HS-ESS3-1

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HS-ESS3-2 →

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.

Reference Tables

Relevant reference tables:

• Energy and Mineral Resources of New York State

Assessment

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

Exam	Cluster	Question
August 2026	Canary Islands Hotspot	Question 14
	Earth’s Oceans–A Climate Change Indicator	Question 17
	Dams on the Colorado River	Question 21
	Carbon Emissions in Industry	Question 26
June 2026	Iceland Hotspot	Question 3
	The Influence of Volcanoes on Earth’s Systems	Question 27
	New York’s Concrete Industry	Question 28
	Lake Nyos	Question 33
January 2026	Mined and Mineral Resources of New York State	Question 15
	Mount Morris Dam in Letchworth State Park	Question 39
	Energy and Mineral Resources	Question 44
	Energy and Mineral Resources	Question 45
August 2025	How Did Earth Get Its Water?	Question 26
	Dams and Flood Mitigation	Question 39
June 2025	The Carbon Cycle	Question 13
	New York State's Hudson River	Question 23
	Ghost Forests	Question 37
Sample clusters (Spring 2024)	The Effect of The Moon on Earth	Question 3

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: 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.

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Level 2: 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.

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Level 3: 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.

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Level 4: 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.

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Level 5: 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.

Vocabulary

Terms from the Earth & Space Science Glossary that come from this standard or from the released exam questions that assess it.

From this standard

• blizzards
• delta
• droughts
• earthquakes
• fertile soils
• floods
• fossil fuels
• fresh water
• groundwater
• human activity
• hurricanes
• interior processes
• lakes
• livestock
• mass migrations
• mass wasting
• migration
• minerals
• mitigate
• model
• natural hazards
• natural resources
• peer review
• precipitation
• river
• sea level
• severe weather
• soil
• soil erosion
• surface processes
• tornadoes
• tsunamis
• volcanic eruptions

From released exam questions

• air quality – June 2026
• aquifer – Aug 2025
• atmosphere – June 2026, June 2025
• auto exhaust – Sample 2024
• basin – Aug 2026
• brackish water – June 2025
• carbon dioxide – June 2026, June 2025
• climate change – Aug 2026, June 2025
• coal – Jan 2026
• coastal flooding – Aug 2026
• dams – Aug 2025
• dissolved oxygen – Aug 2025
• drinking water – June 2025
• early warning system – June 2026
• Earth – Jan 2026
• earthquake swarm – Aug 2026
• emissions – Sample 2024
• erosion – Jan 2026
• gravity – Jan 2026
• greenhouse gases – Sample 2024
• habitats – Aug 2025
• hazard map – June 2026
• heat wave – Aug 2026
• heating and cooling degree days – Aug 2026
• high tide – June 2025
• hydroelectric energy – Sample 2024
• ice – June 2026
• irrigation – Aug 2026
• kiln – June 2026
• landslides – Jan 2026
• lava – Aug 2026
• lava flows – Aug 2026
• magma – June 2026
• mountain – June 2026
• natural disaster – Aug 2026
• natural gas – Jan 2026
• non-renewable resource – Sample 2024
• nuclear energy – Sample 2024
• ocean – Aug 2026, June 2026, Aug 2025
• over-pumping – Aug 2025
• pyroclastic flow – June 2026
• recycling – Jan 2026
• renewable resource – Sample 2024
• river valley – June 2026
• salinity – June 2025
• salt front – June 2025
• salt marsh – June 2025
• sea ice – Aug 2026
• snowpack – Aug 2026
• solar energy – Jan 2026
• volcano – Aug 2026, June 2026
• water quality – Aug 2025
• water table – Aug 2025, June 2025
• weathering – Jan 2026
• wildfire – Aug 2026, June 2025

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