HS-ESS2-5
The standard
Plan and conduct an investigation of the properties of water and its effects on Earth materials and surface processes.
Next Generation Science Standards
What this standard means
Students need to plan and run a lab that shows how water changes rocks, soil, or sediments. They should test a clear variable, collect evidence, and connect the results to erosion, deposition, weathering, freezing, dissolving, or melting.
Mastery looks like a student choosing a fair test, using measurements, and explaining the process with Earth system language. Common trouble spots are vague questions, changing too many variables, describing what happened without explaining why, and treating water as passive instead of a driver of change.
Ways to teach it
- Run a stream table test comparing sand movement at low, medium, and high water flow, then measure delta size after each run.
- Prompt students to explain how one drop of rain could help turn a mountain rock into beach sand over time.
- Use an exit ticket asking students to name the independent variable, dependent variable, and evidence from a frost wedging lab setup.
- Connect to potholes by showing photos of cracked pavement and asking how water, freezing, and traffic work together to break it apart.
Plan a lesson for HS-ESS2-5
Generate a complete lesson plan aligned to this standard, with objectives, activities, and materials. Free, no account needed.
Related standards
- 2-PS1-1
Plan and conduct an investigation to describe and classify different kinds of materials by their observable properties.
- MS-ESS2-4
Develop a model to describe the cycling of water through Earth's systems driven by energy from the sun and the force of gravity.
- MS-ESS3-1
Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for how the uneven distributions of Earth's mineral, energy, and groundwater resources are the result of pa...
- 2-ESS2-3
Obtain information to identify where water is found on Earth and that it can be solid or liquid.