---
title: "Earth and Space Science 6-8"
url: "https://books.hrgrvs.net/2/standards/86/earth-and-space-science-6-8"
---

# Middle School Earth and Space Science

## MS. Space Systems
Students who demonstrate understanding can:
### MS-ESS1-1a
Develop and use a model to explain how the positions of the Earth-Sun-Moon in a system and the cyclic patterns of each cause lunar
phases and eclipses of the sun and moon. [Clarification Statement: Examples of models can be physical, graphical, or conceptual.]
### MS-ESS1-1b
Develop and use a model to explain how the seasons occur. [Clarification statement: Reference Alaskan community latitudes and how
position on the Earth affects the severity of the seasons for the different regions of AK. Compare and describe the seasons of the northern
hemisphere and the southern hemisphere.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment limited to qualitative and spatial explanations for seasons.]
### MS-ESS1-2
Develop and use a model to describe the role of gravity in the motions within galaxies and the solar system. [Clarification Statement:
Emphasis for the model is on gravity as the force that holds together the solar system and Milky Way galaxy and controls orbital motions
within them. Examples of models can be physical (such as the analogy of distance along a football field or computer visualizations of elliptical
orbits) or conceptual (such as mathematical proportions relative to the size of familiar objects such as students' school or state.)]
[Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include Kepler’s Laws of orbital motion or the apparent retrograde motion of the planets as
viewed from Earth.]
### MS-ESS1-3
Analyze data to determine scale properties of objects in the solar system. [Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on the analysis of data
from Earth-based instruments, space-based telescopes, and spacecraft to determine similarities and differences among solar system objects.
Examples of scale properties include the sizes of an object’s layers (such as crust and atmosphere), surface features (such as volcanoes), and
orbital radius. Examples of data include statistical information, drawings and photographs, and models.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment
does not include recalling facts about properties of the planets and other solar system bodies.]

## MS. History of Earth
Students who demonstrate understanding can:
### MS-ESS1-4
Construct and explain, using evidence from rock strata, how the geologic time scale is used to organize Earth’s 4.6-billion-year-old history.
[Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on how analyses of rock formations and the fossils they contain are used to establish relative ages of
major events in Earth’s history. Examples of Earth’s major events could range from being very recent (such as the last Ice Age or the earliest
fossils of homo sapiens) to very old (such as the formation of Earth or the earliest evidence of life). Examples can include the formation of
mountain chains and ocean basins, the evolution or extinction of particular living organisms, or significant volcanic eruptions.] [Assessment
Boundary: Assessment does not include recalling the names of specific periods or epochs and events within them.]
### MS-ESS2-2
Construct and present an evidence-based explanation of how geoscience processes have changed Earth’s surface at varying time and spatial
scales. [Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on how processes change Earth’s surface at time and spatial scales that can be large (such as slow
plate motions or the uplift of large mountain ranges) or small (such as rapid landslides or microscopic geochemical reactions), and how many
geoscience processes (such as earthquakes, volcanoes, and meteor impacts) usually behave gradually but are punctuated by catastrophic
events. Examples of geoscience processes include surface weathering and deposition by the movements of water, ice, and wind. Emphasis is
on geoscience processes that shape local geographic features, where appropriate. Alaskan examples should include locally significant
landforms including coastal or ocean sea floor structures.]
### MS-ESS2-3
Analyze and interpret data on the distribution of fossils and rocks, continental shapes, and seafloor structures to provide evidence of the
past plate motions. [Clarification Statement: Examples of data include similarities of rock and fossil types on different continents, the shapes
of the continents (including continental shelves), and the locations of ocean structures (such as ridges, fracture zones, and trenches).]
[Assessment Boundary: Paleomagnetic anomalies in oceanic and continental crust are not assessed.]

## MS. Earth's Systems
Students who demonstrate understanding can:
### MS-ESS2-1
Develop a model to describe the cycling of Earth's materials and the flow of energy that drives this process. [Clarification Statement:
Emphasis is on the processes of melting, crystallization, weathering, deformation, and sedimentation, which act together to form minerals
and rocks through the cycling of Earth’s materials.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include the identification and naming of
minerals.]
### MS-ESS2-4
Develop a model to describe the cycling of water through Earth's systems driven by energy from the sun and the force of gravity.
[Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on the ways water changes its state as it moves through the multiple pathways of the hydrologic cycle.
Examples of models can be conceptual or physical.] [Assessment Boundary: A quantitative understanding of the latent heats of vaporization
and fusion is not assessed.]
### MS-ESS3-1
Construct an evidence-based explanation for how the uneven distributions of Earth’s mineral, energy, and groundwater resources are the
result of past and current geoscience processes. [Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on how these resources are limited and typically non-
renewable, and how their distributions are significantly changing as a result of removal by humans. Examples of uneven distributions of
resources as a result of past processes include but are not limited to petroleum (locations of the burial of organic marine sediments and
subsequent geologic traps), metal ores (locations of past volcanic and hydrothermal activity associated with subduction zones), and soil
(locations of active weathering and/or deposition of rock).]

