HS-ESS3-1

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Construct an explanation based on evidence for how the availability of natural resources, occurrence of natural hazards, and changes in climate have influenced human activity.

Clarification statement: Examples of key natural resources include access to fresh water (such as rivers, lakes, and groundwater), regions of fertile soils such as river deltas, and high concentrations of minerals and fossil fuels. Examples of natural hazards can be from interior processes (such as volcanic eruptions and earthquakes), surface processes (such as tsunamis, mass wasting and soil erosion), and severe weather (such as blizzards, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, and droughts). Examples of the results of changes in climate that can affect populations or drive mass migrations include changes to sea level, regional patterns of temperature and precipitation, and the types of crops and livestock that can be raised.

Performance Level Descriptions

PLDs communicate the knowledge and skills expected of students to demonstrate proficiency in each Learning Standard. NYS assessments classify student performance into one of five levels.

Level 5Level 4Level 3Level 2Level 1

Construct an explanation based on evidence synthesized from a variety of sources of how human activity has been affected by the availability of natural resources, the occurrence of natural hazards, and changes in climate. Design a plan to adapt to and/or mitigate the effects of natural perturbations.

Construct an explanation based on evidence for how the availability of natural resources, occurrence of natural hazards, and changes in climate have influenced human activity.

Construct an explanation based on evidence that describes how human activity has been affected by the availability of natural resources, or occurrence of natural hazards, or changes in climate.

Identify an evidence-based explanation, from those provided, that describes how the availability of natural resources, or the occurrence of natural hazards, or changes in climate have influenced human activity.

Identify the evidence that supports an explanation for how human activity has been affected by the availability of natural resources, or the occurrence of natural hazards, or changes in climate.

Resources

Examples and discussion of resources for the learning, teaching, and assessment of HS-ESS3-1.

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Assessment

What assessment of HS-ESS3-1 might look like on a NY state exam.

• Effect of the Moon Q3

NGSS Dimensions

Performance expectation HS-ESS3-1 was developed using the following elements from the NRC document A Framework for K-12 Science Education:

Science and Engineering Practices

• Constructing explanations and designing solutions: Construct an explanation based on valid and reliable evidence obtained from a variety of sources (including students’ own investigations, models, theories, simulations, peer review) and the assumption that theories and laws that describe the natural world operate today as they did in the past and will continue to do so in the future.

Disciplinary Core Ideas

• Natural resources: Resource availability has guided the development of human society.
• Natural hazards: Natural hazards and other geologic events have shaped the course of human history; [they] have significantly altered the sizes of human populations and have driven human migrations.

Crosscutting Concepts

• Cause and effect: Empirical evidence is required to differentiate between cause and correlation and make claims about specific causes and effects.
• Influence of Engineering, Technology, and Science on Society and the Natural World: Modern civilization depends on major technological systems.

Page contributors: Conrad Richman, Caroline Leonard

Earth and Space Science | HS. Human Sustainability