5.1 Strand
Earth’s major systems are the geosphere (solid and molten rock, soil, and sediments), the hydrosphere (water and ice), the atmosphere (air), and the biosphere (living things, including humans). Within these systems, the location of Earth’s land and water can be described. Also, these systems interact in multiple ways. Weathering and erosion are examples of interactions between Earth’s systems. Some interactions cause landslides, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions that impact humans and other organisms. Humans cannot eliminate natural hazards, but solutions can be designed to reduce their impact.
Standard(s) 5.1.1: Analyze and interpret data to describe patterns of Earth’s features. Emphasize most earthquakes and volcanoes occur in bands that are often along the boundaries between continents and oceans while major mountain chains may be found inside continents or near their edges. Examples of data could include maps showing locations of mountains on continents and the ocean floor or the locations of volcanoes and earthquakes. (ESS2.B)
Practices
Analyzing and Interpreting Data Analyzing data in 3–5 builds on K–2 experiences and progresses to introducing quantitative approaches to collecting data and conducting multiple trials of qualitative observations. When possible and feasible, digital tools should be used.
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Analyze and interpret data to make sense of phenomena using logical reasoning.
Disciplinary Core Ideas
ESS2.B: Plate Tectonics and Large-Scale System Interactions
The locations of mountain ranges, deep ocean trenches, ocean floor structures, earthquakes, and volcanoes occur in patterns. Most earthquakes and volcanoes occur in bands that are often along the boundaries between continents and oceans. Major mountain chains form inside continents or near their edges. Maps can help locate the different land and water features areas of Earth.
Cross Cutting Concepts
Patterns
Patterns can be used as evidence to support an explanation.
Storyline Narrative
To begin this storyline students will investigate the phenomenon, a volcano rapidly formed in a field in Paricutin. Students will obtain information about a volcano that grew in a field in Paricutin, Mexico over the course of 9 years, destroying the village.
Then students will obtain information about other North American examples of volcano and earthquake activity and mountain ranges to analyze patterns in the data. They will look at volcanoes in the area of Paricutin to understand and reason that the occurrence of that volcano was part of a pattern rather than a random act. From there, students will look at examples and nonexamples of volcanoes, earthquakes, and mountain ranges to further analyze and interpret data to find patterns of Earth’s features. Finally, when given a map with known volcano and/or earthquake occurrences, students identify which location is more likely to have the next occurrence and support their answer using the data from their investigations?
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Utah Science
Curriculum Consortium
Tyson Grover
Annette Nielson
5.1 Strand
Earth’s major systems are the geosphere (solid and molten rock, soil, and sediments), the hydrosphere (water and ice), the atmosphere (air), and the biosphere (living things, including humans). Within these systems, the location of Earth’s land and water can be described. Also, these systems interact in multiple ways. Weathering and erosion are examples of interactions between Earth’s systems. Some interactions cause landslides, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions that impact humans and other organisms. Humans cannot eliminate natural hazards, but solutions can be designed to reduce their impact.
Standard(s) 5.1.1: Analyze and interpret data to describe patterns of Earth’s features. Emphasize most earthquakes and volcanoes occur in bands that are often along the boundaries between continents and oceans while major mountain chains may be found inside continents or near their edges. Examples of data could include maps showing locations of mountains on continents and the ocean floor or the locations of volcanoes and earthquakes. (ESS2.B)
Practices
Analyzing and Interpreting Data Analyzing data in 3–5 builds on K–2 experiences and progresses to introducing quantitative approaches to collecting data and conducting multiple trials of qualitative observations. When possible and feasible, digital tools should be used.
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Analyze and interpret data to make sense of phenomena using logical reasoning.
Disciplinary Core Ideas
ESS2.B: Plate Tectonics and Large-Scale System Interactions
The locations of mountain ranges, deep ocean trenches, ocean floor structures, earthquakes, and volcanoes occur in patterns. Most earthquakes and volcanoes occur in bands that are often along the boundaries between continents and oceans. Major mountain chains form inside continents or near their edges. Maps can help locate the different land and water features areas of Earth.
Cross Cutting Concepts
Patterns
Patterns can be used as evidence to support an explanation.
Storyline Narrative
Students begin the storyline by investigating the sudden appearance of a fissure in a farmer's field that eventually became Parícutin Volcano in Mexico. Through firsthand accounts, maps, and global volcano data, students discover that volcanoes are not randomly distributed across Earth's surface. Instead, they begin identifying patterns in where volcanoes occur and develop questions about why these patterns exist.
