Appendix A – Implementing District Standards
This unit addresses two standards from the Next Generation Science Standards.
MS-ESS1-4: Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence from rock strata for how the geologic time scale is used to organize Earth’s 4.6-billion-year-old history. This unit emphasizes the analysis of fossils contained in rock formations to establish relative ages of major events in Earth’s history. This is done through the lens of the evolution or extinction of particular living organisms.
MS-LS4-1: Analyze and interpret data for patterns in the fossil record that document the existence, diversity, extinction, and change of life forms throughout the history of life on Earth under the assumption that natural laws operate today as in the past. This unit, particularly the activity in which students analyze and interpret local fossil records, uses the concepts of diversity and change over time as well as the concept of uniformitarianism to understand Earth’s history.
This unit addresses several Grades 6-8 Common Core State Standards related to the analysis of informational texts and quantitative and technical information expressed visually. These standards come into play when students are reading articles on content specific topics as well as analyzing data sets. Most strongly addressed are those dealing with (1) key ideas and details, such as citing specific textual evidence to support analysis of science and technical texts (RST.6-8.1) and determining the central ideas or conclusions of a text and summarizing the text (RST.6-8.2), as well as the (2) integration of knowledge and ideas, such as integrating quantitative or technical information expressed in words in a text with a version of that information expressed visually (RST.6-8.7) and comparing and contrasting information gained in experiments, simulations, video, or multimedia sources with that gained from reading a text on the same topic (RST.6-8.9).
Comments: