Exploring Earth Science
CORE MATERIALS
Exploring Planet Earth
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Program Overview
The Prentice Hall Science Integrated Learning System series is a program for middle school or junior high school students. Designed to cover all relevant areas of science, this program consists of 19 books, each in a particular topic area, such as sound and light, earth's weather, and cells--building blocks of life. Seven science themes are incorporated into the program; the themes are energy, evolution, patterns of change, scale and structure, systems and interactions, unity and diversity, and stability. For each unit, teaching materials, ancillary student materials, and some optional components are available.
Student Edition
Recommended grade level:
6-8.
Reading level: late 7. The textbook Exploring Earth's Weather, which helps students investigate the factors that cause weather and climate, is organized in 3 chapters: (1) "What Is Weather?" (2) "What Is Climate?" and (3) "Climate in the United States." During the course, students learn about temperature, air pressure, wind, and humidity. They explore weather patterns and weather forecasting, learn to identify basic types of clouds, and differentiate between weather and climate. They also examine the nature, causes, zones, and changes of climate. Students then explore the climate regions of the United States and identify the 6 major regions on the basis of temperature and precipitation. They also relate land biomes of the United States to their climates.
Each chapter includes a lab investigation. Students use a handmade sling psychrometer to determine relative humidity. They graph temperature and precipitation data to classify the climates of cities in different parts of the world. They also use climate information to determine the biomes of the United States.
Each chapter contains comprehensive reading sections that introduce major science concepts. Suggestions are provided for activities in which students "find out by doing," "find out by reading," and "find out by writing." Other skills-oriented activities are also suggested--for example, using a barometer to forecast the weather and examining 2 microclimates in a neighborhood.
Other features of the textbook include problem-solving challenges, descriptions of science careers, and science connections to real-world events or issues. The student edition closes with readings on 3 topics: (1) the career of pioneering meteorologist Joanne Simpson, (2) the irrigation of arid lands, and (3) a fictional account of what scientists would expect weather to be like after a nuclear holocaust.
Teacher's Edition
In the teacher's wraparound edition, each chapter begins with a 2-page planning guide and a 2-page preview that summarizes each section within the chapter. The teacher's edition also provides suggestions for teaching, guiding, integrating, and closing lessons, as well as enrichments, extensions, and answers to questions in the student text.
Supplementary Laboratory Manual
The supplementary lab manual provides 5 additional investigations directly correlated with the information presented in the student textbook. Examples of the investigations include determining how the angle of insolation affects the rate of temperature change of a surface; and constructing a simple barometer, then using it to make observations of changes in atmospheric pressure.
Program Resources and Support Materials
A variety of materials, including some optional components, is available. A teacher's resource package contains the student edition and annotated teacher's editions of both the textbook and the lab manual, as well as a test book, an activity book, a review-and-reinforcement guide, and English and Spanish audiotapes for auditory and language learners. Other available materials include interactive videodiscs, transparencies, assessment materials, English and Spanish guides for language learners, a study guide, a teacher's desk reference, and a booklet of product-testing activities.
Key to Content Standards: 5-8 (see app. C)
UNIFYING CONCEPTS AND PROCESSES: Systems, order, and organization; evidence, models, and explanation; change, constancy, and measurement.
SCIENCE AS INQUIRY: Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry; understandings about scientific inquiry.
EARTH AND SPACE SCIENCE: Structure of the earth system; earth's history; earth in the solar system.
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: Understandings about science and technology.
SCIENCE IN PERSONAL AND SOCIAL PERSPECTIVES: Science and technology in society.
Prices:
Student edition (ISBN 0-13-423401-4), $9.97. Teacher's edition (ISBN 0-13-423161-9), $22.97. Teacher's resource package, $112.97. (Contact publisher/supplier for complete price and ordering information.)
Publisher/supplier:
Prentice Hall.
Materials:
Available locally, or from commercial suppliers.
