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4-ESS2

Earth's Systems

 

Students who demonstrate understanding can:

Performance Expectations
 

 

Make observations and/or measurements to provide evidence of the effects of weathering or the rate of erosion by water, ice, wind, or vegetation. 4-ESS2-1

Clarification Statement and Assessment Boundary

Clarification Statement: Examples of variables to test could include angle of slope in the downhill movement of water, amount of vegetation, speed of wind, relative rate of deposition, cycles of freezing and thawing of water, cycles of heating and cooling, and volume of water flow.

Assessment Boundary: Assessment is limited to a single form of weathering or erosion.

 

Analyze and interpret data from maps to describe patterns of Earth’s features. 4-ESS2-2

Clarification Statement and Assessment Boundary

Clarification Statement: Maps can include topographic maps of Earth’s land and ocean floor, as well as maps of the locations of mountains, continental boundaries, volcanoes, and earthquakes.

Assessment Boundary: none

Science and Engineering Practices

Planning and Carrying Out Investigations

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.

Make observations and/or measurements to produce data to serve as the basis for evidence for an explanation of a phenomenon. (4-ESS2-1)

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.

Analyze and interpret data to make sense of phenomena using logical reasoning. (4-ESS2-2)

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. (4-ESS2-1)

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. (4-ESS2-2)

ESS2.E:  Biogeology

Living things affect the physical characteristics of their regions. (4-ESS2-1)

Crosscutting Concepts

Patterns

Patterns can be used as evidence to support an explanation. (4-ESS2-2)

Cause and Effect

Cause and effect relationships are routinely identified, tested, and used to explain change. (4-ESS2-1)

Common Core State Standards Connections

ELA/Literacy
  • RI.4.7 - Interpret information presented visually, orally, or quantitatively (e.g., in charts, graphs, diagrams, time lines, animations, or interactive elements on Web pages) and explain how the information contributes to an understanding of the text in which it appears. (4-ESS2-2)
  • W.4.7 - Conduct short research projects that build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic. (4-ESS2-2)
  • W.4.8 - Recall relevant information from experiences or gather relevant information from print and digital sources; take notes and categorize information, and provide a list of sources. (4-ESS2-1)
Mathematics
  • 4.MD.A.1 - Know relative sizes of measurement units within one system of units including km, m, cm; kg, g; lb, oz.; l, ml; hr, min, sec. Within a single system of measurement, express measurements in a larger unit in terms of a smaller unit. Record measurement equivalents in a two column table. (4-ESS2-1)
  • 4.MD.A.2 - Use the four operations to solve word problems involving distances, intervals of time, liquid volumes, masses of objects, and money, including problems involving simple fractions or decimals, and problems that require expressing measurements given in a larger unit in terms of a smaller unit. Represent measurement quantities using diagrams such as number line diagrams that feature a measurement scale. (4-ESS2-1), (4-ESS2-2)
  • MP.2 - Reason abstractly and quantitatively. (4-ESS2-1)
  • MP.4 - Model with mathematics. (4-ESS2-1)
  • MP.5 - Use appropriate tools strategically. (4-ESS2-1)