HS-ESS2-2

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Analyze geoscience data to make the claim that one change to Earth’s surface can create feedbacks that cause changes to Earth’s systems.

Clarification statement: Examples should include climate feedbacks, such as how an increase in greenhouse gases causes a rise in global temperatures that melts glacial ice, which reduces the amount of sunlight reflected from Earth’s surface, increasing surface temperatures and further reducing the amount of ice. Examples could also be taken from other system interactions, such as how the loss of ground vegetation causes an increase in water runoff and soil erosion; how dammed rivers increase groundwater recharge, decrease sediment transport, and increase coastal erosion; or how the loss of wetlands causes a decrease in local humidity that further reduces the wetland extent.

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.

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Level 1: Using geoscience data/information, identify one change in Earth’s surface or an Earth system and how it will result in a change to another Earth system.

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Level 2: Identify the geoscience data/information that provides evidence for a given claim that a change to Earth’s surface or an Earth system results in a change to another Earth system or provides evidence to support/refute a given claim that a change to an Earth’s surface or one Earth system results in a change to another Earth system.

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Level 3: Analyze geoscience data/information to support the claim that a change to Earth’s surface or an Earth system can create a feedback that cause changes to one or more Earth’s system(s).

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Level 4: Analyze geoscience data to make the claim that one change to Earth’s surface can create feedbacks that cause changes to Earth’s systems.

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Level 5: Compare and contrast various geoscience data sets to examine consistency of measurements and observations in order to make the claim that changes to Earth’s surface can create feedbacks that influence the stability of Earth’s systems over time.

Resources

Examples and discussion of resources for the learning, teaching, and assessment of HS-ESS2-2.

This section could be expanded upon. You can help out by adding to this section.

Assessment

What assessment of HS-ESS2-2 might look like on a NY state exam.

Exam	Cluster	Question
August 2026	The Aral Sea Region	Question 29
	The Aral Sea Region	Question 31
	The Gulf	Question 34
	Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’pai Volcano	Question 42
June 2026	The Influence of Volcanoes on Earth’s Systems	Question 25
	The Siberian Traps	Question 49
January 2026	Evolution of Early Earth Systems	Question 12
	Doggerland	Question 24
	Greenland's Glacial Ice	Question 29
	Energy and Mineral Resources	Question 42
	The Carboniferous Period	Question 47
August 2025	The Power of Water	Question 9
	How Did Earth Get Its Water?	Question 24
	Dams and Flood Mitigation	Question 38
June 2025	Modeling Earth Systems to Understand Global Climate	Question 9
	The Carbon Cycle	Question 11
	The Carbon Cycle	Question 14
	New York State's Hudson River	Question 22
	New York State's Hudson River	Question 25
	Ghost Forests	Question 36
	Human Impact on Earth	Question 43
	Human Impact on Earth	Question 44
Sample clusters (Fall 2024)	Earth's Climate	Question 3
	Earth's Climate	Question 5
Sample clusters (Spring 2024)	Plate Tectonics	Question 6

NGSS Dimensions

Performance expectation HS-ESS2-2 was developed using the following elements from the NRC document A Framework for K-12 Science Education:

Science and Engineering Practices

• Analyzing and interpreting data: Analyze data using tools, technologies, and/or models (e.g., computational, mathematical) in order to make valid and reliable scientific claims or determine an optimal design solution.

Disciplinary Core Ideas

• Earth Materials and Systems: Earth’s systems, being dynamic and interacting, cause feedback effects that can increase or decrease the original changes.
• Weather and climate: The foundation for Earth’s global climate systems is the electromagnetic radiation from the sun, as well as its reflection, absorption, storage, and redistribution among the atmosphere, ocean, and land systems, and this energy’s re-radiation into space.

Crosscutting Concepts

• Stability and change: Feedback (negative or positive) can stabilize or destabilize a system.
• Influence of engineering, technology, and science on society and the natural world: New technologies can have deep impacts on society and the environment, including some that were not anticipated. Analysis of costs and benefits is a critical aspect of decisions about technology.

Page contributors: Conrad Richman, Caroline Leonard

Earth and Space Science | HS. Earth's Systems