Unit 1: Earth's Layers and Tectonic Plates (1st Trimester)
Big Idea: Earth has many systems and patterns that can teach us about Earth's history, help us make informed present day decisions, and help us predict Earth's future.
Iowa Core Ideas:
- Concept 2.1 Understand and apply knowledge of the structure and processes of the earth system and the processes that change the earth and its surface.
- Skill 2.1.1 The solid earth consists of layers including a lithosphere; a hot, convecting mantle and a dense metallic core.
- Skill 2.1.2 Tectonic plates constantly move at rates of centimeters per year in response to movements in the mantle. Major geological events, such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and mountain building, are results of these plate motions.
- Skill 2.1.3 Land forms are the result of a combination of constructive and destructive forces. Constructive forces include crustal deformation, volcanic eruption, and deposition of sediment, while destructive forces include weathering and erosion.
- Skill 2.1.4 Some changes in the earth can be described as the “rock cycle.” Rocks at the earth’s surface weather, forming sediments that are buried, then compacted, heated, and often re-crystallized into new rock. Eventually, those new rocks may be brought to the surface by the forces that drive plate motions, and the rock cycle continues.
- Concept 2.3 Understand and apply knowledge of earth history based on physical evidence.
- Skill 2.3.1 The earth processes we see today including erosion, movement of tectonic plates, and changes in atmospheric composition are similar to those that occurred in the past.
- Skill 2.3.2 Earth history is also influenced by occasional catastrophes such as the impact of an asteroid or a comet.
- Skill 2.3.3 Fossils provide important evidence of how life and environmental conditions have changed.
- Core Essential Questions:
- How do Earth’s catastrophic events shape Earth’s features and global economies?
- How is the Earth’s surface changed by the rock cycle?
- How is the Earth impacted by tectonic plates?
- How can studying rock and fossil records help us understand earth’s history?
- Key Vocabulary:
- Mantle, Crust, Core, Fossil, Volcano, Earthquake, Epicenter, Richter Scale, P waves, S waves, Tsunami, Convergent fault, Divergent fault, Strike-slip fault, Seismometer, Seismograph, Extinction, Subduction zone, Radioactive decay, Half-life, Absolute dating, Radiometric dating, Relative dating, Geologic time scale, Paleontologist
Big Idea: Force affects motion.
Iowa Core Ideas:
- Concept 3.3 Understand and apply knowledge of motions and forces.
- Skill 3.3.1 The motion of an object can be described by its position, direction of motion, and speed. That motion can be measured and represented on a graph.
- Skill 3.3.2 An object that is not being subjected to a force will continue to move at a constant speed and in a straight line.
- Skill 3.3.3 If more than one force acts on an object along a straight line, then the forces will reinforce or cancel one another, depending on their direction and magnitude. Unbalanced forces will cause changes in speed or direction of an object’s motion.
- Core Essential Questions:
- How does force affect motion?
- How does force and motion impact our daily lives?
- Key Vocabulary:
- Speed, Acceleration, Velocity, Momentum, Inertia, Mass, Position, Force, Balanced Forces, Unbalanced Forces, Push, Pull, Kinetic Energy, Potential Energy, Friction, Air Resistance
Unit 3: Space (3rd Trimester)
Big Idea: The Earth is part of a system of planets that orbit around a central star.
Iowa Core Ideas:
- Concept 2.5 Understand and apply knowledge of the components of our solar system.
- Skill 2.5.1 The earth is the third planet from the sun in a system that includes the moon, the sun, seven other planets and their moons, and smaller objects, such as asteroids and comets. The sun, an average star, is the central and largest body in the solar system.
- Skill 2.5.2 Gravity is the force that keeps planets in orbit around the sun and governs the rest of the motion in the solar system. Gravity alone holds us to the earth’s surface and explains the phenomena of the tides.
- Skill 2.5.3 The sun is the major source of energy for phenomena on the earth’s surface, such as growth of plants, winds, ocean currents, and the water cycle. Seasons result from variations in the amount of the sun’s energy hitting the surface, due to the tilt of the earth’s rotation on its axis and the length of the day.
- Skill 2.5.4 Most objects in the solar system are in regular and predictable motion. Those motions explain such phenomena as the day, the year, phases of the moon, and eclipses.
- Core Essential Questions:
- What is the makeup of our solar system, and how is it essential for life on Earth?
- How does the position of the Earth in the Solar System affect the conditions of life on our planet?
- How does the moon affect life on our planet?
- What are the reasons for the seasons? How do they affect life on our planet?
- Key Vocabulary:
- Planet, Sun, Moon, Eclipse, Galaxy, Universe, Solar Eclipse , Orbit, Gravitational Pull, Gravity, Nuclear Fusion, Mass, Asteroid, Comet, Meteor, Meteorite, Moon Phase, Rotation, Revolution, Atmosphere, Solar System, Satellite
Iowa Core Ideas:
- Concept 4.2 Understand and apply knowledge of how different organisms pass on traits (heredity).
- Skill 4.2.1 Every organism requires a set of instructions for specifying its traits. Heredity is the passage of these instructions from one generation to another.
- Skill 4.2.2 Hereditary information is contained in genes, located in the chromosomes of each cell. Each gene carries a single unit of information. An inherited trait of an individual can be determined by one or by many genes, and a single gene can influence more than one trait. A human cell contains many thousands of different genes.
- Skill 4.2.3 The characteristics of an organism can be described in terms of a combination of traits. Some traits are inherited and others result from interactions with the environment.
- Core Essential Questions:
- How does the environment affect genetics?
- What traits are passed on?
- What is genetic engineering?
- Should we genetically engineer things? Why/Why not?
- How do tools, such as the punnett square, help us understand genetics?
- Key Vocabulary:
- Heredity, Chromosome, Trait, Gene, Allele , DNA, Inherit, Dominant, Recessive, Generation, Genotype, Phenotype, Probability, Environmental Factors, Punnett Square, Offspring, Mutation, Adaptation
