NGSS Performance Expectations. MS-ESS3-5 – Earth and Human Activity. Ask questions to clarify evidence of the factors that have caused the rise in global temperatures over the past century.
If you were to randomly place your finger on a map of the world, with what certainty might you predict the climate of the place you land?
NGSS Science and Engineering Practices. 6 – Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions. MS. Construct a scientific explanation based on valid and reliable evidence obtained from sources (including the students’ own experiments) and the assumption that theories and laws that describe nature operate today as they did in the past and will continue to do so in the future.
The interaction of climate and geology helped sculpt and form our present-day landscapes.
NGSS Disciplinary Core Ideas. MS-ESS2.A – Earth’s Materials and Systems. All Earth processes are the result of energy flowing and matter cycling within and among the planet’s systems. This energy is derived from the sun and Earth’s hot interior. The energy that flows and matter that cycles produce chemical and physical changes in Earth’s materials and living organisms.
Carbon flows through biological, physical, and geological systems with different processes and at different timescales.
NGSS Disciplinary Core Ideas. MS-ESS2.A – Earth’s Materials and Systems. All Earth processes are the result of energy flowing and matter cycling within and among the planet’s systems. This energy is derived from the sun and Earth’s hot interior. The energy that flows and matter that cycles produce chemical and physical changes in Earth’s materials and living organisms.
As climate has changed through Earth’s history, the landscape has changed with it.
NGSS Disciplinary Core Ideas. MS-ESS2.A – Earth’s Materials and Systems. The planet’s systems interact over scales that range from microscopic to global in size, and they operate over fractions of a second to billions of years. These interactions have shaped Earth’s history and will determine its future.
To introduce the topic of the carbon cycle, ask students to brainstorm what they already know about carbon.
NGSS Disciplinary Core Ideas. MS-ESS2.A – Earth’s Materials and Systems. All Earth processes are the result of energy flowing and matter cycling within and among the planet’s systems. This energy is derived from the sun and Earth’s hot interior. The energy that flows and matter that cycles produce chemical and physical changes in Earth’s materials and living organisms.
What can past climate changes tell us about the possible effects of current global temperature trends?
NGSS Disciplinary Core Ideas. MS-ESS2.A – Earth’s Materials and Systems. The planet’s systems interact over scales that range from microscopic to global in size, and they operate over fractions of a second to billions of years. These interactions have shaped Earth’s history and will determine its future.
Explain to students that they will model a carbon atom moving through the carbon cycle
NGSS Crosscutting Concepts. 4 – Systems and System Models. MS. Models can be used to represent systems and their interactions—such as inputs, processes and outputs—and energy, matter, and information flows within systems.
have students share what they have learned in their expert roles with the others in their group
NGSS Science and Engineering Practices. 6 – Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions. MS. Construct a scientific explanation based on valid and reliable evidence obtained from sources (including the students’ own experiments) and the assumption that theories and laws that describe the natural world operate today as they did in the past and will continue to do so in the future.
draw a carbon cycle diagram on a large sheet of paper that represents the places each member in their group visited
NGSS Science and Engineering Practices. 2 – Developing and Using Models. MS. Develop and/or use a model to describe and/or predict phenomena.