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Subject Area - 3:
Science and Technology and Engineering Education
  • Standard Area - 3.3: Earth and Space Sciences
  • Organizing Category - 3.3.A: Earth Structure, Processes and Cycles
  • Grade Level - 3.3.8.A: GRADE 8
Standard - 3.3.8.A5

Explain how the curvature of the earth contributes to climate.

Compare and contrast water vapor, clouds, and humidity.

Eligible Content:
14 Total
Assessments
Materials & Resources
  • Assessment Anchor - S8.A.3

    Systems, Models, and Patterns
    • Anchor Descriptor - S8.A.3.1 Explain the parts of a simple system, their roles, and their relationships to the system as a whole.
      • Eligible Content - S8.A.3.1.1 Describe a system (e.g., watershed, circulatory system, heating system, agricultural system) as a group of related parts with specific roles that work together to achieve an observed result.
      • Eligible Content - S8.A.3.1.2 Explain the concept of order in a system [e.g., (first to last: manufacturing steps, trophic levels); (simple to complex: cell, tissue, organ, organ system)].
      • Eligible Content - S8.A.3.1.3 Distinguish among system inputs, system processes, system outputs, and feedback (e.g., physical, ecological, biological, informational).
      • Eligible Content - S8.A.3.1.4 Distinguish between open loop (e.g., energy flow, food web) and closed loop (e.g., materials in the nitrogen and carbon cycles, closed-switch) systems.
      • Eligible Content - S8.A.3.1.5 Explain how components of natural and human-made systems play different roles in a working system.
        • Alternate Eligible Content - S8.A.3.1.5a Identify the components of a simple human-made system based on function (e.g., electrical system, transportation system).
          Alternate Eligible Content is designed for students assessed using the PA Alternate System of Assessment (PASA). Essentialized Example resources assist teachers in designing instruction that reduces content complexity while maintaining alignment to academic standards.
        • Alternate Eligible Content - S8.A.3.1.5b Identify how the components or processes of natural systems affect one another (e.g., water cycle, weather systems, organ systems).
          Alternate Eligible Content is designed for students assessed using the PA Alternate System of Assessment (PASA). Essentialized Example resources assist teachers in designing instruction that reduces content complexity while maintaining alignment to academic standards.
    • Anchor Descriptor - S8.A.3.2 Apply knowledge of models to make predictions, draw inferences, or explain technological concepts.
      • Eligible Content - S8.A.3.2.1 Describe how scientists use models to explore relationships in natural systems (e.g., an ecosystem, river system, the solar system).
      • Eligible Content - S8.A.3.2.2 Describe how engineers use models to develop new and improved technologies to solve problems.
      • Eligible Content - S8.A.3.2.3 Given a model showing simple causeand- effect relationships in a natural system, predict results that can be used to test the assumptions in the model (e.g., photosynthesis, water cycle, diffusion, infiltration).
    • Anchor Descriptor - S8.A.3.3 Describe repeated processes or recurring elements in natural, scientific, and technological patterns
      • Eligible Content - S8.A.3.3.1 Identify and describe patterns as repeated processes or recurring elements in human-made systems (e.g., trusses, hub-and-spoke system in communications and transportation systems, feedback controls in regulated systems).
      • Eligible Content - S8.A.3.3.2 Describe repeating structure patterns in nature (e.g., veins in a leaf, tree rings, crystals, water waves) or periodic patterns (e.g., daily, monthly, annually).
        • Alternate Eligible Content - S8.A.3.3.2a Sequence recurring patterns, cycles or trends found in nature (e.g., water cycle, lunar phases, organ systems).
          Alternate Eligible Content is designed for students assessed using the PA Alternate System of Assessment (PASA). Essentialized Example resources assist teachers in designing instruction that reduces content complexity while maintaining alignment to academic standards.
  • Assessment Anchor - S8.B.3

