Chemicals as Tracers of Water Movement
- Energy and the Water Cycle
- Introduction to Energy and the Water Cycle
- Phases of Matter
- Ice
- Salinity and Ice Formation
- Liquid and Gaseous Water
- The Water Cycle
- Activity: Simulate the Water Cycle
- Question Set: Still
- Question Set: Evaporation and Humidity
- Compare-Contrast-Connect: Water Droplets
- Weird Science: Objects in Air
- Climate Connection: Storm Clouds
- Question Set: Condensation and Precipitation
- Compare-Contrast-Connect: Water Needs and Water Use
- Compare-Contrast-Connect: Sea Surface Salinity
- Question Set: Water Cycle
- Question Set: Sublimation and Deposition
- Further Investigations: Water Cycle
- Specific Heat
- Biogeochemical Cycles
- Seafloor Chemistry
- Building Blocks of Life
- SEA Curriculum
- OPIHI Curriculum
- Standards Alignment
- Ocean Literacy Principles (OLP)
- Introduction to Ocean Literacy Principles (OLP)
- OLP 1: The Earth has one big ocean with many features
- OLP 2: The ocean and life in the ocean shape the features of the Earth
- OLP 3: The ocean is a major influence on weather and climate
- OLP 4: The ocean makes Earth habitable
- OLP 5: The ocean supports a great diversity of life and ecosystems
- OLP 6: The ocean and humans are inextricably interconnected
- OLP 7: The ocean is largely unexplored
- Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
- Introduction to NGSS
- Science and Engineering Practices
- Asking Questions and Defining Problems
- Developing and Using Models
- Planning and Carrying Out Investigations
- Analyzing and Interpreting Data
- Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking
- Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions
- Engaging in Argument from Evidence
- Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information
- Crosscutting Concepts
- Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCI)
- Physical Science Performance Expectations
- Life Science Performance Expectations
- Earth and Space Sciences Performance Expectations
- Engineering, Technology, and the Application of Science Performance Expectations
- Ocean Literacy Principles (OLP)
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Exploring Our Fluid Earth, a product of the Curriculum Research & Development Group (CRDG), College of Education. © University of Hawai‘i, 2021. This document may be freely reproduced and distributed for non-profit educational purposes.