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9th grade · Science · Unit 23 of 28

Climate & Earth's Systems

Energy, feedbacks, the carbon cycle and climate change.

What your child practices

Practices how energy flow and feedbacks among Earth's systems change climate, how carbon cycles through air, oceans, rocks and life, the evidence from ice cores and glaciers, and how people can reduce the causes of climate change.

New York State Learning Standards learning standard: HS-ESS2-2; HS-ESS2-4; HS-ESS2-6; HS-ESS3-5 · feedbacks among Earth's systems, what changes climate, the carbon cycle, and evidence of climate change

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Weather is conditions at one time and place; climate is the long-term pattern.
  2. Greenhouse gases trap heat given off by Earth. Burning fossil fuels adds carbon dioxide.
  3. Ice cores and glaciers give evidence of past climates.

Example: “It rained today.” Weather or climate? It describes one day. Short-term conditions are weather. Answer: weather

Climate & Earth's Systems in New York

In the New York State Learning Standards, this is unit 23 of 28 in 9th grade Science, after Stars & the Universe and before Water, Ice & Landscapes.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: New York State Education Department (NYSED)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Sea level rises when land ice melts and when…

    • more fish are born
    • sand washes onto beaches
    • ocean water expands as it warms
    • the moon moves away

  2. Question 2

    Coastal wetlands in New York help during storms because they…

    • raise sea level
    • attract hurricanes
    • make waves bigger
    • absorb flood water and soften waves

  3. Question 3

    Ocean currents affect climate by…

    • carrying heat from warm places to cool places
    • changing the tides
    • causing earthquakes
    • stopping all rain

  4. Question 4

    Which is evidence of a warming climate?

    • Colder summers everywhere
    • Glaciers growing everywhere
    • Lakes freezing for more days each year
    • Glaciers shrinking around the world

  5. Question 5

    Over the past century, Earth's average temperature has…

    • dropped below freezing
    • risen
    • stayed exactly the same
    • fallen

  6. Question 6

    Large volcanic eruptions can cool Earth for a year or two because…

    • ash and gases block some sunlight
    • lava heats the oceans
    • they add fresh water
    • they stop the wind

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