Student Learning Objective (SLO) Template
10/2/13
This template should be completed while referring to the SLO Template Checklist.
Teacher Name: ________________Content Area and Course(s): Earth Systems (Physical Geology) Grade Level(s): 11/12 Academic Year: 20132014
Please use the guidance provided in addition to this template to develop components of the student learning objective and populate each
component in the space below.
Baseline and Trend Data
What information is being used to inform the creation of the SLO and establish the amount of growth that should take place?
Students in this course will be receiving baseline data from a DAP pretest written by APS and used throughout the district. APS teachers were
appropriately involved in the creation of items as well as the alignment process to content statements thus supporting a high validity level of the
assessments. Results of the pre-assessment were entered into the SLO scoring template. Student strengths and weaknesses were derived from the preassessment data.
General trend data (if available) for my students for this SLO includes:
Upon analyzing my student baseline data some strengths and weaknesses include:
Student Population
Which students will be included in this SLO? Include course, grade level, and number of students.
This is an 11th and 12th Grade Earth Systems (Physical Geology) Course.
All students will be covered by this SLO. A total of ____students are enrolled. There is/are ____course section(s) covered by this SLO. There are
_____students on IEPs and ______students are African-American, __________students are white, ______ students are economically disadvantaged.
Describe students in detail – any with prior experience, attendance issues, etc. No students will be excluded from the SLO unless ___________
Students who missed 45 days (excused or unexcused) will not be included.
Interval of Instruction
What is the duration of the course that the SLO will cover? Include beginning and end dates.
The Akron Public Schools session for this course duration is one school year from August 28, 2013 to June 5, 2014. Students receive a minimum of one period of
science instruction daily. The SLO assessment for fall benchmarking will be administered the week of October_____, 2013 and the spring benchmarking will be
administered the week of March _____, 2014. Strategic monitoring, data, and evidence collection will occur between October 2013 and March 2014.
Standards and Content
What content will the SLO target? To what related standards is the SLO aligned?
Physical Geology Syllabus and Model Curriculum
Course Description
Physical geology is a high school level course, which satisfies the Ohio core science graduation requirements of Ohio Revised Code section 3313.603.
This section of Ohio law requires a three-unit course with inquiry-based laboratory experience that engages students in asking valid scientific questions
and gathering and analyzing information.
Physical geology incorporates chemistry, physics and environmental science and introduces students to key concepts, principles, and theories within
geology.
Investigations are used to understand and explain the behavior of nature in a variety of inquiry and design scenarios that incorporate scientific
reasoning, analysis, communication skills and real-world applications.
Science Inquiry and Application
During grades 9 through 12, all students must use the following scientific processes with appropriate laboratory safety techniques to construct their
knowledge and understanding in all science content areas:
• Identify questions and concepts that guide scientific investigations;
• Design and conduct scientific investigations;
• Use technology and mathematics to improve investigations and communications;
• Formulate and revise explanations and models using logic and evidence (critical thinking);
• Recognize and analyze explanations and models; and
Communicate and support a scientific argument.