Next, students shift their focus to earthquakes by investigating Utah's 2020 Magna earthquake. They analyze earthquake maps of Utah and the world, compare earthquake locations to volcano locations, and recognize that earthquakes also occur in recognizable patterns. Students then explore information about the Ring of Fire and analyze regional data to determine that volcanoes, earthquakes, and major mountain ranges often occur together in similar locations around Earth.
Finally, students apply what they have learned by analyzing data from unknown regions and using evidence from maps and data tables to predict where volcanoes, earthquakes, and mountain ranges are most likely to occur. Students use the patterns they have identified throughout the storyline to justify the locations of unknown regions and evaluate competing scientific claims. By the end of the storyline, students use evidence from multiple sources to explain that Earth's volcanoes, earthquakes, and major mountain ranges occur in predictable patterns that can be used to describe Earth's features and make predictions about where these features are most likely to be found.
Standard(s) 5.1.2: Use mathematics and computational thinking to compare the quantity of saltwater and freshwater in various reservoirs to provide evidence for the distribution of water on Earth. Emphasize reservoirs such as oceans, lakes, rivers, glaciers, groundwater, and polar ice caps. Examples of using mathematics and computational thinking could include measuring, estimating, graphing, or finding percentages of quantities. (ESS2.C)
Practices
Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking Mathematical and computational thinking in 3–5 builds on K–2 experiences and progresses to extending quantitative measurements to a variety of physical properties and using computation and mathematics to analyze data and compare alternative design solutions.
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Describe and graph quantities such as area and volume to address scientific questions.
Disciplinary Core Ideas
ESS2.C: The Roles of Water in Earth’s Surface Processes
Nearly all of Earth’s available water is in the ocean. Most fresh water is in glaciers or underground; only a tiny fraction is in streams, lakes, wetlands, and the atmosphere.
Cross Cutting Concepts
Scale, Proportion, and Quantity: Standard units are used to measure and describe physical quantities such as weight and volume.
Storyline Narrative
Students begin the storyline by investigating the phenomenon that Utah has one of the largest lakes in the United States yet frequently experiences drought. Using maps, data, and information about Utah's snowpack, students develop an initial understanding that not all water is equally available for human use. They construct explanations for how Utah can have abundant water sources while still experiencing water shortages and generate questions about why some water resources cannot be used.
Next, students investigate Earth's different water reservoirs by sorting and analyzing information about oceans, lakes, rivers, glaciers, groundwater, reservoirs, and polar ice. As they compare these water sources, students recognize patterns that distinguish freshwater from saltwater and determine that not all lakes contain freshwater. They use evidence to classify Earth's major water reservoirs and explain why freshwater and saltwater are considered separate categories.
Finally, students use mathematics and computational thinking to investigate how Earth's water is distributed. They estimate, measure, calculate, graph, and compare the quantities of freshwater and saltwater represented on a map of Earth's reservoirs. Using their mathematical evidence, students determine that most of Earth's water is saltwater, while only a small fraction is freshwater. By the end of the storyline, students use calculations, graphs, and quantitative comparisons to explain that although Earth contains a large amount of water, freshwater is a limited resource because most of Earth's water is saltwater and much of the freshwater is not easily accessible.
Standard(s) 5.1.3: Ask questions to plan and carry out investigations that provide evidence for the effects of weathering and the rate of erosion on the geosphere. Emphasize weathering and erosion by water, ice, wind, gravity, or vegetation. Examples could include observing the effects of cycles of freezing and thawing of water on rock or changing the slope in the downhill movement of water. (ESS2.A, ESS2.E)
Practices
Asking Questions and Defining Problems in grades 3–5 builds on grades K–2 experiences and progresses to specifying qualitative relationships.
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Ask questions that can be investigated based on patterns such as cause and effect relationships.
Planning and Carrying Out Investigations to answer questions or test solutions to problems in 3–5 builds on K–2 experiences and progresses to include investigations that control variables and provide evidence to support explanations or design solutions.
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Make observations and/or measurements to produce data to serve as the basis for evidence for an explanation of a phenomenon.
Disciplinary Core Ideas
ESS2.A: Earth Materials and Systems
Rainfall helps to shape the land and affects the types of living things found in a region. Water, ice, wind, living organisms, and gravity break rocks, soils, and sediments into smaller particles and move them around. ESS2.E: Biogeology ∙ Living things affect the physical characteristics of their regions.
Cross Cutting Concepts
Cause and Effect
Cause and effect relationships are routinely identified, tested, and used to explain change.
Storyline Narrative
In this storyline, students investigate the real-world phenomenon of a family’s home sitting dangerously close to the edge of a coastal cliff because the land beneath it has disappeared. Students begin by making observations and asking questions about how and why Earth’s surface changes over time. Through examining examples of changing landscapes, students identify patterns and develop questions about the processes that shape Earth’s surface.
