STRUCTURE OF THE EARTH
FOR THE GEPA: The state says you need to know the following:
A student should know that:
A. NATURAL PROCESSES THAT CHANGE THE FEATURES ON THE EARTH'S SURFACE
INCLUDE EROSION, GLACIATION, WEATHERING, EARTHQUAKES, AND VOLCANOES.
1. Dynamic forces change the earth's surface by
building up or wearing down.
2. New features on the earth's crust are formed
as a result of dynamic forces.
3. The earth's surface can change abruptly as a
result of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions or the earth's surface can
change more slowly as a result of erosion, glaciation, and weathering.
4. Forces that uplift the earth's surface include
volcanism which forms mountains and volcanoes.
5. Forces that wear the earth's surface down include
weathering, glaciation and erosion. Features formed as a result of
these forces include soil and valleys.
6. Each of these changes has an impact on people.
7. Fossils provide evidence that life and environmental
conditions have changed.
B. THE MOVEMENT OF WATER THROUGH AN ECOSYSTEM IS CALLED THE HYDROLOGIC
CYCLE.
1. Water goes through the process of evaporation,
condensation, precipitation, and runoff. *
2. Water is a solvent. As it passes through
the hydrologic cycle it dissolves minerals and gases and carries them to
the oceans.
3. Living organisms remove, use, and return water
to the atmosphere.
4. Fresh water, limited in supply, is essential
for life and for most industrial processes. Rivers, lakes, and groundwater
can be depleted or polluted, becoming unavailable or unsuitable for life.
C. GLOBAL PATTERNS OF ATMOSPHERIC MOVEMENT AFFECT LOCAL WEATHER.
1. Uneven heating of the earth's surface produces
weather systems.
2. Cycling of water in and out of the atmosphere
plays an important role in determining weather and climatic conditions.
3. Ocean currents affect local and global weather
conditions.
4. A weather map can be used to predict temperature
and precipitation for several days for a given area.
THE STUDENT SHOULD BE ABLE TO:
THE UNIVERSE
FOR THE GEPA:
A STUDENT SHOULD KNOW THAT:
A. PHASES OF THE MOON, ECLIPSES, AND THE TIDES ARE CAUSED BY THE
RELATIVE POSITION OF THE EARTH, SUN, AND MOON.
1. The moon revolves around the earth. Because
the moon rotates at the same rate it revolves, the same side of the moon
is always facing the earth.
a. One half of the moon
is always lighted by the sun as it revolves around the earth. The
portion of the lighted side seen from the earth determines the phase of
the moon.
2. An eclipse occurs when the sun-moon-earth are
in a line.
3. Tides are motions of oceans' water caused by
the gravitational attraction between the earth, moon, and sun. The
highest tides occur when the sun-moon-earth are aligned.
4. Tides, phases of the moon, and eclipses occur
regularly and predictably.
B. PLANETS AND OTHER BODIES OF VARYING SIZE,
* COMPOSITION, TEMPERATURE, GRAVITY, AND SURFACE FEATURES
*MOVE AROUND THE SUN IN ELLIPTICAL ORBITS.
1. Our sun is a star located near the center of
our solar system.
2. Each of the other planets differs from the earth
in terms of distance from the sun, atmosphere, gravity, surface features,
temperature, heat energy, speed of rotation, length of year, and number
of moons.
3. Comets travel around the sun in highly elliptical
orbits. These comets produce a glowing head and a long tail.
The tail always points away from the sun.
C. TECHNOLOGY IS APPLIED TO SPACE EXPLORATION
1. Space program development include unmanned probes,
manned probes, manned spacecraft, telescopes, and weather, communications
and earth survey satellites which are used by scientists to explore the
universe.
2. Space program developments have provided a variety
of products that can be used in daily life such as freezer to oven ceramic
dishes, cordless drills, football masks equipped with radios, rechargeable
cardiac pacemakers, hang gliders, and food processing methods.
THE STUDENT SHOULD BE ABLE TO:
ECOLOGY / ENVIRONMENT
FOR THE GEPA:
A STUDENT SHOULD KNOW THAT:
A. PERSONAL AND SOCIETAL ACTIVITIES IMPACE THE ENVIRONMENT
1. Natural systems are affected by human activity.
2. Human activities cause lasting effects in the
environment upon which all life depends.
3. Some human activities have led to extinction
of numerous species of plants and animals, primarily through habitat destruction.
B. HUMAN PRACTICE AFFECTS THE USE AND MANAGEMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES.
1. Through increased awareness of ecological interactions,
humans have attempted to prevent continued disruption of the environment
and to counteract the results of many of their past negative practices.
C. INDIVIDUALS AND GROUPS MAY HAVE DIFFERING POINTS OF VIEW ON ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES.
D. IN AN ECOSYSTEM, LIVING COMMUNITIES AND THEIR PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT
FUNCTION TOGETHER AS AN INTERDEPENDENT AND RELATIVELY STABLE SYSTEM.
1. Living organisms interact with each other and
their environment to form an ecosystem.
2. An ecosystem includes relationships that cycle
and recycle materials between organisms and their environment. *
3. An ecosystem must contain a constant supply of
energy which is available to all organisms within the ecosystem.
The energy must flow from organism to organism through a food web.
*
4. Ecosystems are systems that are constantly changing
resulting in changes to the makeup of the community. *
a. Lake recession, e.g.,
lakes naturally fill in with silt over time eventually resulting in a forest.
b. Old field succession,
e.g., a series of changes that goes from grass to forest.
THE STUDENT SHOULD BE ABLE TO:
SYSTEMS :
The student should be able to:
