MS-ESS1-4

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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.

Grade 8 Science Test Questions

Released New York State Grade 8 science test questions that assess MS-ESS1-4 are listed here by test and question cluster. Each link opens the question with its answer key.

Exam	Cluster	Question
Spring 2025 Grade 8 Test	Earth's Tectonic Plates	Question 30
Middle school 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

Vocabulary

Terms from the Middle School Science Glossary that come from this standard or from the released Grade 8 Science Test questions that assess it.

From this standard

• absolute age
• absolute scale
• Earth's history
• evidence
• evolution
• extinction
• formation of Earth
• fossil
• fossil record
• geologic epoch
• geologic event
• geologic period
• geologic time scale
• half-life
• ice age
• index fossil
• mountain chain
• ocean basin
• radiometric dating
• relative age
• relative date
• rock formation
• rock strata
• scientific explanation
• volcanic eruption

From released test questions

• bedrock – Spring 2025, Sample
• claim – Sample
• continent – Sample
• cross-section – Sample
• deposition – Sample
• Earth's surface – Sample
• elevation – Sample
• environment – Sample
• equator – Sample
• erosion – Sample
• geologic age – Sample
• geologic history – Sample
• inference – Sample
• limestone – Sample
• map – Spring 2025
• marine fossil – Sample
• marine organism – Sample
• ocean – Sample
• ocean floor – Spring 2025
• rock layer – Sample
• sandstone – Sample
• sea level – Sample
• sediment – Sample
• sedimentary rock – Sample
• shale – Sample
• tectonic plate – Spring 2025
• uplift – Sample

Implied by this standard

• law of superposition – implied by "evidence from rock strata" used "to establish relative ages of major events in Earth’s history"
• relative dating and absolute dating – implied by "provide only relative dates, not an absolute scale"

Performance Level Descriptions

Every Grade 8 Science Test question on MS-ESS1-4 is written to match one of the performance level descriptions (PLDs) below.

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. Sample Fossil Parks in New York State Question 3

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. Spring 2025 Question 30, Sample Fossil Parks in New York State Question 1, Sample Fossil Parks in New York State Question 5

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.

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.

Notice: PLD levels!

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.

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