Students investigate how weathering and erosion affect the geosphere by gathering evidence through observations, investigations, simulations, and informational texts. Students explore how water, wind, ice, gravity, temperature changes, and living organisms break down and move Earth materials. They then investigate how factors such as water, vegetation, slope, soil type, and ice influence the rate at which erosion occurs.
Throughout the storyline, students revise models and explanations using evidence from their investigations to explain how weathering and erosion caused the changes observed at the coastal cliff. Students apply their understanding to design and communicate a solution that could reduce the effects of erosion and protect a home from future changes to Earth’s surface.
This storyline emphasizes cause-and-effect relationships as students ask questions, plan investigations, analyze evidence, construct explanations, and apply their understanding of Earth’s systems to solve a real-world problem.
Standard(s) 5.1.4: Develop a model to describe interactions between Earth’s systems including the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and/or atmosphere. Emphasize interactions between only two systems at a time. Examples could include the influence of a rainstorm in a desert, waves on a shoreline, or mountains on clouds. (ESS2.A)
Practices
Developing and Using Models: Modeling in 3–5 builds on K–2 experiences and progresses to building and revising simple models and using models to represent events and design solutions.
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Develop a model using an example to describe a scientific principle.
Disciplinary Core Ideas
ESS2.A: Earth Materials and Systems
Earth’s major systems are the geosphere (solid and molten rock, soil, and sediments), the hydrosphere (water and ice), the atmosphere (air), and the biosphere (living things, including humans). These systems interact in multiple ways to affect Earth’s surface materials and processes. The ocean supports a variety of ecosystems and organisms, shapes landforms, and influences climate. Winds and clouds in the atmosphere interact with the landforms to determine patterns of weather.
Cross Cutting Concepts
Systems and System Models
A system can be described in terms of its components and their interactions.
Storyline Narrative
In this storyline, students investigate the phenomenon of sheep living in a mountain environment and explore how different parts of Earth’s systems interact. Students begin by identifying components within the environment and developing ideas about how those components affect one another. Through discussion and observations, students recognize that Earth’s systems are connected and that changes in one part of a system can influence other parts.
Students gather information about the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere and use this knowledge to explain interactions between Earth’s systems. Students analyze examples of real-world phenomena, identify the systems involved, and develop models that show how two Earth systems interact through the movement of matter and energy.
Throughout the storyline, students revise and strengthen their models by using evidence to explain cause-and-effect relationships between Earth’s systems. Students apply their understanding of these interactions by predicting how changes to one Earth system could affect other parts of the system.
This storyline emphasizes systems and system models as students identify components, describe interactions, develop models, and use evidence to explain how Earth’s major systems work together.
Standard(s) 5.1.5: Design solutions to reduce the effects of naturally occurring events that impact humans. Define the problem, identify criteria and constraints, develop possible solutions using models, analyze data from testing solutions, and propose modifications for optimizing a solution. Emphasize that humans cannot eliminate natural hazards, but they can take steps to reduce their impacts. Examples of events could include landslides, earthquakes, tsunamis, blizzards, or volcanic eruptions. (ESS3.B, ETS1.A, ETS1.B, ETS1.C)
Practices
Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions in 3–5 builds on K–2 experiences and progresses to the use of evidence in constructing explanations that specify variables that describe and predict phenomena and in designing multiple solutions to design problems.
∙ Generate and compare multiple solutions to a problem based on how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the design solution.
Disciplinary Core Ideas
ESS3.B: Natural Hazards
A variety of hazards result from natural processes (e.g., earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions). Humans cannot eliminate the hazards but can take steps to reduce their impacts.
Cross Cutting Concepts
Cause and Effect
Cause and effect relationships are routinely identified, tested, and used to explain change.
Storyline Narrative
In this storyline, students investigate the phenomenon that natural events can damage homes and communities. Students begin by examining examples of natural hazards and identifying the problems these events create for humans. Through observations and discussions, students recognize that humans cannot prevent natural hazards from occurring, but solutions can be designed to reduce their impacts.
Students focus on flooding as a real-world engineering problem and gather information about how floods affect structures and communities. Students investigate existing solutions, such as barriers, drainage systems, elevated structures, and flood-resistant materials, to determine how these designs reduce flood damage and consider the strengths and limitations of different approaches.
Students apply their understanding of natural hazards and engineering design to create, test, and improve a solution that reduces the effects of flooding. Students define the problem, identify criteria and constraints, develop and test models, analyze data from their investigations, and propose modifications to improve their designs.
This storyline emphasizes cause-and-effect relationships and the engineering design process as students use evidence to evaluate solutions and communicate how humans can reduce the impacts of natural hazards.