Earth System Science
The term "Earth system science" evolved about a decade ago. Scientists working at the United States Geologic Survey (USGS) and NASA coined the phrase to describe the nature of what they were studying: the relationships among the earth's subsystems and the events that occurred within them. The earth's four major subsystems, or spheres, include

• the lithosphere, which contains all of the planet's land;

• the hydrosphere, which contains all of the planet's water and ice;

• the biosphere, which contains all of the planet's living things; and

•  the atmosphere, which contains all of the planet's air and weather.

As a teacher, you have seen how children experience the world around them. Children involve themselves in the natural world. Their interests jump from the thorn on the bush to the flower, then a bird sound may hold their attention until a cloud passes over head. They discover a  curious-looking rock and wonder, "Where did this come from?" Shuffling through the mounds of leaves on the ground, they notice the dampness of the ground and the pungent odor coming from the disturbed leaves. They observe that some trees loose their leaves much earlier than others. 

When studying Earth system science with your students, you want to convey the fact that the various spheres function independently as well as interdependently. For example, it is important for students to realize that a tropical rainforest is not just a collection of trees and bushes (biosphere).  It is a complex ecological system defined by rainfall (hydrosphere) and temperature (atmosphere), as well as by a surprisingly nutrient-poor soil (lithosphere) that supports microorganisms, plants, and animals (biosphere) that thrive in these conditions.

Children in the K-4 age range may not inherently realize that these things in nature all function together. However, the goals of this course are to show you how you can teach your students about the elements that make up the various spheres and get them to realize that everything they encounter in one sphere has the potential to affect the other spheres. In other words, you will learn how to show your students that all the natural wonders that draw their attention are integrated in a world of wonder that is connected and interdependent: the grass depends on the sun and the rain as well as the soil; the bird needs a safe perch; the giant oak grows best in one kind of soil, while lilacs grow best in another.

Investigators using the Earth system science approach are continually asking questions about the planet's subsystems. Scientists rarely have all of the information they need when they begin thinking about a question or a problem. As they learn more about the Earth system, they ask more questions. This approach of asking questions and questioning answers is how geologists (scientists who study land), hydrologists (scientists who study the water cycle), biologists (scientists who study living organisms), and climatologists (scientists who study weather) work together to understand the Earth system. The formulation of new questions based on the answers to old questions is the basic approach used by most scientists--not just Earth system scientists.

Like scientists, young children question their environment in order to understand how it functions and to build their knowledge base. To educate young children effectively, you should embrace your students' natural tendencies to question and encourage them to seek answers. You should also encourage students to ask questions about the answers they find and to look for connections among the answers. 

Consider a lesson in which the students' goal is to understand a tropical rainforest or a mid-west prairie ecosystem. The students must be able to describe the interactions among the Earth's subsystems that create those ecological patterns. Encourage the students to think about these environments, and then have them ask some questions about how those environments might be affected by an event. For example, how might a decrease in the amount of yearly rainfall affect the rainforest, or what would be the effect of a large grass fire on a mid-west prairie during a hot, dry August day? As students see potential changes in one sphere, have them investigate what effect these changes might have on the other spheres. 

[ Welcome ] [Earth's Spheres ] [ Earth System Science ] [ Participation ]
[ Assessment Overview ] [ Course Sections ]

[ Home ] [ Guide ] [ Outline ] [ Classroom ]

HTML by Chris Kreger
Maintained by ESSC Team
Last updated August 04, 2000

Privacy Statement and Copyright^© 1997-2000 by Wheeling Jesuit University/NASA Classroom of the Future™. All rights reserved.