Intro to 8th Grade Earth Science

Lesson 1

Introduction To Earth Science

What Is Science ?

• A way of learning about the natural world

• Includes all the knowledge gained from exploring the natural world

What skills do scientists use to learn about the world?

  • Observing

Using one or more of your senses to gather information

  • Inferring

Interpreting the things you observe

  • Predicting

Making a forecast of what will happen based on evidence or past experience

What attitudes are helpful to scientists?

Curiosity

Honesty

Open-mindedness

Skepticism

Creativity

Patience

Skills of a Scientist:

Observe

(use senses)

Infer

(Consider what you have observed and what your prior experience and knowledge is about the topic)

Predict

(When you tell what will happen based on your observations and inferences you may have drawn)

Y

Dependent

Or Responding

Variable

(Changes

due to what

you have

done)

X

Independent or Manipulated Variable

(It’s the thing you change in the experiment)

What is Scientific Inquiry ?

  • Refers to the many ways in which

scientists study the natural world and propose

explanations based on evidence they gather

  • Often begins with a problem or questions

about an observation

  • A means of testing a hypothesis
  • A method for explaining the difference

between a scientific theory and a scientific law

The Scientific Method:

  • Observation or question

• Research

• Forming a hypothesis

• Designing an experiment

• Recording data

• Repeating the procedure

Hypothesis

  • A possible explanation for a set of observations or answers to a scientific question
  • Must be testable
  • May be revised or scrapped based on results

Experiment

• Designed to test a specific hypothesis

• Must contain variables (factors that can be changed)

• Independent (manipulated) variable is purposely changed to test the hypothesis

• Dependent (responding) variable may change in response to the independent variable

• An experiment where only one variable is manipulated at a time is called a controlled experiment

Data

• Facts, figures and other evidence gathered through observation

• After gathering and interpreting data, scientists draw conclusions about their hypothesis

• Scientists then communicate their results

How do scientific theories differ from scientific laws?

Scientific Theory

A well-tested explanation for a wide range

of observations or experimental results

Scientific Law

A statement that describes what scientists

expect to happen every time under a

particular set of conditions

A scientific law describes an observed pattern in nature

without attempting to explain it.

Intermediate Science

Lesson 2

Review: Scientific Inquiry

Introduce: The Study of Earth Science

Earth Science:

A body of knowledge about Earth and its place in the universe

Earth scientists use several main ideas to guide their work:

1. The structure of the Earth system

2. Earth’s history

3. Earth as part of the solar system

The Earth system is made up of:

  • Lithosphere

Earth’s solid, rocky outer layer

  • Hydrosphere

Earth’s oceans, lakes rivers and ice

  • Atmosphere

Mixture of gases that surround Earth

  • Biosphere

Includes all Earth’s living things

Earth’s History

Two main forces have changed Earth’s

surface throughout history:

1. Constructive Forces

Build up mountains and

landmasses

2. Destructive Forces

Slowly wear away mountains and

every other feature on Earth’s surface

Branches of Earth Science

  • Geology is the study of the forces that have shaped the Earth throughout its long history
  • Oceanography is the study of everything from the chemistry of ocean water to the shape of the ocean floor to the living things in the ocean’s depths
  • Meteorology is the study of information gathered about conditions in the atmosphere around the world
  • Astronomy is the study of the solar system , stars, galaxies, and the history of the universe
  • Environmental Science is the study of Earth’s environment and resources

Use of Models

Earth scientists often use models to represent complex objects or processes:

physical-globe

mechanical-robotic

scale-map

graphic-coordinate plane

mathematical-formula

computer simulation