Science Curriculum Topic Study

Air & Atmosphere and Weather & Climate

III. Identify Concepts and Specific Ideas

Benchmarks for Science Literacy

• K-2: Some events in nature have a repeating pattern. The weather changes some from day to day, but things such as temperature and rain (or snow) tend to be high, low, or medium in the same months every year. Water can be a liquid or a solid and go back and forth from one form to the other. If water is turned into ice and then the ice is allowed to melt, the amount of water is the same as it was before freezing. Water left in an open container disappears, but water in a closed container does not disappear.
• 3-5: When liquid water disappears, it turns into a gas (vapor) in the air and can reappear as a liquid when cooled, or as a solid if cooled below the freezing point of water. Clouds and fog are made of tiny droplets of water. Air is a substance that surrounds us, takes up space, and whose movement we feel as wind.
• 6-8: Because the earth turns daily on an axis that is tilted on its orbit around the sun, sunlight falls more intensely on different parts of the earth during the year. The difference in the heating of the earth from the sun produces seasons and weather patterns. Climates sometimes change abruptly due to changes in earth’s crust (volcanic eruptions or meteor hitting surface of the earth). Even relatively small changes in atmospheric or ocean content can have widespread effects on climate if the change lasts long enough. Water cycling plays important role in climate patterns. Heat energy carried by ocean currents has strong influence on world’s climate. The atmosphere and oceans have limited capacity to absorb wastes and recycle materials naturally.
• 9-12: The force of gravity enables the planet to retain an adequate atmosphere and an intensity of radiation from the sun allows water to cycle between liquid and vapor. Weather (short) and climate (long) involve transfer of energy in and out of the atmosphere. Solar radiation heats the landmasses, ocean, and air. Transfer of heat energy at boundaries between atmosphere, the landmasses, and oceans result in layer of different temperatures and densities in both the ocean and atmosphere. The action of gravitational force on regions of different densities causes them to rise or fall – and such circulation, influenced by the rotation of the earth, produces winds and ocean currents.

National Science Education Standards

• Grades K-4: Standard D Earth and Space Science, Properties of Earth Materials: Earth materials are solid rocks and soils, water, and the gases of the atmosphere. Standard D Earth and Space Science, Objects in the Sky: The sun provides the light and heat necessary to maintain the temperature of the earth. Standard D Earth and Space Science, Changes in the Earth and Sky: Weather changes from day to day and over the seasons. Weather can be described by measurable quantities, such as temperature, wind direction and speed, and precipitation.
• Grades 5-8: Standard D Earth and Space Science, Structure of the Earth System: Water, which covers the majority of the earth’s surface, circulates through the crust, oceans, and atmosphere in what is known as the “water cycle”. Water evaporates from the earth’s surface, rises and cools as it moves to higher elevations, condenses as rain or snow, and falls to the surface where it collects in lakes, oceans, soil, and in rocks underground. The atmosphere is a mixture of nitrogen, oxygen, and trace gases that include water vapor. The atmosphere has different properties at different elevations. Clouds, formed by the condensation of water vapor, affect weather and climate. Global patterns of atmospheric movement influence local weather. Oceans have a major effect on climate, because water in the oceans holds a large amount of heat. Standard F Science in Personal and Social Perspectives, Natural Hazards: Internal and external processes of the earth system cause natural hazards, events that change or destroy human and wildlife habitats, damage property, and harm or kill humans. Natural hazards include earthquakes, landslides, wildfires, volcanic eruptions, floods, storms, and even possible impacts of asteroids. Standard F Science in Personal and Social Perspectives, Risks and Benefits: Students should understand the risks associated with natural hazards (fires, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions).
• Grades 9-12: Standard D Earth and Space Science, Energy in the Earth System: Earth systems have internal and external sources of energy, both of which create heat. The sun is the major external source of energy. Heating the earth’s surface and atmosphere by the sun drives convection within the atmosphere and oceans, producing winds and ocean currents. Global climate is determined by energy transfer from the sun at and near the earth’s surface. This transfer is influence by dynamic processes such as cloud cover and the earth’s rotation, and static conditions such as the position of mountain ranges and oceans. Standard D Earth and Space Science, Geochemical Cycles: The earth is a system containing essentially a fixed amount of each stable chemical atom or element. Each element can exist in several different chemical reservoirs. Each element on earth moves among reservoirs in the solid earth, oceans, atmosphere, and organisms as part of the geochemical cycle. Movement of matter between reservoirs is driven by the earth’s internal and external sources of energy. These movements are often accompanied by a change in the physical and chemical properties of the matter. Carbon, for example, occurs in carbonate rocks such as limestone, in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide gas, in water as dissolved carbon dioxide, and in all organisms as complex molecules that control the chemistry of life. Standard F Science in Personal and Social Perspectives, Natural and Human-Induced Hazards: Normal adjustments of earth may be hazardous for humans. Humans live at the interface between the atmosphere driven by solar energy and the upper mantle where convection creates changes in the earth’s solid crust. As societies have grown, become stable, and come to value aspects of the environment, vulnerability to natural processes of change has increased. Some hazards, such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and severe weather, are rapid and spectacular. Natural and human-induced hazards present the need for humans to assess potential danger and risk. Many changes in the environment designed by humans bring benefits to society, as well as cause risks. Students should understand the costs and trade-offs of various hazards – ranging from those with minor risks to a few people to major catastrophes with major risk to many people. The scale of events and the accuracy with which scientists and engineers can (and cannot) predict events are important considerations.

References:

§ American Association for the Advancement of Science. 1994. Benchmarks for Science Literacy. New York: Oxford University Press. Note: This document is also available on the web at: http://www.project2061.org/publications/bsl/online/bolintro.htm

§ National Research Council. (1996). The National Science Education Standards. Washington, DC: National Academy Press. Note: This document is also available on the web at: http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/nses/html