8th Grade Earth Science

Natural systems undergo change.

1. Climates have sometimes changed abruptly in the past as a result of changes in the earth's crust, such as volcanic eruptions or impacts of huge rocks from space. Even relatively small changes in atmospheric or ocean content can have widespread effects on climate if the change lasts long enough. (AKSci - A.4)

Examples of What Students Should Be Able to Do:

• Illustrate and describe the movement of air or water in a convection cell with respect to an energy source.
• Conduct research, organize information, and summarize findings regarding forces causing crustal plate movement, space impacts, and their impact on determining the geologic age and climate of the earth.
• Use recent understandings of meteor and comet impacts as a geologic process to suggest possible revisions to extinction theories.
• Research an extinct organism to discover the environmental pressures that may have contributed to its demise.
• State the advantage of using plate tectonics theory to predict possible locations of earthquakes and volcanoes with that of using only historic (including folk) records.