Unit 1 Earth's Dimensions What is known about Earth’s shape and how do we know about its shape? What are the three Earth spheres and their characteristics? How can we determine locations on Earth? How are surface features of the Earth mapped?
Unit 2 Minerals and Rocks What is matter? How are atoms and matter related to minerals and rocks? What is the Earth made of? How do minerals differ from each other? How do igneous rocks form? What can be learned from igneous rocks? How do sedimentary rocks form?
Unit 3 The Dynamic Earth What evidence suggests that the Earth changes? What causes the earth to change? What causes earthquakes? What risks are associated with earthquakes? How can earthquakes help us understand what the interior of the earth is like?
Unit 4 Landscape Development What forces breakdown the earth? What moves the earth and deposits it? How can sorting tell us anything about erosion? What affects how water travels trough the earth? What landscapes exist and how are they formed?
Unit 5 Geologic History What caused our atmosphere to form? How can the order in which geologic events occur be determined? How can rocks and geologic events in one place be matched with other locations? How can Earth’s geologic history be sequenced from the fossil and rock record.
Unit 6 Meteorology What is responsible for Earth’s weather? What are the relationships between moisture, clouds and precipitation? How is air pressure responsible for wind? Why are fronts the most likely place for unsettled weather?
Unit 7 Water Budgets and Climates What happens to the Sun’s Incoming Solar Radiation? When is the hottest time of day? How is the yearly cycle of insolation like the daily cycle of insolation? How does water cycle and how can we monitor it? How do are World’s oceans affect climate?
Unit 8 Astronomy What have we learned so far about Astronomy? How does a revolving sphere with a tilted spin axis model yearly celestial observations? How do the Earth, Moon, and Sun interact? What force keeps planets and their satellites in their orbits?
Unit 9 Environmental Awareness How can we live in balance with our natural environment? What are the implications for human pollution and anthropogenic forcings on current and future generations?