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Course Content
Minerals
• Atoms and elements
• Chemical bonding (ionic, covalent, metallic)
• Crystallinity (crystal structure)
• Criteria of a mineral (crystalline solid, occurs in nature, inorganic, defined chemical composition)
• Properties of minerals (hardness, luster, cleavage, streak, crystal shape. fluorescence, flammability, density/specific gravity, malleability)
Igneous, Metamorphic and Sedimentary Rocks Igneous
• Mafic and felsic rocks and minerals
• Intrusive (igneous structures: dikes, sills, batholiths, pegmatites)
• Earth’s interior (inner core, outer core, lower mantle, upper mantle, Mohorovicic discontinuity, crust)
• Magnetic reversals and Earth’s magnetic field
• Thermal energy within the Earth
• Extrusive (volcanic activity, volcanoes: cinder cones, composite, shield)
• Bowen’s Reaction Series (continuous and discontinuous branches)
Metamorphic
• Pressure, stress, temperature and compressional forces
• Foliated (regional), non-foliated (contact)
• Parent rock and degrees of metamorphism
• Metamorphic zones (where metamorphic rocks are found)
Sedimentary
• The ocean
o Tides (daily, neap and spring)
o Currents (deep and shallow, rip and longshore)
o Thermal energy and water density
o Waves
o Ocean features (ridges, trenches, island systems, abyssal zone, shelves, slopes, reefs,
island arcs)
o Passive and active continental margins
• Division of sedimentary rocks and minerals (chemical, clastic/physical, organic)
• Depositional environments
• Streams (channels, streambeds, floodplains, cross-bedding, alluvial fans, deltas)
• Transgressing and regressing sea levels
Earth’s History
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• The geologic rock record
o Relative and absolute age
o Principles to determine relative age
Original horizontality
Superposition
Cross-cutting relationships
o Absolute age
Radiometric dating (isotopes, radioactive decay)
Correct uses of radiometric dating
o Combining relative and absolute age data
o The geologic time scale
Comprehending geologic time
Climate changes evident through the rock record
Fossil record
Plate Tectonics
• Internal Earth
o Seismic waves
S and P waves
Velocities, reflection, refraction of waves
o Structure of Earth (Note: specific layers were part of grade 8)
Asthenosphere
Lithosphere
Mohorovicic boundary (Moho)
Composition of each of the layers of Earth
Gravity, magnetism and isostasy
Thermal energy (geothermal gradient and heat flow)
• Historical review (Note: this would include a review of continental drift and sea-floor spreading found in grade 8)
o Paleomagnetism and magnetic anomalies
o Paleoclimatology
• Plate motion (Note: introduced in grade 8)
o Causes and evidence of plate motion
o Measuring plate motion
o Characteristics of oceanic and continental plates
o Relationship of plate movement and geologic events and features
o Mantle plumes
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Earth’s Resources
• Energy resources
o Renewable and nonrenewable energy sources and efficiency
o Alternate energy sources and efficiency
o Resource availability
o Mining and resource extraction
• Air
o Primary and secondary contaminants
o Greenhouse gases
• Water
o Potable water and water quality
o Hypoxia, eutrophication
• Soil and sediment
o Desertification
o Mass wasting and erosion
o Sediment contamination
Glacial Geology
• Glaciers and glaciation
o Evidence of past glaciers (including features formed through erosion or deposition)
o Glacial deposition and erosion (including features formed through erosion or deposition)
o Data from ice cores
Historical changes (glacial ages, amounts, locations, particulate matter, correlation to fossil evidence)
Evidence of climate changes throughout Earth’s history
o Glacial distribution and causes of glaciation
o Types of glaciers – continental (ice sheets, ice caps), alpine/valley (piedmont, valley, cirque, ice caps)
o Glacial structure, formation and movement
Assessment(s)
What assessment(s) will be used to measure student growth for this SLO?
The assessment that will be used is the district-created DAP. The DAP assessment is a pre-post developed by a group of APS teachers. DAP items are
aligned directly to Ohio’s New Learning Standards in Science. Each assessment will consist of 72 multiple choice items that span the breadth of content including
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stretch in the cognitive demand of items. The assessment does include stretch. It has items that are taught throughout the year giving students the
opportunity to demonstrate stretched learning that they have achieved. It also will contain items that students may already have learned.
Growth Target(s)
Considering all available data and content requirements, what growth target(s) can students be expected to reach?
Akron Public Schools will use Effect Size as the measure to determine expected growth. Effect Size is the Post-DAP score minus the Pre-DAP score divided by the mean
standard deviation. The Effect Size of 0.40 will be used as the measure that reflects a year’s growth.
Rationale for Growth Target(s)
What is your rationale for setting the above target(s) for student growth within the interval of instruction?
To come up with a measure of what expected progress should be, we have used two main considerations.
a.
b.
When we look at many major longitudinal databases (PIRLS, PISA, TIMSS, NAEP, NAPLAN), they all lead to a similar estimate of an effect size of 0.4 for a
year’s input of schooling.
The average of 800+ meta-analyses based on 240 million students shows an average intervention of 0.40.
Therefore an effect greater than 0.40 is seen as above the norm and leading towards a more than expected growth over a year.
It is the mission of Akron Public Schools to "ensure that each student in our diverse population achieves his or her fullest potential in a safe and
affirming learning center characterized by an extensive, student-focused collaboration of all segments of the community, with an emphasis on preparing
students to live and excel in a global environment.”
YOU MAY PUT YOUR SCHOOL’S MISSION STATEMENT HERE_______
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