MS-ESS1-4

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MS-ESS2-2 →

Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence from rock strata for how the geologic timescale is used to organize Earth’s 4.6-billion-year-old history.

Clarification statement: Emphasis is on how analyses of rock formations and the fossils they contain are used to establish relative ages of major events in Earth’s history. Examples of Earth’s major events or evidence could include very recent events or evidence (such as the last Ice Age or the earliest fossils of Homo sapiens) to very old events or evidence (such as the formation of Earth or the earliest evidence of life). Examples of evidence could include the formation of mountain chains and ocean basins, the evolution or extinction of particular living organisms, or significant volcanic eruptions.

Assessment boundary: Assessment does not include recalling the names of specific periods or epochs and events within them, radiometric dating using half-lives, and defining index fossils.

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 four levels.

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Level 1: Given evidence from rock strata, identify the explanation, from those provided, that the analysis of rock formation and the fossils they contain are used to establish relative ages of major events in Earth’s history.

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Level 2: Given a scientific explanation, use evidence from rock strata to determine that rock formations and the fossils they contain are used to establish relative ages of major events in Earth’s history.

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Level 3: Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence from rock strata for how the geologic time scale is used to organize Earth’s 4.6-billion-year-old history.

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Level 4: Construct a scientific explanation, based on evidence from multiple sources, for how the geologic time scale is used to organize Earth’s 4.6-billion-year-old history, and determine patterns of relative age for rock strata, fossils and past geologic events.

Resources

Examples and discussion of resources for the learning, teaching, and assessment of MS-ESS1-4.

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

Assessment

What assessment of MS-ESS1-4 might look like on a NY state exam.

Exam	Cluster	Question
Spring 2025	Earth's Tectonic Plates	Question 30
Sample clusters	Fossil Parks in New York State	Question 1
	Fossil Parks in New York State	Question 3
	Fossil Parks in New York State	Question 5

NGSS Dimensions

Performance expectation MS-ESS1-4 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 a scientific explanation based on valid and reliable evidence obtained from sources (including the students’ own experiments) and the assumption that theories and laws that describe the natural world operate today as they did in the past.

Disciplinary Core Ideas

• ESS1.C: The History of Planet Earth
  • The geologic time scale interpreted from rock strata provides a way to organize Earth’s history. Analyses of rock strata and the fossil record provide only relative dates, not an absolute scale.

Crosscutting Concepts

• Scale, Proportion, and Quantity
  • Time, space, and energy phenomena can be observed at various scales using models to study systems that are too large or too small.

Page contributors: Caroline Leonard, Conrad Richman, Shirley Shameen

MS | MS. History of Earth