Browse All Standards

High School

Earth's Place in the Universe

 

Students who demonstrate understanding can:

Performance Expectations
 

 

Use mathematical or computational representations to predict the motion of orbiting objects in the solar system. HS-ESS1-4

Clarification Statement and Assessment Boundary

Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on Newtonian gravitational laws governing orbital motions, which apply to human-made satellites as well as planets and moons.

Assessment Boundary: Mathematical representations for the gravitational attraction of bodies and Kepler’s Laws of orbital motions should not deal with more than two bodies, nor involve calculus.

Science and Engineering Practices

Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking

Mathematical and computational thinking in 9–12 builds on K–8 experiences and progresses to using algebraic thinking and analysis, a range of linear and nonlinear functions including trigonometric functions, exponentials and logarithms, and computational tools for statistical analysis to analyze, represent, and model data. Simple computational simulations are created and used based on mathematical models of basic assumptions.

Use mathematical or computational representations of phenomena to describe explanations. (HS-ESS1-4)

Disciplinary Core Ideas

ESS1.B:  Earth and the Solar System

Kepler’s laws describe common features of the motions of orbiting objects, including their elliptical paths around the sun. Orbits may change due to the gravitational effects from, or collisions with, other objects in the solar system. (HS-ESS1-4)

Crosscutting Concepts

Scale, Proportion, and Quantity

Algebraic thinking is used to examine scientific data and predict the effect of a change in one variable on another (e.g., linear growth vs. exponential growth). (HS-ESS1-4)

Common Core State Standards Connections

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-ESS1-4)
  • HSA-CED.A.4 - Rearrange formulas to highlight a quantity of interest, using the same reasoning as in solving equations. (HS-ESS1-4)
  • HSA-SSE.A.1 - Interpret expressions that represent a quantity in terms of its context. (HS-ESS1-4)
  • 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-ESS1-4)
  • HSN-Q.A.2 - Define appropriate quantities for the purpose of descriptive modeling. (HS-ESS1-4)
  • HSN-Q.A.3 - Choose a level of accuracy appropriate to limitations on measurement when reporting quantities. (HS-ESS1-4)
  • MP.2 - Reason abstractly and quantitatively. (HS-ESS1-4)
  • MP.4 - Model with mathematics. (HS-ESS1-4)