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Geophysical Science Assessment

(Formation of the Universe, Earth, and Earths Properties)

1) Explain the difference between the common use of the word theory
and how scientists use the word theory.

2) Which of the following is (are) evidence for the Big Bang Theory? You
may need to select more than 1 answer.
a. Background Microwave Radiation
b. Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights)
c. Redshift from Galaxies moving away from one another (and us)
d. Increasing temperature across the Universe
e. The oldest galaxies have the amount of light elements
(Hydrogen and Helium) that would be predicted by the Big Bang
3) In our early solar system, there was just a bunch of little rock
fragments orbiting the Sun. How did the Earth form?

4) Why does the Earth have an atmosphere, but other planets do not?

5) As soon as the Earth formed with an atmosphere, humans and other

mammals could have lived on it.
a. True
b. False
6) Where is the Earth's water currently thought to have come from?
a. The Earth's mantle cracked and water rushed up from the second
layer of the core (the anhydrous layer)

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b. The Earth formed oceans when water vapor from volcanoes

condensed from the atmosphere and became liquid water
c. Meteors, comets, and other space materials carrying water
crashed into Earth for millions of years
d. The Earth has no water, only oceans of scientific sadness and
despair.

7) What causes wind?

a. The rotation of the Earth
b. High pressure air moving to low pressure air
c. Warmer temperature air moving toward colder temperature air
d. All of the above
e. Only 2 of the above
8) Give me 2 examples of why the Coriolis effect is important and explain
each one.

9) Which of the following has/have been used to measure the Earth's

magnetic field from the past?
a. Ancient Pottery
b. Ice cores deeper than 100 feet
c. Solidified lava flows
d. All of the above
e. Only 2 of the above
10)

Why does Mars no longer have an atmosphere?

11)

What causes Earths magnetic field?

12)
How do scientists know that the Earths magnetic field has a
tendency to flip (reverse polarity)?

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13)
Which of these best describes the composition of Earths current
atmosphere?
a. Mostly Oxygen, some Nitrogen, small amounts of other gasses
b. Mostly Nitrogen, some Oxygen, small amounts of other gasses
c. Mostly Carbon Dioxide, some Oxygen, small amounts of other
gasses
d. Mostly Oxygen, some Carbon Dioxide, small amounts of other
gasses
14)
Name 3 ways Earths atmosphere differs from other atmospheres
in our solar system.

15)
What role did early life forms on Earth play in changing the
composition of the atmosphere?

16)
Explain the conditions of Earth that allowed life to develop, while
other planets in the same solar system are not expected to have any
life at all.

17)
Modern day humans could have always survived on planet Earth,
even early in its formation.
a. True
b. False
18)
Explain how the Earth, both planetarily and atmospherically, has
changed over time to better support life.

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19)
From outermost layer to innermost layer, name the 4 major
layers of the Earth.

20)
Compare and contrast the properties of the outer core and inner
core of the Earth, using one difference and one similarity.

Pre-Test Self-Assessment

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After grading your pre-test, make a note of what you already know. For the
information you were not familiar with, make a goal to learn this information
during the unit. Use the following chart to help you organize what you know,
and what you still need to learn.

What I Know

What I Need to
Learn

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Post-Test Self-Assessment
After grading your post-test, pick up your What I Know/What I Need to Know
Chart from the pre-test. Did you meet your goal of learning everything in the
What I Need to Know column? What worked for you in learning the material
and meeting your goal? What would change for the next unit? Use the chart
below to help organize your thoughts.

What Helped Me To
Meet My Goal

What Will Make Me

More Successful
Next Time

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Explanation of Assessment

This assessment was designed to have multiple layers of assessment

built in, in order to maximize student growth and reflection. The first step of
this assessment is to take the pre-test, and then grade it. The test itself has
a variety of Depth-of-Knowledge questions, with some requiring basic
conceptual recall skills, while others require the student to stretch their
knowledge and apply it to the question in order to reach an answer which
requires explanation.
The second layer of this unit assessment requires the student to
analyze what they know and what they need to understand for the postassessment. This section includes a simple chart where students can
organize what they know from the pre-assessment, and what they should
learn during the unit. This step encourages students to make a goal of
learning the concepts that they wrote in the What I Need to Learn column,
and makes this information more explicit and accessible.
The last layer takes place at the end of the unit, where students take
the post-test. After grading the post test, students take a look at their goal
from the pre-test and assess whether or not they learned the material from

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the I Need to Learn column. The students then reflect on whether or not
they met their goal, and what practices helped them to be successful, as well
as what practices they will implement during the next unit to help them be
successful.