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High School

Earth's Place in the Universe

 

Students who demonstrate understanding can:

Performance Expectations
 

 

Develop a model based on evidence to illustrate the life span of the sun and the role of nuclear fusion in the sun’s core to release energy in the form of radiation. HS-ESS1-1

Clarification Statement and Assessment Boundary

Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on the energy transfer mechanisms that allow energy from nuclear fusion in the sun’s core to reach Earth. Examples of evidence for the model include observations of the masses and lifetimes of other stars, as well as the ways that the sun’s radiation varies due to sudden solar flares (“space weather”), the 11-year sunspot cycle, and non-cyclic variations over centuries.

Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include details of the atomic and sub-atomic processes involved with the sun’s nuclear fusion.

Science and Engineering Practices

Developing and Using Models

Modeling in 9–12 builds on K–8 experiences and progresses to using, synthesizing, and developing models to predict and show relationships among variables between systems and their components in the natural and designed world(s).

Develop and use a model based on evidence to illustrate the relationships between systems or between components of a system. (HS-ESS1-1)

Disciplinary Core Ideas

PS3.D:  Energy in Chemical Processes and Everyday Life

Nuclear Fusion processes in the center of the sun release the energy that ultimately reaches Earth as radiation. (secondary to HS-ESS1-1)

ESS1.A:  The Universe and Its Stars

The star called the sun is changing and will burn out over a lifespan of approximately 10 billion years. (HS-ESS1-1)

Crosscutting Concepts

Scale, Proportion, and Quantity

The significance of a phenomenon is dependent on the scale, proportion, and quantity at which it occurs. (HS-ESS1-1)

Common Core State Standards Connections

ELA/Literacy
  • RST.11-12.1 - Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of science and technical texts, attending to important distinctions the author makes and to any gaps or inconsistencies in the account. (HS-ESS1-1)
Mathematics
  • HSA-CED.A.2 - Create equations in two or more variables to represent relationships between quantities; graph equations on coordinate axes with labels and scales. (HS-ESS1-1)
  • HSA-CED.A.4 - Rearrange formulas to highlight a quantity of interest, using the same reasoning as in solving equations. (HS-ESS1-1)
  • HSA-SSE.A.1 - Interpret expressions that represent a quantity in terms of its context. (HS-ESS1-1)
  • HSN-Q.A.1 - Use units as a way to understand problems and to guide the solution of multi-step problems; choose and interpret units consistently in formulas; choose and interpret the scale and the origin in graphs and data displays. (HS-ESS1-1)
  • HSN-Q.A.2 - Define appropriate quantities for the purpose of descriptive modeling. (HS-ESS1-1)
  • HSN-Q.A.3 - Choose a level of accuracy appropriate to limitations on measurement when reporting quantities. (HS-ESS1-1)
  • MP.2 - Reason abstractly and quantitatively. (HS-ESS1-1)
  • MP.4 - Model with mathematics. (HS-ESS1-1)