Third Grade

3-ESS2-2

Obtain and combine information to describe climates in different regions of the world.

• Which Pole Is Colder?The North and South Poles are polar opposites in more ways than one!

Fourth Grade

4-ESS3-1

Obtain and combine information to describe that energy and fuels are derived from natural resources and their uses affect the environment. [Clarification Statement: Examples of renewable energy resources could include wind energy, water behind dams, and sunlight; non-renewable energy resources are fossil fuels and fissile materials. Examples of environmental effects could include loss of habitat due to dams, loss of habitat due to surface mining, and air pollution from burning of fossil fuels.]

• What Is Ocean Acidification?Ocean acidification is a change in the properties of ocean water that can be harmful for plants and animals.
• Why Is Carbon Important?We are returning carbon to the air much faster than nature took it out!
• How Do We Know the Climate Is Changing?We know Earth’s climate is changing because of the evidence scientists have collected over many years.

Fifth Grade

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.]

• What Is Ocean Acidification?Ocean acidification is a change in the properties of ocean water that can be harmful for plants and animals.
• El Niño quiets monster stormsThe mighty ocean can also stir up calm.
• What Is the Greenhouse Effect?Learn more about this process that occurs when gases in Earth's atmosphere trap the Sun's heat.
• It's Cold! Is Global Warming Over?Weather and climate are different.
• What else do we need to find out?And how is NASA seeking the answers?
• How Does Climate Change Affect the Ocean?Additional heat and carbon dioxide in the ocean can change the environment for the many plants and animals that live there.
• Which Pole Is Colder?The North and South Poles are polar opposites in more ways than one!

5-ESS3-1

Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Earth’s resources and environment.

Middle School

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. [Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on how patterns vary by latitude, altitude, and geographic land distribution. Emphasis of atmospheric circulation is on the sunlight-driven latitudinal banding, the Coriolis effect, and resulting prevailing winds; emphasis of ocean circulation is on the transfer of heat by the global ocean convection cycle, which is constrained by the Coriolis effect and the outlines of continents. Examples of models can be diagrams, maps and globes, or digital representations.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include the dynamics of the Coriolis effect.]

• El Niño quiets monster stormsThe mighty ocean can also stir up calm.
• How Does Climate Change Affect the Ocean?Additional heat and carbon dioxide in the ocean can change the environment for the many plants and animals that live there.

MS-ESS3-1

Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for how the uneven distributions of Earth's mineral, energy, and groundwater resources are the result of past and current geoscience processes. [Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on how these resources are limited and typically non-renewable, and how their distributions are significantly changing as a result of removal by humans. Examples of uneven distributions of resources as a result of past processes include but are not limited to petroleum (locations of the burial of organic marine sediments and subsequent geologic traps), metal ores (locations of past volcanic and hydrothermal activity associated with subduction zones), and soil (locations of active weathering and/or deposition of rock).]

• Why Is Carbon Important?We are returning carbon to the air much faster than nature took it out!

MS-ESS3-3

Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment. [Clarification Statement: Examples of the design process include examining human environmental impacts, assessing the kinds of solutions that are feasible, and designing and evaluating solutions that could reduce that impact. Examples of human impacts can include water usage (such as the withdrawal of water from streams and aquifers or the construction of dams and levees), land usage (such as urban development, agriculture, or the removal of wetlands), and pollution (such as of the air, water, or land).]

• What Is Ocean Acidification?Ocean acidification is a change in the properties of ocean water that can be harmful for plants and animals.

MS-ESS3-4

Construct an argument supported by evidence for how increases in human population and per-capital consumption of natural resources impact Earth's systems. [Clarification Statement: Examples of evidence include grade-appropriate databases on human populations and the rates of consumption of food and natural resources (such as freshwater, mineral, and energy). Examples of impacts can include changes to the appearance, composition, and structure of Earth’s systems as well as the rates at which they change. The consequences of increases in human populations and consumption of natural resources are described by science, but science does not make the decisions for the actions society takes.]

MS-ESS3-5

Ask questions to clarify evidence of the factors that have caused the rise in global temperatures over the past century. [Clarification Statement: Examples of factors include human activities (such as fossil fuel combustion, cement production, and agricultural activity) and natural processes (such as changes in incoming solar radiation or volcanic activity). Examples of evidence can include tables, graphs, and maps of global and regional temperatures, atmospheric levels of gases such as carbon dioxide and methane, and the rates of human activities. Emphasis is on the major role that human activities play in causing the rise in global temperatures.]

• Why Is Carbon Important?We are returning carbon to the air much faster than nature took it out!
• How Do We Know the Climate Is Changing?We know Earth’s climate is changing because of the evidence scientists have collected over many years.

MS-PS3-3

Apply scientific principles to design, construct, and test a device that either minimizes or maximizes thermal energy transfer. [Clarification Statement: Examples of devices could include an insulated box, a solar cooker, and a Styrofoam cup.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include calculating the total amount of thermal energy transferred.]

• Make S’Mores With a Solar Oven!You won't need a campfire for these.