Next Generation Science Standards Core Ideas: Earth and Human Activity

This is the 12th in a series of 12 web seminars that focus on the disciplinary core ideas of the Next Generation Science Standards. Presenter Susan Buhr Sullivan, Director of the CIRES Education and Outreach Group at University of Colorado, begins by describing the interconnections between this disciplinary core idea and other components of NGSS. She then talks about building a foundation for key concepts related to Earth and human activity at the elementary level. Aida Awad, Science Department Chair at Maine East High School in Park Ridge, IL, and president of the National Association of Geoscience Teachers (NAGT), then shares the progression of this core idea through the middle school level and on to high school. The program features strategies for teaching about Earth science concepts that answer questions such as "How do humans depend on Earth's resources?" and "How do humans change the planet?"