Earth & Space Science Glossary

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This glossary is strictly limited to terms originating from official NYSED materials such as standards and released test questions. Every term links to its source: a performance expectation (for example HS-ESS2-1) means the term, or the wording it is taken from, appears in that standard's text, clarification statement, assessment boundary, disciplinary core ideas or performance level descriptions; an exam cluster means the term appeared in that released question cluster, and the link opens the question. Sections: vocabulary from the standards, vocabulary from released exams, geologic time and named events, Earth materials, places, features and people, celestial objects, spacecraft and instruments, reference tables, equations and units, and terms the standards and exams point to without naming.

Vocabulary from the standards

Terms used in the Earth and space science performance expectations and their supporting NYSED text. This is the core vocabulary; the science-practice and engineering words the standards use (argument, evidence-based forecast, criteria, constraints, trade-offs) are included because the exams use them the same way. Several standards are shared with other courses: HS-ESS1-2 with physics, HS-ESS2-6 and HS-ESS2-7 with biology, and the four engineering design standards (HS-ETS1-1 to HS-ETS1-4) with all four science courses.

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Vocabulary from released exams

Terms that do not appear in the standards' text but have appeared in a released question cluster: the five sample clusters NYSED published in 2024 and the June 2025, August 2025, January 2026, June 2026 and August 2026 exams. The source is noted after each term; the link opens the question. A term used in several clusters is linked to one representative question, usually the one that defines it. Named places, materials and objects are listed in their own sections below.

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Geologic time and named events

Named geologic periods, epochs and events from the released clusters, in alphabetical order.

Earth materials

Rocks, minerals, elements, resources and pollutants named in the standards and the released clusters, grouped by source.

Sample clusters

June 2025 exam

August 2025 exam

January 2026 exam

June 2026 exam

August 2026 exam

Places, features and people

Named places, landforms, plates, currents and people the released clusters are built around, grouped by cluster so teachers can see the range of settings NYSED writes about. HS-ESS2-1 notes that assessment "does not include recalling the details of the formation of specific geographic features", so these are context, not content to memorize.

Sample clusters

June 2025 exam

August 2025 exam

January 2026 exam

June 2026 exam

August 2026 exam

Celestial objects, spacecraft and instruments

Stars, planets and other celestial objects

Sample clusters

June 2025 exam

August 2025 exam

January 2026 exam

June 2026 exam

Spacecraft, telescopes, instruments and data sources

June 2025 exam

August 2025 exam

January 2026 exam

June 2026 exam

August 2026 exam

Reference tables

The NYSED reference tables listed on each standard's page.

Equations and units

The standards name no equations or units. These are the relationships and units used in the released questions and their scoring rubrics; each links to the question it comes from.

Equations and relationships

Units

Implied terms

These terms are not named in the standards or released exams, but the NYSED wording points to them so directly that teachers will want to use them. Each entry quotes or describes the wording that implies it. Terms that could be argued either way are deliberately left out. Several assessment boundaries also limit what can be asked, so the terms behind them are not listed: HS-ESS1-1 "does not include details of the atomic and sub-atomic processes involved with the Sun's nuclear fusion"; for HS-ESS1-3, "Details of the many different nucleosynthesis pathways for stars of differing masses are not assessed"; HS-ESS1-4 "should not deal with more than two bodies, nor involve calculus"; HS-ESS1-7 "does not include mathematical computations"; HS-ESS2-1 "does not include recalling the details of the formation of specific geographic features of Earth's surface"; HS-ESS2-4 is "limited to changes in surface temperatures, precipitation patterns, glacial ice volumes, sea levels, and biosphere distribution"; HS-ESS2-7 "does not include a comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms of how the biosphere interacts with all of Earth's other systems"; HS-ESS2-8 "is limited to surface weather maps and general weather patterns associated with high and low pressure systems"; HS-ESS3-3 is "limited to using provided multi-parameter programs or constructing simplified spreadsheet calculations"; HS-ESS3-5 "is limited to one example of a climate change and its associated impacts"; and HS-ESS3-6 "does not include running computational representations".

  • energy balance (Earth's energy budget) – HS-ESS2-4: "Use a model to describe how variations in the flow of energy into and out of Earth's systems result in changes in climate." The January 2026 Evolution of Early Earth Systems cluster compares the energy reaching Earth, the energy reflected from its surface and the energy absorbed by its atmosphere. Neither names the balance.
  • greenhouse effect – HS-ESS2-2 describes "how an increase in greenhouse gases causes a rise in global temperatures", and the August 2025 Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide rubric credits explaining that more carbon dioxide let less energy flow out of the atmosphere. The phrase itself is never used.
  • lunar eclipse – HS-ESS1-7 asks how the relative positions of the moon, Earth and Sun cause "types of eclipses"; the released questions show only solar eclipses (annular and total, Sample 2024 Effect of the Moon on Earth).
  • Milankovitch cycles – HS-ESS2-4: "Cyclical changes in the shape of Earth's orbit around the sun, together with changes in the tilt of the planet's axis of rotation, both occurring over hundreds of thousands of years, have altered the intensity and distribution of sunlight falling on the earth. These phenomena cause a cycle of ice ages". The June 2025 Modeling Earth Systems cluster describes the 41,000-year obliquity cycle without naming Milankovitch.
  • P-waves and S-waves – the Sample 2024 Modeling of Earth's Interior cluster graphs compressional-wave (Vp) and shear-wave (Vs) velocities through Earth's layers, and a rubric in the same cluster (question 2) credits the idea that shear waves cannot travel through the liquid outer core. HS-ESS2-3 names only "seismic waves".
  • thermohaline circulation – HS-ESS2-4 lists "ocean circulation" among the causes of climate change, and two clusters model it as driven by density: cold Arctic water sinking while meltwater lowers the density of the North Atlantic (June 2025 Modeling Earth Systems), and salinity controlling whether surface water sinks (January 2026 Greenland's Glacial Ice). Neither uses the term.
  • tidal range – the Sample 2024 Effect of the Moon on Earth cluster asks how the difference between low tide and high tide will change as the Moon moves away from Earth, and HS-ESS1-7 asks about the "strength of tides".
Page contributors: Conrad Richman, Shirley Shameen
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