Disciplinary Core Ideas: 12

Earth and Space Sciences:

Engineering, Technology, and Applications of Science:

Life Sciences:

MS-ESS3.D1: Human activities, such as the release of greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels, are major factors in the current rise in Earth’s mean surface temperature (global warming). Reducing the level of climate change and reducing human vulnerability to whatever climate changes do occur depend on the understanding of climate science, engineering capabilities, and other kinds of knowledge, such as understanding of human behavior and on applying that knowledge wisely in decisions and activities.

MS-ESS3.D: Global Climate Change

MS-ESS3: Earth and Human Activity

MS-ETS1.B1: A solution needs to be tested, and then modified on the basis of the test results, in order to improve it.

MS-ETS1.B: Developing Possible Solutions

MS-LS2.A1: Organisms, and populations of organisms, are dependent on their environmental interactions both with other living things and with nonliving factors.

MS-LS2.A: Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems

MS-LS2: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics

Middle School:

Disciplinary Core Ideas: 13

Earth and Space Sciences:

Engineering, Technology, and Applications of Science:

HS-ESS3 : Earth and Human Activity

HS-ESS3.D1: Though the magnitudes of human impacts are greater than they have ever been, so too are human abilities to model, predict, and manage current and future impacts.

HS-ESS3.D2: Through computer simulations and other studies, important discoveries are still being made about how the ocean, the atmosphere, and the biosphere interact and are modified in response to human activities.

HS-ESS3.D: Global Climate Change

HS-ETS1.B : Developing Possible Solutions

HS-ETS1.B1: When evaluating solutions, it is important to take into account a range of constraints, including cost, safety, reliability, and aesthetics, and to consider social, cultural, and environmental impacts.

HS-LS2.C1: A complex set of interactions within an ecosystem can keep its numbers and types of organisms relatively constant over long periods of time under stable conditions. If a modest biological or physical disturbance to an ecosystem occurs, it may return to its more or less original status (i.e., the ecosystem is resilient), as opposed to becoming a very different ecosystem. Extreme fluctuations in conditions or the size of any population, however, can challenge the functioning of ecosystems in terms of resources and habitat availability.

HS-LS2.C: Ecosystem Dynamics, Functioning, and Resilience

HS-LS2: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics

High School:

Life Sciences: