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Course description

The academic standards and performance indicators establish the practices and core content for all Earth Science courses in South Carolina schools. The core ideas within the standards are not meant to represent an equal division of material and concepts. Therefore the number of indicators per core idea should not be expected to be equal; nor should equal numbers of performance indicators within each standard be expected. The five core areas of the Earth Science standards include: ? Astronomy ? Earth?s Geosphere ? Earth?s Paleobiosphere ? Earth?s Atmosphere ? Weather and Climate ? Earth?s Hydrosphere The eight science and engineering practices describe how students should learn and demonstrate knowledge of the content outlined in the content standards. Engaging in these practices will help students become scientifically literate and astute consumers of scientific information. The seven core concepts (patterns; cause and effect; scale; proportion; and quantity; systems and system models; energy and matter; structure and function; and stability and change) are reinforced in the appropriate context of the core science content through hands-on instruction in the classroom. Students should engage in scientific and engineering practices as a means to learn about the specific topics identified for the course. It is critical that educators understand the Science and Engineering Practices are not to be taught in isolation. There should not be a distinct ?Inquiry? unit at the beginning of each school year. Rather; the practices need to be employed within the content for each grade level. Teachers; schools; and districts should use these standards and indicators to make decisions concerning the structure and content of an Earth Science course. All Earth Science courses must include instruction in the practices of science and engineering; allowing students to engage in problem solving; decision making; critical thinking; and applied learning. All Earth Science courses are laboratory courses requiring a minimum of 30% hands-on investigation. Earth Science laboratories will need to be stocked with the materials and equipment necessary to complete investigations. The academic standards and performance indicators for Earth Science should be the basis for the development of classroom and course-level assessments. All Earth Science courses are laboratory courses requiring a minimum of 30% hands-on investigation.

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High school

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Requested competency code

Date submitted

Approved

Approved competency code

• LGEO
• Geology

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Expected grade level

Online / Virtual