    Ecological Behavior and Systems
    • Anchor Descriptor - S8.B.3.1 Explain the relationships among and between organisms in different ecosystems and their abiotic and biotic components
      • Eligible Content - S8.B.3.1.1 Explain the flow of energy through an ecosystem (e.g., food chains, food webs).
        Assessments
        • Alternate Eligible Content - S8.B.3.1.1a Sequence the flow of energy through a food chain or a food web.
          Alternate Eligible Content is designed for students assessed using the PA Alternate System of Assessment (PASA). Essentialized Example resources assist teachers in designing instruction that reduces content complexity while maintaining alignment to academic standards.
      • Eligible Content - S8.B.3.1.2 Identify major biomes and describe abiotic and biotic components (e.g., abiotic: different soil types, air, water sunlight; biotic: soil microbes, decomposers).
        Assessments
        • Alternate Eligible Content - S8.B.3.1.2a Recognize the association between different environments and their characteristics (e.g., climate, precipitation, vegitation.)
          Alternate Eligible Content is designed for students assessed using the PA Alternate System of Assessment (PASA). Essentialized Example resources assist teachers in designing instruction that reduces content complexity while maintaining alignment to academic standards.
      • Eligible Content - S8.B.3.1.3 Explain relationships among organisms (e.g., producers/consumers, predator/prey) in an ecosystem.
        Assessments
        • Alternate Eligible Content - S8.B.3.1.3a Indentify the role of different organisms in an ecosystem (limted to producers, consumers, predator, and prey.)
          Alternate Eligible Content is designed for students assessed using the PA Alternate System of Assessment (PASA). Essentialized Example resources assist teachers in designing instruction that reduces content complexity while maintaining alignment to academic standards.
    • Anchor Descriptor - S8.B.3.2 Identify evidence of change to infer and explain the ways different variables may affect change in natural or human-made systems.
      • Eligible Content - S8.B.3.2.1 Use evidence to explain factors that affect changes in populations (e.g., deforestation, disease, land use, natural disaster, invasive species).
        • Alternate Eligible Content - S8.B.3.2.1a Recognize the impact that humans have on habitats and the animals or plants living there (e.g., deforestation and deer habitats.)
          Alternate Eligible Content is designed for students assessed using the PA Alternate System of Assessment (PASA). Essentialized Example resources assist teachers in designing instruction that reduces content complexity while maintaining alignment to academic standards.
      • Eligible Content - S8.B.3.2.2 Use evidence to explain how diversity affects the ecological integrity of natural systems.
      • Eligible Content - S8.B.3.2.3 Describe the response of organisms to environmental changes (e.g., changes in climate, hibernation, migration, coloration) and how those changes affect survival.
    • Anchor Descriptor - S8.B.3.3 Explain how renewable and nonrenewable resources provide for human needs or how these needs impact the environment.
      • Eligible Content - S8.B.3.3.1 Explain how human activities may affect local, regional, and global environments.
      • Eligible Content - S8.B.3.3.2 Explain how renewable and nonrenewable resources provide for human needs (i.e., energy, food, water, clothing, and shelter).
      • Eligible Content - S8.B.3.3.3 Describe how waste management affects the environment (e.g., recycling, composting, landfills, incineration, sewage treatment).
        • Alternate Eligible Content - S8.B.3.3.3a Identify ways to reduce pollution through waste management (e.g., recycyling, composting.)
          Alternate Eligible Content is designed for students assessed using the PA Alternate System of Assessment (PASA). Essentialized Example resources assist teachers in designing instruction that reduces content complexity while maintaining alignment to academic standards.
      • Eligible Content - S8.B.3.3.4 Explain the long-term effects of using integrated pest management (e.g., herbicides, natural predators, biogenetics) on the environment.
  • Assessment Anchor - S8.D.1

