Wareham High School
Science Curriculum
Course Name: Earth Science
Unit: 1
Introduction to Earth Science
Learning Standard(s):
Scientific Inquiry Skills 1-4
ES: Energy Resources in the Earth System 2.1, 2.2
Big Idea/Enduring Understanding:
Earth is a System composed up of many
layers containing many features.
Essential Questions:
1. How does the earth’s interior
drive/influence the features on its
exterior?
2. Explain how the earth is composed up
of a array of subsystems.
Content:
Scientific Method, Earth’s Spheres,
Geosphere structures, Major/Minor
Features on Earth’s Surface, Earth as a
System
Learning Objectives:
1. Explain the difference between renewable
and nonrenewable resources and give
examples.
2. Distinguish between the geosphere,
lithosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere.
3. Identify the layers of the earth’s interior.
4. Describe the features found on the
continents and the ocean floor in terms of
topographic units.
Instructional Practices/Differentiated
Learning:
Lecture, Group work, Labs, Studentcentered learning
Assessment:
Lab Conclusions, Informal/Formal
assessment, Questions of the Day,
Visuals/Models
Resources:
Text, Websites, Colleagues,
Supplemental Materials
Unit: 2
Physical Geology: Minerals and Rocks
Learning Standard(s):
ES: Earth Processes and Cycles 3.2, 3.6
Big Idea/Enduring Understanding:
Earth is comprised up elements which
form minerals and rocks
Essential Questions:
1. How does the Rock Cycle work?
2. Why is the type of bond formed
between elements important?
3. How can isotopes be used in
radioactive dating?
Content:
Chemistry recap, Mineral Properties,
Mineral Groups, Mineral Resources, Rock
Cycle, Igneous Rocks, Sedimentary
Rocks, Carbon Cycle, Metamorphic
Rocks
Learning Objectives:
1. Describe the Rock Cycle and the
processes responsible for forming igneous,
sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks.
2. Compare the physical properties of rockforming minerals.
3. Compare the physical properties of
igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic
rocks.
4. Define the criteria for a mineral.
5. Explain the difference between ionic and
covalent bonding.
6. Describe what isotopes are and how they
are used in radioactive decay.
Instructional Practices/Differentiated
Learning:
Lecture, Group work, Labs, Studentcentered learning
Assessment:
Lab Conclusions, Informal/Formal
assessment, Questions of the Day,
Visuals/Models
Resources:
Text, Websites, Colleagues,
Supplemental Materials
Unit: 3
Sculpturing Earth’s Surface
Learning Standard(s):
ES: Earth Processes and Cycles 3.1
Big Idea/Enduring Understanding:
Weathering, Erosion and Deposition
continuously alter and shape the earth’s
surface
Essential Questions:
1. How does mass wasting sculpt the
earth’s surface?
2. Explain how chemical weathering
alters materials at the earth’s surface.
Content:
Weathering, Erosion, Deposition, Mass
Wasting, Soil Formation
Learning Objectives:
1. Describe the difference between
weathering, erosion, and deposition.
2. Distinguish between forces of mechanical
weathering and chemical weathering.
3. Explain the process by which soil forms.
4. Identify types of mass wasting and
explain how they impact the earth’s
surface.
Instructional Practices/Differentiated
Learning:
Lecture, Group work, Labs, Studentcentered learning
Assessment:
Lab Conclusions, Informal/Formal
assessment, Questions of the Day,
Visuals/Models
Resources:
Text, Websites, Colleagues,
Supplemental Materials
Unit: 4
Agents of Erosion: Running Water and
Groundwater
Learning Standard(s):
ES: Earth Processes and Cycles 3.1, 3.4,
3.5,
Big Idea/Enduring Understanding:
Water is an active agent of erosion that
constantly reshapes the earth’s surface.
Essential Questions:
1. How does porosity, permeability,
aquitards and aquifers influence
groundwater.
2. What conditions would create karst
topography?
3. What importance does deltas have?
Content:
Water Cycle, Running Water,
Depositional features from Running
water, Groundwater, Factors that
influence storage/movement of
groundwater, karst topography
Learning Objectives:
1. Explain how running water and
groundwater reshape the earth’s surface.
2. Describe how streams/rivers transport
sediments.
3. Explain how oxbow lakes form.
4. Describe the importance of levees,
deltas, and alluvial fans.
5. Identify ways man has tried to prevent
erosion by running water.
6. Describe what karst topography is and
how it forms.
7. Explain the difference between springs
and wells.
8. Explain some current environmental
problems involving groundwater.
Instructional Practices/Differentiated
Learning:
Lecture, Group work, Labs, Studentcentered learning
Assessment:
Lab Conclusions, Informal/Formal
assessment, Questions of the Day,
Visuals/Models
Resources:
Text, Websites, Colleagues,
Supplemental Materials
Unit: 4
Agents of Erosion: Glaciers, Deserts, and
Wind
Learning Standard(s):
ES: Earth Processes and Cycles 3.1
Big Idea/Enduring Understanding:
Glacial and Wind erosion alter the shape
of the earth’s landscape.
