The STANDARDS CORRELATION chart suggests which California Academic Content Standards you can cover using Jet Streams and Ocean Currents: the Global Circulation of air and Water in your classroom. We hope you will discover additional standards you can use.
For additional California Academic Content Standards you can cover see the STANDARDS CORRELATION chart for the following PASSPORT TO KNOWLEDGE SCIENCE CONCEPTS IN CONTEXT programs:
Earth Science Modules
Sun and Seasons, Day and Night
Jet Streams and Ocean Currents: the Global Circulation of air and Water
The Water, Carbon and Other Geochemical Cycles
Life Science Modules
Photosynthesis: from Sunlight to Life
Food Webs: Connections Across the Natural World
Adaptation and Natural selection: Evolution at Work
Physical Science Modules
Light, Optics, Mirros and Telescopes
Convection, Conduction and Radiation
Space Science Modules
Gravity: Mass, Weight and Motion
Objects in the sky: Planets, Stars and More!
Fusion and Fission: Atoms and Energy
How We Explore Space: Extending Our Senses Beyond Earth
Elementary Standards: Kindergarten, Grade One,
Grade Two, Grade Three,
Grade Four, Grade Five 3. Weather can be observed, measured, and described. As a basis for understanding
this concept:
a. Students know how to use simple tools (e.g., thermometer, wind vane) to measure
weather conditions and record changes from day to day and across the seasons.
video b. Students know that the weather changes from day to day but that trends in tem-perature
or of rain (or snow) tend to be predictable during a season.
video c. Students know the sun warms the land, air, and water.
video 4. Scientific progress is made by asking meaningful questions and conducting careful
investigations. As a basis for understanding this concept and addressing the content
in the other three strands, students should develop their own questions and perform
investigations. Students will:
a. draw pictures that portray some features of the thing being described.
video b. Record observations and data with pictures, numbers, or written statements.
video c. record observations on a bar graph.
video d. describe the relative position of objects using two references (e.g., above and next to, below and left of).
video e. Make new observations when discrepancies exist between two descriptions of
the same object or phenomenon.
video 3. Water on Earth moves between the oceans and land through the processes of evapo-ration
and condensation. As a basis for understanding this concept:
a. Students know most of Earth’s water is present as salt water in the oceans, which
cover most of Earth’s surface.
video b. Students know when liquid water evaporates, it turns into water vapor in the air
and can reappear as a liquid when cooled or as a solid if cooled below the freezing
point of water.
video c. Students know water vapor in the air moves from one place to another and can
form fog or clouds, which are tiny droplets of water or ice, and can fall to Earth
as rain, hail, sleet, or snow.
video d. Students know that the amount of fresh water located in rivers, lakes, under-ground
sources, and glaciers is limited and that its availability can be extended
by recycling and decreasing the use of water. video e. Students know the origin of the water used by their local communities.
video 4. Energy from the Sun heats Earth unevenly, causing air movements that result in
changing weather patterns. As a basis for understanding this concept:
a. Students know uneven heating of Earth causes air movements (convection currents).
video b. Students know the influence that the ocean has on the weather and the role that
the water cycle plays in weather patterns.
video c. Students know the causes and effects of different types of severe weather.
video d. Students know how to use weather maps and data to predict local weather and
know that weather forecasts depend on many variables.
video e. Students know that the Earth’s atmosphere exerts a pressure that decreases with
distance above Earth’s surface and that at any point it exerts this pressure
equally in all directions.
video 6. Scientific progress is made by asking meaningful questions and conducting careful
investigations. As a basis for understanding this concept and addressing the content
in the other three strands, students should develop their own questions and perform
investigations. Students will:
a. Classify objects (e.g., rocks, plants, leaves) in accordance with appropriate
criteria.
video b. Develop a testable question.
video c. Plan and conduct a simple investigation based on a student-developed question
and write instructions others can follow to carry out the procedure.
video d. Identify the dependent and controlled variables in an investigation.
