OGS.9.ESS
Open Global Science Standards 2026™ · 8th Grade
Earth and Space Sciences: Geodynamics, Earth Systems, Climate, and Astrophysics
Grade8th Grade
SubjectScience
Levelstrand
Child standards (5)
- OGS.9.ESS.1Investigate the theory of plate tectonics, describing divergent, convergent, and transform boundaries, supervolcanoes, hot spots, mountain building, ocean basin formation, and historical geological evidence including fossil distribution and the law of superposition.
- OGS.9.ESS.2Describe the processes of the rock cycle across geological timescales and correlate the structural properties and commercial uses of sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic rocks with their formation environments.
- OGS.9.ESS.3Analyze the global carbon cycle, biogeochemical cycling through watersheds, vegetation cover effects on soil erosion, atmospheric pollution mechanisms, and human impacts on groundwater and marine ecosystems.
- OGS.9.ESS.4Model atmospheric and oceanic circulation dynamics, correlating differential thermal energy transfer with global wind formation and interactions between ocean currents and air masses that generate tropical cyclones.
- OGS.9.ESS.5Analyze the life cycle of stars using the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, categorize galaxies by morphology (spiral, elliptical, irregular), locate the solar system within the Milky Way, and evaluate cosmological evidence for the origin of the universe.