    Earth Features and Processes that Change Earth and Its Resources
    • Anchor Descriptor - S8.D.1.1 Describe constructive and destructive natural processes that form different geologic structures and resources.
      • Eligible Content - S8.D.1.1.1 Explain the rock cycle as changes in the solid earth and rock types (igneous – granite, basalt, obsidian, pumice; sedimentary – limestone, sandstone, shale, coal; and metamorphic – slate, quartzite, marble, gneiss).
        Assessments
        Continuum of Activities
      • Eligible Content - S8.D.1.1.2 Describe natural processes that change Earth’s surface (e.g., landslides, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, mountain building, new land being formed, weathering, erosion, sedimentation, soil formation).
        • Alternate Eligible Content - S8.D.1.1.2a Identify natural processes that changed the Earth's surgace (e.g., landslides, earthquakes, weathering.)
          Alternate Eligible Content is designed for students assessed using the PA Alternate System of Assessment (PASA). Essentialized Example resources assist teachers in designing instruction that reduces content complexity while maintaining alignment to academic standards.
      • Eligible Content - S8.D.1.1.3 Identify soil types (i.e., humus, topsoil, subsoil, loam, loess, and parent material) and their characteristics (i.e., particle size, porosity, and permeability) found in different biomes and in Pennsylvania, and explain how they formed.
        Assessments
        Continuum of Activities
      • Eligible Content - S8.D.1.1.4 Explain how fossils provide evidence about plants and animals that once lived throughout Pennsylvania’s history (e.g., fossils provide evidence of different environments).
        Assessments
        Continuum of Activities
    • Anchor Descriptor - S8.D.1.2 Describe the potential impact of humanmade processes on changes to Earth’s resources and how they affect everyday life.
      • Eligible Content - S8.D.1.2.1 Describe a product’s transformation process from production to consumption (e.g., prospecting, propagating, growing, maintaining, adapting, treating, converting, distributing, disposing) and explain the process’s potential impact on Earth’s resources.
        • Alternate Eligible Content - S8.D.1.2.1a Identify products that are made from different renewable or non-renewable sources (e.g., lumber from trees, cans from metal, gasoline from oil.)
          Alternate Eligible Content is designed for students assessed using the PA Alternate System of Assessment (PASA). Essentialized Example resources assist teachers in designing instruction that reduces content complexity while maintaining alignment to academic standards.
      • Eligible Content - S8.D.1.2.2 Describe potential impacts of humanmade processes (e.g., manufacturing, agriculture, transportation, mining) on Earth’s resources, both nonliving (i.e., air, water, or earth materials) and living (i.e., plants and animals).
    • Anchor Descriptor - S8.D.1.3 Describe characteristic features of Earth’s water systems or their impact on resources.
      • Eligible Content - S8.D.1.3.1 Describe the water cycle and the physical processes on which it depends (i.e., evaporation, condensation, precipitation, transpiration, runoff, infiltration, energy inputs, and phase changes).
        Assessments
        Continuum of Activities
        • Alternate Eligible Content - S8.D.1.3.1a Recognize processes in the water cycle (limited to evaporation, condensation, precipitation, transpiration, runoff, and infiltration.)
          Alternate Eligible Content is designed for students assessed using the PA Alternate System of Assessment (PASA). Essentialized Example resources assist teachers in designing instruction that reduces content complexity while maintaining alignment to academic standards.
      • Eligible Content - S8.D.1.3.2 Compare and contrast characteristics of freshwater and saltwater systems on the basis of their physical characteristics (i.e., composition, density, and electrical conductivity) and their use as natural resources.
      • Eligible Content - S8.D.1.3.3 Distinguish among different water systems (e.g., wetland systems, ocean systems, river systems, watersheds) and describe their relationships to each other as well as to landforms.
      • Eligible Content - S8.D.1.3.4 Identify the physical characteristics of a stream and how these characteristics determine the types of organisms found within the stream environment (e.g., biological diversity, water quality, flow rate, tributaries, surrounding watershed).
        Assessments
        Continuum of Activities
  • Assessment Anchor - S8.D.2

    Weather, Climate, and Atmospheric Processes
    • Anchor Descriptor - S8.D.2.1 Explain how pressure, temperature, moisture, and wind are used to describe atmospheric conditions that affect regional weather or climate.
      • Eligible Content - S8.D.2.1.1 Explain the impact of water systems on the local weather or the climate of a region (e.g., lake effect snow, land/ocean breezes).
      • Eligible Content - S8.D.2.1.2 Identify how global patterns of atmospheric movement influence regional weather and climate.
        Assessments
        Continuum of Activities
      • Eligible Content - S8.D.2.1.3 Identify how cloud types, wind directions, and barometric pressure changes are associated with weather patterns in different regions of the country.
        • Alternate Eligible Content - S8.D.2.1.3a Indentify how wind direction or cloud types (limited to cumulus, stratus, cirrus, nimbostratus, cumulonimbus) are associated with weather patterns.
          Alternate Eligible Content is designed for students assessed using the PA Alternate System of Assessment (PASA). Essentialized Example resources assist teachers in designing instruction that reduces content complexity while maintaining alignment to academic standards.
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