Performance Expectations

ESS2 help students formulate an answer to questions such as:

• How do the materials in and on Earth’s crust change over time?
• How does the movement of tectonic plates impact the surface of Earth?
• How does water influence weather, circulate in the oceans, and shape Earth’s surface?
• What factors interact and influence weather?
• How have living organisms changed the Earth?
• How have Earth’s changing conditions impacted living organisms?

The ESS2 Disciplinary Core Idea is broken down into five sub - ideas: Earth materials and systems, plate tectonics and large - scale system interactions, the roles of water in Earth’s surface processes , weather and climate, and biogeology. Students understand how Earth’s geo-systems operate by modeling the flow of energy and cycling of matter within and among different systems. Students investigate the controlling properties of important materials and construct explanations based on the analysis of real geoscience data. Of special importance in both topics are the ways that geoscience processes provide resources needed by society but also cause natural hazards that present risks to society; both involve technological challenges, for the identification and development of resources. Students develop understanding of the factors that control weather. A systems approach is also important here, examining the feedbacks between systems as energy from the sun is transferred between systems and circulates though the ocean and atmosphere.
In the ESS2 performance expectations, students are expected to demonstrate proficiency in developing and using models, planning and carrying out investigations , analyzing and interpreting data , and constructing explanations ; and to use these practices to demonstrate understanding of the core ideas.

Calculation Method for DCI

Disciplinary Core Ideas are larger groups of related Performance Expectations. So the Disciplinary Core Idea Grade is a calculation of all the related Performance Expectations. So click on the Performance Expectation name below each Disciplinary Core Idea to access the learning targets and proficiency scales for each Disciplinary Core Idea's related Performance Expectations.

Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on the processes of melting, crystallization, weathering, deformation, and sedimentation, which act together to form minerals and rocks through the cycling of Earth’s materials (e.g. rock cycle)
Disciplinary Core Ideas
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

---

Student Learning Targets:

Knowledge Targets

• I can recognize the five characteristics that define a mineral (i.e. solid, inorganic, naturally occurring, crystalline structure, pure substance/definite chemical composition). (Minerals)
  
• I can describe the two major groups of minerals. (Minerals)
• I can identify the three types of rock and how they form. (Rocks)
• I can recognize the difference between weathering and erosion. (Rocks)

Reasoning Targets

• I can

Skills (Performance) Targets

• I can identify the properties of a mineral. (Minerals)
  
• I can identify a mineral utilizing its properties. (Minerals)
• I can use texture and composition to classify igneous rocks. (Rocks)
• I can distinguish between foliated and nonfoliated metamorphic rocks. (Rocks)
• I can distinguish between clastic, chemical, and organic sedimentary rocks. (Rocks)

Product Targets

• I can diagram and explain the journey of rock as it moves through the rock cycle. (Rocks)

Proficiency Scale

The Student can ...

Resources

Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on how processes change Earth’s surface at time and spatial scales that can be large (such as slow plate motions or the uplift of large mountain ranges) or small (such as rapid landslides or microscopic geochemical reactions), and how many geoscience processes (such as earthquakes, volcanoes, and meteor impacts) usually behave gradually but are punctuated by catastrophic events. Examples of geoscience processes include surface weathering and deposition by the movements of water, ice, and wind. Emphasis is on geoscience processes that shape local geographic features, where appropriate.
Disciplinary Core Ideas
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.
ESS2.C: The Roles of Water in Earth's Surface Processes Water’s movements cause weathering and erosion, which change the land’s surface features and create underground formations.

---

Student Learning Targets:

Knowledge Targets

• I can contrast uniformitarianism and catastrophism.

Reasoning Targets

• I can explain how uniformitarianism and catastrophism led to the theory of actualism.

Skills (Performance) Targets

• I can

Product Targets

• I can

Proficiency Scale

The Student can ...

