Virginia SOL 4.7

4.7 is a Standards of Learning science standard. These are the key ideas and practices under it.

• 4.7.a

  geology of the ocean floor

• 4.7.b

  physical properties and movement of ocean water

• 4.7.c

  interaction of organisms in the ocean.

01

What Students Need to Do

Students identify and model major seafloor features. They describe ocean water using temperature, salinity, and pressure, and distinguish waves, currents, and tides. They build food webs and explain how organisms depend on one another and their surroundings.

02

What Mastery Looks Like

A student can label major seafloor features and compare water conditions at different depths. They can explain ocean water movement and predict how a population change affects an ocean food web.

03

Common Misconceptions

Students may picture the ocean floor as flat or confuse ridges with trenches. They may treat waves, currents, and tides as the same movement, or assume tides are caused by wind. Some think any smaller ocean animal can serve as food for a larger one.

04

How to Assess It

Give students an ocean cross-section, a tide chart, and four organism cards. Ask them to label three features, identify high tide, and draw a supported food chain.

1. 01

   Build an ocean-floor cross-section with clay, then label the continental shelf, slope, abyssal plain, ridge, and trench.

2. 02

   Write a response to: How could a cold ocean current change the organisms living near a coast?

3. 03

   Arrange organism cards into an ocean food web, then remove one species and explain two likely changes.

4. 04

   Compare tide-table entries for one day and choose the safest time to explore a tide pool, citing the predicted water level.

• 3.7

  The student will investigate and understand that there is a water cycle and water is important to life on Earth. Key ideas include

• 6.6

  The student will investigate and understand that water has unique physical properties and has a role in the natural and human-made environment. Key ideas includ...

• K.4

  The student will investigate and understand that water is important in our daily lives and has properties. Key ideas include

• 3.5

  The student will investigate and understand that aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems support a diversity of organisms. Key ideas include