Essential Questions:
1. How can glaciation erode alter and
reshape the surface of the earth?
2. What type of wind erosional features
can be seen in the Dust Bowl of the
1930s?
Content:
Glacial types, Glacial erosion, Glacial
features, Causes of glaciation, Arid
landscapes, Wind Erosion, Wind created
features,
Learning Objectives:
1. Distinguish between Alpine and
Continental Glaciers.
2. Explain how glaciation happens.
3. Discuss how glaciers move.
4. Identify types of glacial features caused
by erosion.
5. Identify types of glacial features caused
by deposition.
6. Explain how running water does the most
erosional work in arid areas.
7. Contrast alluvial fans, bajada, playa, and
inselbergs.
8. Identify types of wind erosional features.
9. Identify types of wind depositional
features.
Instructional Practices/Differentiated
Learning:
Lecture, Group work, Labs, Studentcentered learning
Assessment:
Lab Conclusions, Informal/Formal
assessment, Questions of the Day,
Visuals/Models
Resources:
Text, Websites, Colleagues,
Supplemental Materials
Unit: 5
Plate Tectonics
Learning Standard(s):
ES: Earth Processes and Cycles 3.8, 3.9,
3.10, 3.11, 3.12
Big Idea/Enduring Understanding:
Lithospheric plates continuously move
reshaping the Earth’s surface.
Essential Questions:
1. What is Plate Tectonics and the
mechanisms for which plates move?
2. How can seismology be used to
determine epicenters and to predict
earthquakes?
3. How does plate tectonics relate to
earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and
mountain building?
Content:
Pangea and Continental Drift Theory,
Plate Tectonics, Plate Boundaries,
Earthquakes, mountain building, and
volcanoes
Learning Objectives:
1. Explain Continental Drift Theory and the evidenced
used to support it.
2. Describe the Theory of Plate Tectonics and contrast
the different types of plate boundaries.
3. Discuss the forces that drive plate motion.
4. Explain seismology and its use in studying
earthquakes.
5. Determine the epicenter of an earthquake.
6. Summarize the type of damage caused by
earthquakes.
7. Discuss the factors that can trigger volcanic
eruptions.
8. Identify the anatomy of a volcano.
9. Contrast the different types of volcanoes.
10. Distinguish between sills, laccoliths, dikes,
batholiths, and monoliths.
11. Describe the Pacific Ring of Fire and it’s
importance.
12. Identify the hazards of living in an
earthquake/volcanic prone area.
13. Discuss the process of mountain building.
14. Identify the types of folds and faults by using
USGS maps and aerial footage.
15. Contrast mountain building in subduction zones.
16. Define isostasy and its role in mountain building.
Instructional Practices/Differentiated
Learning:
Lecture, Group work, Labs, Studentcentered learning
Assessment:
Lab Conclusions, Informal/Formal
assessment, Questions of the Day,
Visuals/Models
Resources:
Text, Websites, Colleagues,
Supplemental Materials
Unit: 6
Deciphering Earth’s History
Learning Standard(s):
ES: Earth Processes and Cycles 3.7
ES: Matter and Energy 1.1, 1.8
Big Idea/Enduring Understanding:
Earth’s landscapes have been altered
many times over many years.
Essential Questions:
1. How is relative dating used to date
the age of the earth?
2. What is radioactive dating and how
does it help with aging the earth?
Content:
History of Geology, Relative Dating,
Fossils, Radioactivity, Geological Time
Scale
Learning Objectives:
1. Explain the difference between relative
dating and radioactive dating.
2. Determine the course of events by using
principles of relative dating.
3. Contrast the different types of fossils and
explain how fossils are used in correlation.
4. Discuss radioactive dating in terms of
radioactive decay (half-lives) and its
importance.
5. Identify the blocks of time can organized
in large chunks of time called eons all the
way to smaller portions of time called
epochs.
6. Apply information from the geological
time scale in regards to major events in
Earth’s history.
Instructional Practices/Differentiated
Learning:
Lecture, Group work, Labs, Studentcentered learning
Assessment:
Lab Conclusions, Informal/Formal
assessment, Questions of the Day,
Visuals/Models
Resources:
Text, Websites, Colleagues,
Supplemental Materials
Unit: 7
Introduction To Oceanography
Learning Standard(s):
ES: Matter and Energy 1.3, 1.5, 1.7, 1.8
ES: Origin and Evolution of Universe 4.2
Big Idea/Enduring Understanding:
Oceans play a large role in shaping the
earth’s surface.
Essential Questions:
1. How does wave erosion alter the
shape of the coastlines?
2. What adaptations are seen in marine
life found in various marine
environments?