## MS. Weather and Climate
Students who demonstrate understanding can:
### MS-ESS2-5
Collect data to provide evidence for how the motions and complex interactions of air masses result in changes in weather conditions.
[Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on how air masses flow from regions of high pressure to low pressure, causing weather (defined by
temperature, pressure, humidity, precipitation, and wind) at a fixed location to change over time, and how sudden changes in weather can
result when different air masses collide. Emphasis is on how weather can be predicted within probabilistic ranges. Examples of data can be
provided to students (such as weather maps, diagrams, and visualizations) or obtained through laboratory experiments (such as with
condensation).] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include recalling the names of cloud types or weather symbols used on weather
maps or the reported diagrams from weather stations.]
### MS-ESS2-6
Develop and use a model to describe how unequal heating and rotation of the Earth cause patterns of atmospheric and oceanic circulation
that determine regional climates. [Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on how patterns vary by latitude, altitude, and geographic land
distribution. Emphasis of atmospheric circulation is on the sunlight-driven latitudinal banding, the Coriolis effect, and resulting prevailing
winds; emphasis of ocean circulation is on the transfer of heat by the global ocean convection cycle, which is constrained by the Coriolis effect
and the outlines of continents. Examples of models can be diagrams, maps and globes, or digital representations.] [Assessment Boundary:
Assessment does not include the dynamics of the Coriolis effect.]
### MS-ESS3-5
Ask questions to clarify evidence of the factors that have caused the rise in global temperatures over the past century. [Clarification
Statement: Examples of factors include human activities (such as fossil fuel combustion, cement production, and agricultural activity) and
natural processes (such as changes in incoming solar radiation or volcanic activity). Examples of evidence can include tables, graphs, and maps
of global and regional temperatures and chemistry (both ocean and land surface), sea ice cover, permafrost, glacial change, atmospheric levels
of gases such as carbon dioxide and methane, food availability locally and worldwide, and the rates of human activities. Emphasis is on the
major role that human activities play in causing the rise in global temperatures.]

## MS. Human Impacts
Students who demonstrate understanding can:
### MS-ESS3-2
Analyze and interpret data on natural hazards to forecast future catastrophic events and inform the development of technologies to
mitigate their effects. [Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on how some natural hazards, such as volcanic eruptions and severe weather,
are preceded by phenomena that allow for reliable predictions, but others, such as earthquakes, occur suddenly and with no notice, and
thus are not yet predictable. Examples of natural hazards can be taken from interior processes (such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions),
surface processes (such as mass wasting and tsunamis), or severe weather events (such as hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods). Examples of
data can include the locations, magnitudes, and frequencies of the natural hazards. Examples of technologies can be global (such as satellite
systems to monitor hurricanes or forest fires) or local (such as building basements in tornado-prone regions or reservoirs to mitigate
droughts). Alaskan examples should include but are not limited to tsunamis, storm surges, landslides, and earthquakes.]
### MS-ESS3-3
Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment.* [Clarification
Statement: Examples of the design process include examining human environmental impacts, assessing the kinds of solutions that are
feasible, and designing and evaluating solutions that could reduce that impact. Examples of human impacts can include water usage (such as
the withdrawal of water from streams and aquifers or the construction of dams and levees), land usage (such as urban development,
agriculture, or the removal of wetlands), and pollution (such as of the air, water, or land).]
### MS-ESS3-4
Construct an argument supported by evidence for how increases in human population and per-capita consumption of natural resources
impact Earth's systems. [Clarification Statement: Examples of evidence include grade-appropriate databases on human populations and the
rates of consumption of food and natural resources (such as freshwater, mineral, and energy). Examples of impacts can include changes to
the appearance, composition, and structure of Earth’s systems as well as the rates at which they change. The consequences of increases in
human populations and consumption of natural resources are described by science, but science does not make the decisions for the actions
society takes.]

## MS. Engineering Design
Students who demonstrate understanding can:
### MS-ETS1-1
Define the criteria and constraints of a design problem with sufficient precision to ensure a successful solution, taking into account
relevant scientific principles and potential impacts on people and the natural environment that may limit possible solutions.
### MS-ETS1-2
Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the
problem.
### MS-ETS1-3
Analyze data from tests to determine similarities and differences among several design solutions to identify the best characteristics of
each that can be combined into a new solution to better meet the criteria for success.
### MS-ETS1-4
Develop a model to generate data for repetitive testing and modification of a proposed object, tool, or process such that an optimal
design can be achieved.