The disciplinary core ideas that this standard is addressing exist in two parts, ESS2.A which focuses on rainfall shaping the land and the movement of sediments through water, ice, wind, and vegetation, and ESS2.E which primarily focuses on living things affecting their surroundings. (NGSS) While brief, both of these core ideas also show up again in the NAS K-12 framework as skills in the 5th grade “grade band …show more content…
(NAS K-12 Framework p. 141, p. 147) For the purposes of instruction in our peer unit, we have decided to use disciplinary core idea ESS2.A as our focal point. This decision comes from how this core idea aligns with the other 2 elements of this standard in very obvious and practical way. It is from this focus on elemental influences on erosion that we inform our choices on integration and best use of the scientific practices and crosscutting concepts that also comprise this standard.
The scientific practice that this standard begins with is “Planning and Carrying Out Investigations.” The FOSS unit that is aligned with this standard (especially the landforms module outlined in FOSS “Soils, Rocks, and Landforms” on p. 2-3) is heavily reliant on the use of stream tables to model concepts and investigate variables that assist with erosion. The students …show more content…
The content has a focal point of how elements (in this case- water) and variables interact (slope, water quantity, and water speed) to create a relationship that results in change. In their observation students will need to be identifying instances of cause and effect in play within each investigation. This crosscutting concept not only fits into the 5th-grade “grade band endpoints” as mentioned earlier, but also directly fit into the conceptual framework for the FOSS: Soils, Rocks, and Landforms. This conceptual framework splits into two sections, structures of the earth and earth interactions, and while the content covers the 3 concepts about earth structures, the concept of cause and effect is essential for understanding how and why events happen, and how the earth changes over time. (FOSS: Soils, Rocks, and Landforms Conceptual Framework,