Standard 1: Students will understand the scientific evidence that supports theories that explain how the universe and solar system developed.

Objective 1: Describe the big bang theory and evidence supporting it.

Objective 2: Relate the structure and composition of the solar system to the processes that exist in the universe.

Standard 2: Students will understand that the features of Earth’s evolving environment affect living systems, and that life on Earth is unique in the solar system.

Objective 1: Describe the unique physical features of Earth’s environment that make life on Earth possible.

Objective 2: Analyze how ecosystems differ from each other due to abiotic and biotic factors.

Objective 3: Examine Earth's diversity of life as it changes over time.

Standard 3: Students will understand that gravity, density, and convection move Earth’s plates and this movement causes the plates to impact other Earth systems.

Objective 1: Explain the evidence that supports the theory of plate tectonics.

Objective 2: Describe the processes within Earth that result in plate motion and relate it to changes in other Earth systems.

Standard 4: Students will understand that water cycles through and between reservoirs in the hydrosphere and affects the other spheres of the Earth system.

Objective 1: Explain the water cycle in terms of its reservoirs, the movement between reservoirs, and the energy to move water. Evaluate the importance of freshwater to the biosphere.

Objective 2: Analyze the physical and biological dynamics of the oceans.

Standard 5: Students will understand that Earth's atmosphere interacts with and is altered by the lithosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere.

Objective 1: Describe how matter in the atmosphere cycles through other Earth systems.

Objective 2: Trace ways in which the atmosphere has been altered by living systems and has itself strongly affected living systems over the course of Earth’s history.

Standard 6: Students will understand the source and distribution of energy on Earth and its effects on Earth systems.

Objective 1: Describe the transformation of solar energy into heat and chemical energy on Earth and eventually the radiation of energy to space.

Objective 2: Relate energy sources and transformation to the effects on Earth systems.