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Earth and Space Sciences Performance Expectations

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Table 2.10. Core ideas for Earth and Space Science performance expectations
Core Idea

ESS1: Earth’s Place in the Universe

ESS1.A: The Universe and Its Stars
ESS1.B: Earth and the Solar System
ESS1.C: The History of Planet Earth
ESS2: Earth’s Systems
ESS2.A: Earth Materials and Systems
ESS2.B: Plate Tectonics and Large-Scale System Interactions
ESS2.C: The Roles of Water in Earth’s Surface Processes
ESS2.D: Weather and Climate
ESS2.E: Biogeology
ESS3: Earth and Human Activity
ESS3.A: Natural Resources
ESS3.B: Natural Hazards
ESS3.C: Human Impacts on Earth Systems
ESS3.D: Global Climate Change

Defining Performance Expectations

According to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), performance expectations describe what students who demonstrate understanding should know and be able to do. Performance expectations encompass practices, crosscutting concepts, and disciplinary core ideas (DCI). Most performance expectations are accompanied by a clarification statement, which provides examples or explains the emphasis of the performance expectation (Table 2.9). Many, but not all, performance expectations also have an assessment boundary, indicating an appropriate level of depth for the performance expectation (Table 2.9). Full performance expectations including clarification statements, assessment boundaries, links to common core state standards, and how each expectation is related to practices, crosscutting concepts, and DCI are available on the NGSS website.

 

Table 2.9. Example of an Earth and Space Science Performance Expectation
MS-ESS1-1. Develop and use a model of the Earth-sun-moon system to describe the cyclic patterns of lunar phases, eclipses of the sun and moon, and seasons. [Clarification Statement: Examples of models can be physical, graphical, or conceptual.]

 

Performance Expectations often encompass a depth and breadth of content that is beyond the scope of any one lesson or activity. For this reason, in Exploring Our Fluid Earth, Performance Expectations are aligned at the topic level. Each topic contains a combination of content, activities, and/or question sets that build toward the associated performance expectations. For each topic, a linking sentence describes how the contents of the topic address the performance expectations.

 

 

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Fig. 2.27. Model system to simulate thermohaline circulation

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Imgae by Byron Inouye


For example, this curriculum addresses the performance expectation MS-ESS2-6 (Develop and use a model to describe how unequal heating and rotation of the Earth cause patterns of atmospheric and oceanic circulation that determine regional climates) in the topic Density Driven Currents (Fig. 2.27). The linking sentence for this topic describes how the content and activities in the topic, including the activity Modeling Thermohaline Water Flow, work towards building an understanding of how differences in salinity and heat energy affect ocean circulation.

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Exploring Our Fluid Earth, a product of the Curriculum Research & Development Group (CRDG), College of Education. University of Hawaii, 2011. This document may be freely reproduced and distributed for non-profit educational purposes.