3. How has human altered the shape of
the coastlines?
4. What challenges are encountered
when harvesting resources from the
seafloor?
Content:
Features of the oceanfloor, Seafloor
sediments, Resources from the Ocean,
Seawater composition/properties,
Marine Life Zones and Environments,
Surface Circulation, Wave Erosion and
Depositional features, Human influences
on coastlines, Tides
Learning Objectives:
1. Identify the types of features found on the seafloor.
2. Describe the difference between an emergent
coastline and a submergent coastline.
3. Discuss how wave erosion alters the coastline.
4. Evaluate how humans have changed the coastlines.
5. Articulate the adaptations found in marine life based
upon their marine environment.
6. Describe composition of seawater and how this can
alter the diversity of life in all depths of the ocean.
7. Discuss ocean productivity and its relationship to
marine food webs.
8. Explain ocean circulation and the forces that drive
currents and waves.
9. Identify the anatomy of a wave.
10. Explain how tides form and contrast the different
types of tidal patterns seen around the world.
Instructional Practices/Differentiated
Learning:
Lecture, Group work, Labs, Studentcentered learning
Assessment:
Lab Conclusions, Informal/Formal
assessment, Questions of the Day,
Visuals/Models
Resources:
Text, Websites, Colleagues,
Supplemental Materials
Unit: 8
Introduction to Meteorology
Learning Standard(s):
ES: Matter and Energy 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4,
1.5, 1.6, 1.8
Big Idea/Enduring Understanding:
Atmosphere plays a part in shaping the
Earth’s surface.
Essential Questions:
1.
Content:
Atmospheric composition, Earth-Sun
relationships, Heat Transfer, Solar
Radiation, Humidity, Stability of Air,
Cloud formation, Air Pressure, Wind,
Local/Global Wind patterns, Weather
Patterns and Storms, Climate Change
Learning Objectives:
1. Describe the composition of the atmosphere and
how this plays a part in weather.
2. Discuss the difference between rotation and
revolution and how season vary.
3. Contrast the mechanisms for heat transfer and how
this relates to weather.
4. Discuss Solar radiation and its effect on climate.
5. Describe how changes in humidity can alter the
pressure and or temperature of the air.
6. Explain how fog and clouds form.
7. Describe how air pressure creates wind.
8. Contrast local winds to global wind patterns.
9. Describe air masses and explain the type of weather
associated with certain air masses.
10. Discuss how thunderstorms, tornadoes, and
hurricanes form and their impact on the earth’s
surface.
11. Describe how the world’s climate is classified and
identify different types of biomes.
12. Explain how climate change is altering the surface
of the earth.
13. Discuss the roles humans have in climate change.
Instructional Practices/Differentiated
Learning:
Lecture, Group work, Labs, Studentcentered learning
Assessment:
Lab Conclusions, Informal/Formal
assessment, Questions of the Day,
Visuals/Models
Resources:
Text, Websites, Colleagues,
Supplemental Materials
Unit: 9
Introduction to Astronomy
Learning Standard(s):
ES: Origin and Evolution of Universe 4.1,
4.2, 4.3
Big Idea/Enduring Understanding:
Entire universe is driven by energy:
gravity and electromagnetism.
Essential Questions:
1. How does mass wasting sculpt the
earth’s surface?
2. Explain how chemical weathering
alters materials at the earth’s surface.
Content:
History of Astronomy, Earth-Moon
Relationship, Eclipses, Phases of the
Moon, Formation of the Planets, Doppler
Effect, Red/Blue Shifts, EMS, Anatomy
of the Sun, Stellar Evolution
Learning Objectives:
1. Compare and contrast the different types of models
used in early astronomy.
2. Discuss the importance of Kepler, Copernicus,
Galileo, and Newton to modern astronomy.
3. Describe the how day/night and seasons are
created.
4. Identify the phases of the moon and relate this to
tides.
5. Explain the nebular theory and the Big Bang theory
in regards to the formation of the universe.
6. Identify features of the solar system.
7. Describe the Doppler Effect and how this is used to
identify whether an open or closed universe exists.
8. Describe the EMS and how equipment used in
astronomy uses the EMS.
9. Identify the anatomy of the sun and solar storms
and relate this to incidents on Earth.
10. Describe how a stellar parallax is used and explain
why it isn’t used on extremely faraway stars.
11. Contrast absolute magnitude and apparent
magnitude and relate this to stars.
12. Apply information from the H-R diagram and relate
this to star size, shape, color, temperature, and
brightness.
13. Discuss stellar evolution and explain the difference
between the different types of galaxies.
Instructional Practices/Differentiated
Learning:
Lecture, Group work, Labs, Studentcentered learning
Assessment:
Lab Conclusions, Informal/Formal
assessment, Questions of the Day,
Visuals/Models
Resources:
Text, Websites, Colleagues,
Supplemental Materials