DirtonSoil

Enduring Understandings: 

• Weathering causes rocks to crumble and shapes many landforms.

• Many natural features were shaped by erosion.

• The Earth's surface is constantly changing.

• Gravity drives the forces of erosion.

• Soil erosion is a result of both natural and human-induced processes and affects both the physical environment and human livelihoods.

• Careful management of an area can reduce soil erosion and help a community maintain its livelihood

 

 

Essential Question(s): 

• How is Earth's surface changed by weather and erosion?

• Why is soil important?

• How is the erosion and deposition of sediment affected by man-made structures? 

• How does the force of gravity drive the forces of erosion?

• What causes soil erosion?How does soil erosion affect people?

• What can people do to reduce or control soil erosion?

 

 

 

Standards:

 

NGSS

• 4-ESS2-1. 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-ESS2-2. Analyze and interpret data from maps to describe patterns of Earth’s features.

• MS-ESS3-1. Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for how the uneven distributions of Earth's mineral, energy, and groundwater resources are the result of past and current geoscience processes.

• 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. 

• MS-ESS3-3. Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment.

• MS-ESS3-4. Construct an argument supported by evidence for how increases in human population and per-capital consumption of natural resources impact Earth's systems. 

 

 

CCSS ELA

​

ELA/Literacy 

• RST.6-8.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of science and technical texts. 

• RST.6-8.2 Determine the central ideas or conclusions of a text; provide an accurate summary of the text distinct from prior knowledge or opinions.

• RST.6-8.4 Determine the meaning of symbols, key terms, and other domain-specific words and phrases as they are used in a specific scientific or technical context relevant togrades 6–8 texts and topics.

• RST.6-8.7 Integrate quantitative or technical information expressed in words in a text with a version of that information expressed visually (e.g., in a flowchart, diagram, model, graph, or table). 

• WHST.6-8.1 Write arguments focused on discipline content. 

• WHST.6-8.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content. 

• WHST.6-8.7 Conduct short research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question), drawing on several sources and generating additional related, focused questions that allow for multiple avenues of exploration. 

• WHST.6-8.8 Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources; assess the credibility of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and providing basic bibliographic information for sources. 

• WHST.6-8.9 Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. 

 

Mathematics 

• MP.2 Reason abstractly and quantitatively. 

• 6.RP.A.1 Understand the concept of a ratio and use ratio language to describe a ratio relationship between two quantities. 

• 7.RP.A.1 Recognize and represent proportional relationships between quantities. 

• 6.EE.B.6 Use variables to represent numbers and write expressions when solving a real-world or mathematical problem; understand that a variable can represent an unknown number, or, depending on the purpose at hand, any number in a specified set. 

• 7.EE.B.4 Use variables to represent quantities in a real-world or mathematical problem, and construct simple equations and inequalities to solve problems by reasoning about the quantities.