Activities Related to "Pulse of Earth Science"	Suggested Grade Level			Content Standards
	K-4	5-8	9-12	A	B	C	D	E	F	G
Products Made from    Petroleum
Sea and Ice Salinity
Dangerous Atmosphere
Analyzing Hurricanes Using    Web and Desktop GIS
Make Your Own Compass
Take the Pulse of Your    Classroom
Modeling an Oil Reserve
A Bit of Engineering
How Much Soil Is There?
Making a Cave
Your Own El Niño
Watch Out for Landslides

Check out the 2007-08 Activity Calendar!

Other Earth Science Related Activities	Suggested Grade Level			Content Standards
	K-4	5-8	9-12	A	B	C	D	E	F	G
Monitoring Life in the Rocky    Intertidal Ecosystem
How Can You Test Your Soil?
Making Your Own National    Park Geologic Tour
Investigating Different Rock    Types
Modeling Oil and Gas    Reservoirs
Step by Step Weather    Observations
Rock Around the World
Seismic Calendar
Places on the Planet:    Latitude and Longitude
What Lies Beneath the    Upper Crust?
Measuring Permeabilities of    Soil, Sand, and Gravel
Map-Making Basics
Model of a Normal Fault
Groundwater Movement
Exploring for Petroleum
Measure for Measure
Third from the Sun
Earthquake Machine
Birdseed Mining
Build a Weather Station
Logs of Straw
Investigating Soil
Land and People    - Finding a Balance
Mystery Mollusc
A Model of Three Faults
Burning Issues
Flood
Where Growth Meets Growth
Wordsearch: Kinds of Tephra
The Mountain Blows its Top
The Slope of Land    in Your Community
Hurricane Tracking
Make a Thunderstorm
Lightning
Sinkholes in a Cup
Disaster Supplies Kit
Exploring Caves (guide) (poster)
Mud Fossils
Geologic Age
Global Change
Hands-On Experiments to    Test for Acid-Mine Drainage
Mineral Identification
Name that Natural Resource
Cookie Mining
A Paste with Taste
Cupcake Core Sampling
Water Filtration
Ocean Currents
Earth's Hydrologic Cycle
Freddy the Fish
Splish Splash: Water's    Journey to my Glass
Water, A Never Ending Story
The Incredible Journey
Properties of Fresh Water    and Sea Water
Identifying Your Watershed
Investigating Water    Use in Your Home
Model of a Well
Pass the Jug
Are You a Water Waster
Recognizing our    Dynamic Wetlands
Glacier Slide
Geologic Time Scale Analogy

Content Standards Legend

A = Earth and Space Science

• K-4
  1. Properties of earth materials
  2. Objects in the sky
  3. Changes in earth and sky
     
     
• 5-8

4. Structure of the earth system
5. Earth's history
6. Earth in the solar system
   
   

• 9-12
  7. Energy in the earth system
  8. Geochemical cycles
  9. Origin and evolution of the earth system
  10. Origin and evolution of the universe

B = Physical Science

• K-4
  1. Properties of objects and materials
  2. Position and motion of objects
  3. Light, heat, electricity, and magnetism
     
     
• 5-8

4. Properties and changes of properties in matter
5. Motions and forces
6. Transfer of energy
   
   

• 9-12

7. Structure of atoms
8. Structure and properties of matter
9. Chemical reactions
10. Motions and forces
11. Conservation of energy and increase in disorder
12. Interactions of energy and matter

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C = Life Science

• K-4
  1. The characteristics of organisms
  2. Life cycles of organisms
  3. Organisms and environments
     
     

• 5-8
  4. Structure and function in living systems
  5. Reproduction and heredity
  6. Regulation and behavior
  7. Populations and ecosystems
  8. Diversity and adaptations of organisms
     
     

• 9-12
  9. The cell
  10. Molecular basis of heredity
  11. Biological evolution
  12. Interdependence of organisms
  13. Matter, energy, and organization in living systems
  14. Behavior of organisms
      
      

D = Science and Technology

• K-4
  1. Abilities of technological design
  2. Understanding about science and technology
  3. Abilities to distinguish between natural objects and objects made by humans
     
     
• 5-8
  4. Abilities of technological design
  5. Understandings about science and technology
     
     
• 9-12
  6. Abilities of technological design
  7. Understandings about science and technology
     
     

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E = Science in Personal and Social Perspectives

• K-4
  1. Personal health
  2. Characteristics and changes in populations
  3. Types of resources
  4. Changes in environments
  5. Science and technology in local challenges
     
     
• 5-8
  6. Personal health
  7. Populations, resources, and environments
  8. Natural hazards
  9. Risks and benefits
  10. Science and technology in society
      
      

• 9-12
  11. Personal and community health
  12. Population growth
  13. Natural resources
  14. Environmental quality
  15. Natural and human-induced hazards
  16. Science and technology in local, national, and global challenges
      
      

F = History and Nature of Science

• K-4
  1. Science as a human endeavor
     
     

• 5-8
  2. Science as a human endeavor
  3. Nature of science
  4. History of science
     
     

• 9-12
  5. Science as a human endeavor
  6. Nature of scientific knowledge
  7. Historical perspectives
     
     

G = Science as Inquiry

• K-4

1. Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry
2. Understanding about scientific inquiry
   
   

• 5-8

3. Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry
4. Understandings about scientific inquiry
   
   

• 9-12

5. Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry
6. Understandings about scientific inquiry
   
   

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The National Science Education Standards

The National Science Education Standards provide a vision of science literacy for all students in our nation's schools. The content standards of NSES outline what students ought to know, understand, and be able to do at various stages of their K-12 education. Inquiry should play a central role in developing students' understandings. The Standards are a call for action from individuals and organizations at all levels of the system. Thus, standards for science teaching, professional development of science teachers, assessment, science education programs, and science education systems are incorporated into the Standards as well. Responsibility for providing the support necessary to attain science literacy falls on everyone involved in the science education system.

The K-4 Earth science standards target students' understandings of properties of Earth materials, objects in the sky, and changes in the Earth and sky. Science lessons for students at these grade levels should focus on observing the objects and materials in their environment; distinguishing one from another; noting their properties, patterns, and changes; and developing explanations of how things became what they are. Activities include observing changes in weather and in the positions of objects in the day and night sky, as well as examining the properties of Earth materials, such as soil, rocks, water, and fossils.

In grades 5-8, students build upon understandings gained through observation in earlier grades to develop an understanding of the Earth and solar system as a set of closely related systems. The rock and water cycles provide an opportunity to examine interactions between the geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere. Earth history can be examined to gather evidence about the CO-evolution of Earth's main features: the distribution of land and sea, crustal features, atmospheric composition, global climate, and populations within the biosphere. The study of earthquakes and volcanoes provides evidence necessary to better understand the nature and features of the dynamic geosphere. Students should also begin to construct mental models that explain the visual and physical relationships among objects within the solar system.

Earth and space science standards within grades 9-12 continue the system's approach by focusing on matter, energy, crustal dynamics, geochemical processes, and the expanded time scales needed to understand changes within the Earth system. Students in these grades should engage in examinations of the energy sources and processes which drive geochemical cycles within and on the planet. They are also ready to comprehend more abstract and long-term phenomena, including explanations for plate tectonics, the evolution of life, and the solar system.