Resources

Clarification Statement: Examples of data include similarities of rock and fossil types on different continents, the shapes of the continents (including continental shelves), and the locations of ocean structures (such as ridges, fracture zones, and trenches).
Disciplinary Core Ideas
ESS1.C: The History of Planet Earth Tectonic processes continually generate new ocean sea floor at ridges and destroy old sea floor at trenches (secondary).
ESS2.B: Plate Tectonics and Large-Scale System Interactions Maps of ancient land and water patterns, based on investigations of rocks and fossils, make clear how Earth’s plates have moved great distances, collided, and spread apart

---

Student Learning Targets:

Knowledge Targets

• I can identify and describe the compositional and structural (physical) layers of the Earth.
  
• I can identify the three forces that cause tectonic plate movement (i.e. convection, slab pull, ridge push).
• I can identify the three types of plate boundaries and describe the plate movement associated with each.
• I can provide evidence that supports the theory of continental drift.

Reasoning Targets

• I can

Skills (Performance) Targets

• I can

Product Targets

• I can

Proficiency Scale

The Student can ...

Resources

Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on the ways water changes its state as it moves through the multiple pathways of the hydrologic cycle. Examples of models can be conceptual or physical.
Disciplinary Core Ideas
ESS2.C: The Roles of Water in Earth's Surface Processes Water continually cycles among land, ocean, and atmosphere via transpiration, evaporation, condensation and crystallization, and precipitation, as well as downhill flows on land. Global movements of water and its changes in form are propelled by sunlight and gravity.

---

Student Learning Targets:

Knowledge Targets

• I can label the seven steps of the water cycle (i.e. evaporation, precipitation, condensation, runoff, percolation, infiltration, and transpiration).
  
• I can label the state of water throughout each step of the water cycle.
• I can accurately label a diagram of the three ways heat is transferred.

Reasoning Targets

• I can apply the three types of heat transfer to a real life scenario.
  
• I can apply the processes of the water cycle to a real life scenario.

Skills (Performance) Targets

• I can

Product Targets

• I can

Proficiency Scale

The Student can ...

Resources

Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on how air masses flow from regions of high pressure to low pressure, causing weather (defined by temperature, pressure, humidity, precipitation, and wind) at a fixed location to change over time, and how sudden changes in weather can result when different air masses collide. Emphasis is on how weather can be predicted within probabilistic ranges. Examples of data can be provided to students (such as weather maps, diagrams, and visualizations) or obtained through laboratory experiments (e.g.; condensation).
Disciplinary Core Ideas
ESS2.C: The Roles of Water in Earth's Surface Processes The complex patterns of the changes and the movement of water in the atmosphere, determined by winds, landforms, and ocean temperatures and currents, are major determinants of local weather patterns.
ESS2.D: Weather and Climate Because these patterns are so complex, weather can only be predicted probabilistically.

---

Student Learning Targets:

Knowledge Targets

• I can identify the characteristics that define air masses.
  
• I can describe the interactions between a warm air mass and a cold air mass along a warm/cold font (include precipitation).
• I can describe the four factors necessary for cloud formation.

Reasoning Targets

• I can predict the weather conditions before and after a warm front and a cold front.

Skills (Performance) Targets

• I can

Product Targets

• I can

Proficiency Scale

The Student can ...

Resources

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.
Disciplinary Core Ideas
ESS2.C: The Roles of Water in Earth's Surface Processes Variations in density due to variations in temperature and salinity drive a global pattern of interconnected ocean currents.
ESS2.D: Weather and Climate Weather and climate are influenced by interactions involving sunlight, the ocean, the atmosphere, ice, landforms, and living things. These interactions vary with latitude, altitude, and local and regional geography, all of which can affect oceanic and atmospheric flow patterns.

---

Student Learning Targets:

Knowledge Targets

• I can label the relative pressure, latitudes, pressure belts, direction, and the name of the global winds.
  
• I can draw and label local winds (i.e. land breeze and sea breeze).

Reasoning Targets

• I can explain why a land breeze occurs at night and sea breeze occurs during the day.
  
• I can explain why there is little or no wind at the pressure belts.

Skills (Performance) Targets

• I can

Product Targets

• I can

Proficiency Scale

The Student can ...

Resources