Earth's History: Events, Places and Impacts

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Science (TEKS) 112.36-- Earth and Space Science

1.A demonstrate safe practices during laboratory and field investigations;
1.B demonstrate an understanding of the use and conservation of resources and the proper disposal or recycling of materials; and
1.C use the school's technology and information systems in a wise and ethical manner.
2 The student uses scientific methods during laboratory and field investigations. The student is expected to:
2.E demonstrate the use of course equipment, techniques, and procedures, including computers and web-based computer applications;
2.F use a wide variety of additional course apparatuses, equipment, techniques, and procedures as appropriate such as satellite imagery and other remote sensing data, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Global Positioning System (GPS), scientific probes, microscopes, telescopes, modern video and image libraries, weather stations, fossil and rock kits, bar magnets, coiled springs, wave simulators, tectonic plate models, and planetary globes;
2.G organize, analyze, evaluate, make inferences, and predict trends from data;
2.H use mathematical procedures such as algebra, statistics, scientific notation, and significant figures to analyze data using the International System (SI) units
2.I communicate valid conclusions supported by data using several formats such as technical reports, lab reports, labeled drawings, graphic organizers, journals, presentations, and technical posters.
3 The student uses critical thinking, scientific reasoning, and problem solving to make informed decisions within and outside the classroom. The student is expected to
3.A in all fields of science, analyze, evaluate, and critique scientific explanations by using empirical evidence, logical reasoning, and experimental and observational testing, including examining all sides of scientific evidence of those scientific explanations, so as to encourage critical thinking by the student;
3.C draw inferences based on data related to promotional materials for products and services
3.D evaluate the impact of research on scientific thought, society, and public policy
3.E explore careers and collaboration among scientists in Earth and space sciences
3.F learn and understand the contributions of scientists to the historical development of Earth and space sciences
4 The student knows how Earth-based and space-based astronomical observations reveal differing theories about the structure, scale, composition, origin, and history of the universe. The student is expected to
4.C investigate the process by which a supernova can lead to the formation of successive generation stars and planets.
5 The student understands the solar nebular accretionary disk model. The student is expected to
6 The student knows the evidence for how Earth's atmospheres, hydrosphere, and geosphere formed and changed through time. The student is expected to
5.A analyze how gravitational condensation of solar nebular gas and dust can lead to the accretion of planetesimals and protoplanets
7 The student knows that scientific dating methods of fossils and rock sequences are used to construct a chronology of Earth's history expressed in the geologic time scale. The student is expected to
8 The student knows that fossils provide evidence for geological and biological evolution. Students are expected to
7.A evaluate relative dating methods using original horizontality, rock superposition, lateral continuity, cross-cutting relationships, unconformities, index fossils, and biozones based on fossil succession to determine chronological order
7.C understand how multiple dating methods are used to construct the geologic time scale, which represents Earth's approximate 4.6-billion-year history
8.A analyze and evaluate a variety of fossil types such as transitional fossils, proposed transitional fossils, fossil lineages, and significant fossil deposits with regard to their appearance, completeness, and alignment with scientific explanations in light of this fossil data
8.B explain how sedimentation, fossilization, and speciation affect the degree of completeness of the fossil record
8.C evaluate the significance of the terminal Permian and Cretaceous mass extinction events, including adaptive radiations of organisms after the events
11.A compare the roles of erosion and deposition through the actions of water, wind, ice, gravity, and igneous activity by lava in constantly reshaping Earth's surface
13.D discuss mechanisms and causes such as selective absorbers, major volcanic eruptions, solar luminance, giant meteorite impacts, and human activities that result in significant changes in Earth's climate
13.E investigate the causes and history of eustatic sea-level changes that result in transgressive and regressive sedimentary sequences
14.B investigate how the atmosphere is heated from Earth's surface due to absorption of solar energy, which is re-radiated as thermal energy and trapped by selective absorbers
15 The student knows that interactions among Earth's five subsystems influence climate and resource availability, which affect Earth's habitability.
15.B investigate evidence such as ice cores, glacial striations, and fossils for climate variability and its use in developing computer models to explain present and predict future climates
15.E analyze recent global ocean temperature data to predict the consequences of changing ocean temperature on evaporation, sea level, algal growth, coral bleaching, hurricane intensity, and biodiversity

Earth Science Literacy Principles

1. Earth scientists use repeatable observations and testable ideas to understand and explain our planet.
1.2 Earth scientists use a large variety of scientific principles to understand how our planet works.
2. Earth is 4.6 billion years old.
1.3 Earth science investigations take many different forms.
1.5 Earth scientists use their understanding of the past to forecast Earth’s future.
1.6 Earth scientists construct models of Earth and its processes that best explain the available geological evidence.
1.7 Technological advances, breakthroughs in interpretation, and new observations continuously refine our understanding of Earth.
2.1 Earth’s rocks and other materials provide a record of its history
2.3 Earth formed from the accumulation of dust and gas, and multiple collisions of smaller planetary bodies.
2.4 Earth’s crust has two distinct types: continental and oceanic.
2.5 Studying other objects in the solar system helps us learn Earth’s history.
2.6 Life on Earth began more than 3.5 billion years ago.
2.7 Over Earth’s vast history, both gradual and catastrophic processes have produced enormous changes.
3. Earth is a complex system of interacting rock, water, air, and life.
3.1 The four major systems of Earth are the geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere.
3.2 All Earth processes are the result of energy flowing and mass cycling within and between Earth’s systems.
3.3 Earth exchanges mass and energy with the rest of the Solar System.
3.4 Earth’s systems interact over a wide range of temporal and spatial scales.
3.6 Earth’s systems are dynamic; they continually react to changing influences.
3.7 Changes in part of one system can cause new changes to that system or to other systems, often in surprising and complex ways.
3.8 Earth’s climate is an example of how complex interactions among systems can result in relatively sudden and significant changes.
4.1 Earth’s geosphere changes through geological, hydrological, physical, chemical, and biological processes that are explained by universal laws.
4.8 Weathered and unstable rock materials erode from some parts of Earth’s surface and are deposited in others.
4.9 Shorelines move back and forth across continents, depositing sediments that become the surface rocks of the land.
5. Earth is the water planet.
5.6 Water shapes landscapes.
5.7 Ice is an especially powerful agent of weathering and erosion.
6. Life evolves on a dynamic Earth and continuously modifies Earth.
6.1 Fossils are the preserved evidence of ancient life.
6.2 Evolution, including the origination and extinction of species, is a natural and ongoing process.
6.3 Biological diversity, both past and present, is vast and largely undiscovered.
6.4 More complex life forms and ecosystems have arisen over the course of Earth’s history.
6.5 Microorganisms dominated Earth’s early biosphere and continue today to be the most widespread, abundant, and diverse group of organisms on the planet.
6.6 Mass extinctions occur when global conditions change faster than species in large numbers can adapt.
6.7 The particular life forms that exist today, including humans, are a unique result of the history of Earth’s systems.
6.8 Life changes the physical and chemical properties of Earth’s geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere.
6.9 Life occupies a wide range of Earth’s environments, including extreme environments.
8.4 Hazardous events can be sudden or gradual.
8.5 Natural hazards can be local or global in origin.
9. Humans significantly alter the Earth.
9.2 Earth scientists use the geologic record to distinguish between natural and human influences on Earth’s systems.