video e. Identify a single independent variable in a scientific investigation and explain
how this variable can be used to collect information to answer a question about
the results of the experiment.
video f. Select appropriate tools (e.g., thermometers, meter sticks, balances, and gradu-ated
cylinders) and make quantitative observations.
video g. Record data by using appropriate graphic representations (including charts,
graphs, and labeled diagrams) and make inferences based on those data.
video h. Draw conclusions from scientific evidence and indicate whether further informa-tion
is needed to support a specific conclusion.
video i. Write a report of an investigation that includes conducting tests, collecting data
or examining evidence, and drawing conclusions.
video 4. Energy enters the Earth system primarily as solar radiation and eventually escapes
as heat. As a basis for understanding this concept:
a. Students know the relative amount of incoming solar energy compared with
Earth’s internal energy and the energy used by society.
video b. Students know the fate of incoming solar radiation in terms of reflection, absorption,
and photosynthesis.
video c. Students know the different atmospheric gases that absorb the Earth’s thermal
radiation and the mechanism and significance of the greenhouse effect.
video d.* Students know the differing greenhouse conditions on Earth, Mars, and Venus; the
origins of those conditions; and the climatic consequences of each.
video 5. Heating of Earth’s surface and atmosphere by the sun drives convection within the
atmosphere and oceans, producing winds and ocean currents. As a basis for understanding
this concept:
a. Students know how differential heating of Earth results in circulation patterns in
the atmosphere and oceans that globally distribute the heat.
video b. Students know the relationship between the rotation of Earth and the circular
motions of ocean currents and air in pressure centers.
video c. Students know the origin and effects of temperature inversions.
video d. Students know properties of ocean water, such as temperature and salinity, can be
used to explain the layered structure of the oceans, the generation of horizontal
and vertical ocean currents, and the geographic distribution of marine organisms.
video e. Students know rain forests and deserts on Earth are distributed in bands at specific
latitudes. video f.* Students know the interaction of wind patterns, ocean currents, and mountain
ranges results in the global pattern of latitudinal bands of rain forests and deserts.
video g.* Students know features of the ENSO (El Niño southern oscillation) cycle in terms of
sea-surface and air temperature variations across the Pacific and some climatic
results of this cycle.
video 6. Climate is the long-term average of a region’s weather and depends on many factors.
As a basis for understanding this concept:
a. Students know weather (in the short run) and climate (in the long run) involve the
transfer of energy into and out of the atmosphere.
video b. Students know the effects on climate of latitude, elevation, topography, and proximity
to large bodies of water and cold or warm ocean currents.
video c. Students know how Earth’s climate has changed over time, corresponding to
changes in Earth’s geography, atmospheric composition, and other factors, such
as solar radiation and plate movement.
video d.* Students know how computer models are used to predict the effects of the increase
in greenhouse gases on climate for the planet as a whole and for specific regions.
video Updated July 2001
Middle School Standards: Grade Six, Grade Seven,
Grade Eight
High School Starndards: Grades 9-12
Grade One
Earth Science
hands-on
online
hands-on
online
hands-on
online
Investigation and Experimentation
hands-on
online
hands-on
online
hands-on
online
hands-on
online
hands-on
online
Grade Five
Earth Science
hands-on
online
hands-on
online
hands-on
online
hands-on
online
hands-on
online
hands-on
online
hands-on
online
hands-on
online
hands-on
online
hands-on
online
Investigation and Experimentation
hands-on
online
hands-on
online
hands-on
online
hands-on
online
hands-on
online
hands-on
online
hands-on
online
hands-on
online
hands-on
online
Grade Nine to Twelve
Earth Science
Energy in the Earth System
hands-on
online
hands-on
online
hands-on
online
hands-on
online
hands-on
online
hands-on
online
hands-on
online
hands-on
online
hands-on
online
hands-on
online
hands-on
online
hands-on
online
hands-on
online
hands-on
online
hands-on
online