Disciplinary Core Ideas: 13

MS-ESS2.C1: Water continually cycles among land, ocean, and atmosphere via transpiration, evaporation, condensation and crystallization, and precipitation, as well as downhill flows on land.

MS-ESS2.C2: The complex patterns of the changes and the movement of water in the atmosphere, determined by winds, landforms, and ocean temperatures and currents, are major determinants of local weather patterns.

MS-ESS2.C4: Variations in density due to variations in temperature and salinity drive a global pattern of interconnected ocean currents.

MS-ESS2.C: The Roles of Water in Earth's Surface Processes

MS-ESS2.D1: Weather and climate are influenced by interactions involving sunlight, the ocean, the atmosphere, ice, landforms, and living things. These interactions vary with latitude, altitude, and local and regional geography, all of which can affect oceanic and atmospheric flow patterns.

MS-ESS2.D2: Because these patterns are so complex, weather can only be predicted probabilistically.

MS-ESS2.D3: The ocean exerts a major influence on weather and climate by absorbing energy from the sun, releasing it over time, and globally redistributing it through ocean currents.

MS-ESS2.D: Weather and Climate

MS-ESS2: Earth's Systems

MS-ESS3.C: Human Impacts on Earth Systems

MS-ESS3.D: Global Climate Change

MS-ESS3: Earth and Human Activity

Middle School:

Disciplinary Core Ideas: 11

HS-ESS2.C1: The abundance of liquid water on Earth’s surface and its unique combination of physical and chemical properties are central to the planet’s dynamics. These properties include water’s exceptional capacity to absorb, store, and release large amounts of energy, transmit sunlight, expand upon freezing, dissolve and transport materials, and lower the viscosities and melting points of rocks.

HS-ESS2.C: The Roles of Water in Earth's Surface Processes

HS-ESS2.D : Weather and Climate

HS-ESS2.D3: Changes in the atmosphere due to human activity have increased carbon dioxide concentrations and thus affect climate.

HS-ESS2.D4: Current models predict that, although future regional climate changes will be complex and varied, average global temperatures will continue to rise. The outcomes predicted by global climate models strongly depend on the amounts of human-generated greenhouse gases added to the atmosphere each year and by the ways in which these gases are absorbed by the ocean and biosphere.

HS-ESS2.D: Weather and Climate

HS-ESS3 : Earth and Human Activity

HS-ESS3.A: Natural Resources

HS-ESS3.C1: The sustainability of human societies and the biodiversity that supports them requires responsible management of natural resources.

HS-ESS3.C: Human Impacts on Earth Systems

HS-ESS3.D: Global Climate Change