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Fifth Grade Water Systems and Earth Materials

Page history last edited by Brenda Butz 6 years, 4 months ago

5-ESS2-1 Students who demonstrate understanding can: Develop a model to describe ways the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and/or atmosphere interact.

5-ESS2-2 Students who demonstrate understanding can: Describe and graph the amounts and percentages of water and fresh water in various reservoirs to provide evidence about the distribution of water on Earth.

In A Nutshell

All of Earth’s features, everything on land (soil, sediments, rocks, and landforms), all the water, and all living things on Earth interact with each other. For example, Earth’s vast oceans support life, Earth’s atmosphere is influenced by the surface features of the Earth creating weather and Earth’s surface is weathered and eroded by wind and water. Most of Earth’s water is unusable and found in oceans, while a small amount of freshwater is accessible to humans. In this bundle, students can explore Earth’s major systems and see how these systems interact with each other.

3D Storyline	Student Actions
Earth is a complex system that consists of four major subsystems: the geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere. In this bundle of performance expectations, students can examine the components in each Earth system and how those components interact with one another. Students can develop models to examine how each Earth system interacts with other Earth systems. The geosphere, for example, consists of soil, solid rock, molten rock, and sediment (sand, silt, and clay), which make up the continents and the ocean floor. The soil holds and transfers energy in the form of heat into the atmosphere (air). The soil also supports the biosphere (living things) by providing shelter for animals and insects and providing a rich environment for plant roots to reside. The hydrosphere consists of the oceans, ponds, lakes, streams, and all ice on Earth. Water continuously moves through and interacts with the geosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere via the water cycle. The Earth’s landforms interact with the wind and clouds in the atmosphere causing weather patterns to occur. For example, when warm, moist air is pushed up a mountain range, it cools and changes state (condenses) resulting in precipitation. When the air moves back down the other side of the mountain range, the air becomes dry and hot influencing the climate associated with these locations. Students can develop a model to explain the phenomena that result from an interaction between landforms and the atmosphere. Precipitation shapes Earth’s surface through weathering and erosion molding the landforms found on Earth. Water, ice, wind, living organisms and gravity break rocks, soils and sediments into smaller particles and moves them around. Students can conduct nature walks in order to make observations and collect data about the parts of each of the Earth systems. Once the parts of the systems have been identified, students can begin to consider their interactions and make models to explain these interactions and their effects on the systems and the systems’ components. Earth’s biosphere consists of plants and animals, including humans. The biosphere is dependent upon the other major earth systems and the resulting interactions between them for survival. For example, growing plants release oxygen into the atmosphere, which animals take in and animals release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which is taken in by plants. Evaporation of water from Earth into the atmosphere causes rain to fall back to Earth in other areas, which provides water to growing plants and animals and shapes Earth’s surface by flowing downhill into streams and rivers, carrying with it soil particles (sediment), most of which ends up in the oceans. Once students have had an opportunity to examine Earth’s systems and their interactions they can take a closer look at the distribution of water on Earth to further consider its impact on other Earth systems. Students can obtain and evaluate information to determine that even though oceans hold most of the water on Earth, it is saltwater, and not fresh and most of the freshwater on Earth is found underground and in glaciers while, a very small percent is found in rivers, lakes, streams, and the atmosphere. Students can use mathematical thinking to construct graphs to model the percentage of freshwater on earth that is available compared to the distribution of saltwater sources around the world. Students can use water distribution data to address questions about water usage and water preservation measures. Using this data, students can make claims that although water can be recycled, it is finite and not a renewable resource. Students can also construct arguments for why it is important to preserve the water we currently have available for human use. In identifying the distribution of freshwater and saltwater on Earth, students can consider the vast amounts of salt water found on Earth in oceans and how the oceans support a unique and vast number of living organisms. For example, there are many groups of living organisms in the oceans that do not appear anywhere else on earth (squid, octopus, jellyfish, and seaweed). Oceans support unique ecosystems like, coral reefs that provide shelter and food for many ocean organisms. Students can then again consider how the hydrosphere (in the form of saltwater in the ocean) interacts with the other Earth systems.	Students Will... Gather information about how the hydrosphere (water), atmosphere (air), geosphere (soil), and biosphere (life) interact as components within a closed system. Develop a model to explain how the interactions between the hydrosphere (water), atmosphere (air), geosphere (soil), and biosphere (life) impact Earth’s surface materials and processes. Obtain information from a variety of sources to determine how the ocean supports a variety of ecosystems and organisms. Develop a model to explain how the ocean shapes landforms, and influences climate. Analyze and interpret data to understand that wind and clouds in the atmosphere interact with landforms to determine weather patterns. Use mathematical thinking to graph quantities such as area and volume to prove that nearly all of Earth’s available water is contained in Earth’s oceans. Analyze and interpret data to show that most freshwater is in glaciers or underground; only a tiny fraction is in streams, lakes, wetlands, and the atmosphere. Construct an argument using evidence to explain that although fresh water is renewable, it is a finite source and should be preserved.
Misconceptions	Actual Concept
The atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere do not cause changes in one another; these systems operate independently on Earth. Events that occur on a continent do not affect oceans or the atmosphere. There is no real connection between groundwater and surface water systems. Icebergs are made of saltwater.	The atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere are all interacting systems. Events occurring on the continents can affect the oceans and the atmosphere and events occurring in the oceans or atmosphere can affect the continents. Groundwater systems and surface water systems interact over long time spans. Icebergs are composed of freshwater.