Framework

FRAMEWORK FOR EARTH SYSTEMS EDUCATION

• Understanding #1: Earth is unique, a planet of rare beauty and great value.
• Understanding #2: Human activities, collective and individual, conscious and inadvertent, affect planet Earth.
• Understanding #3: The development of scientific thinking and technology increases our ability to understand and utilize Earth and space.
• Understanding #4: The Earth system is composed of interacting subsystems of water, rock, ice, air, and life.
• Understanding #5: Planet Earth is more than 4 billion years old and its subsystems are continually evolving.
• Understanding #6: Earth is a small subsystem of a solar system within the vast and ancient universe.
• Understanding #7: There are many people with careers that involve study of Earth's origin, processes, and evolution.

Understanding #1: Earth is unique, a planet of rare beauty and great value.

• The beauty and value of Earth are expressed by and for people through literature and the arts.
• Human's appreciation of planet Earth is enhanced by a better understanding of its subsystems.
• Humans manifest their appreciation through their responsible behavior and stewardship of its subsystems.

• Earth is vulnerable, and its resources are limited and susceptible to overuse or misuse.
• Continued population growth accelerates the depletion of natural resources and destruction of the environment, including other species.
• When considering the use of natural resources, humans first need to rethink their Iifestyles, then reduce consumption, then reuse and recycle.
• By-products of industrialization pollute the air, land, and water, and the effects may be global as well as near the source.
• The better we understand Earth, the better we can manage our resources and reduce our impact on the environment worldwide.

• Biologists, chemist, and physicists, as well as scientists from the Earth and space science disciplines, use a variety of methods in their study of Earth systems.
• Direct observation, simple tools, and modern technology are used to create, test and modify models and theories that represent, explain, and predict changes in the Earth system.
• Historical, descriptive, and empirical studies are important methods of learning about Earth and space.
• Scientific study may lead to technological advances.
• Regardless of sophistication, technology cannot be expected to solve all of our problems.
• The use of technology may have benefits as well as unintended side effects.

• The subsystems are continuously changing through natural processes and cycles.
• Forces, motions and energy transformations drive the interactions within and between the subsystems.
• The Sun is the major external source of energy that drives most system and subsystem interactions at or near the Earth's surface.
• Each component of the Earth system has characteristic properties, structure, and composition that may be changed by interactions of subsystems.
• Plate tectonics is a theory that explains how internal forces and energy cause continual changes within Earth and on its surface. Weathering, erosion, and deposition continuously reshape the surface of the Earth.
• The presence of life affects the characteristics of other systems.

• Earth's cycles and natural processes take place over time intervals ranging from fractions of seconds to billions of years.
• Materials making up planet Earth have been recycled many times.
• Fossils provide the evidence that life has evolved interactively with Earth through geologic time.
• Evolution is a theory that explains how life has changed through time.

• All material in the universe, including living organisms, appears to be composed of the same elements and to behave according to the same physical principles.
• All bodies in space, including Earth, are influenced by forces acting throughout the Solar System and the universe.
• Nine planets, including Earth, revolve around the sun in nearly circular orbits.
• Earth is a small planet, third from the Sun in the only system of planets definitely known to exist.
• The position and motions of Earth with respect to the Sun and Moon determine seasons, climates, and tidal changes.
• The rotation of Earth on its axis determines day and night.

• Teachers, scientists, and technicians who study Earth are employed by businesses, industries, government agencies, public and private institutions, and as independent contractors.
• Careers in the sciences that study Earth may include sample and data collection in the field and analyses and experiments in the laboratory.
• Scientists from many cultures throughout the world cooperate and collaborate using oral, written, and electronic means of communication.
• Some scientists and technicians who study Earth use their specialized understanding to locate resources or predict changes in Earth systems.
• Many people pursue avocations related to planet Earth processes and materials.