Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

Antarctic Meteorites and Mars

Introduction

National Middle School Science Standards

Earth Science, Physical Science

Key Terms

geology, meteorites, minerals, Mars, solar system history, melt clasts 

Key Concepts

  • Characteristics of meteorites
  • Evidence of solar system collisions
  • Antarctica as a source of meteorites 
  • What meteorites reveal about Mars
  • Technology used by meteoriticists

Resource Types

Geosciences Subject Guide Smithsonian Libraries

Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)

The Antarctic Meteorites and Mars teaching resources support students in meeting the following middle school NGSS Performance Expectations.

Earth Science

MS-ESS1 Earth's Place in the Universe

  • MS-ESS1-2 Develop and use a model to describe the role of gravity in the motions within galaxies and the solar system.
  • MS-ESS1-3 Analyze and interpret data to determine scale properties of objects in the solar system.
  • MS-ESS1-4 Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence from rock strata for how the geologic time scale is used to organize Earth's 4.6-billion-year-old history.

Physical Science

MS-PS1 Matter and Its Interactions

  • MS-PS1-1 Develop models to describe the atomic composition of simple molecules and extended structures.

MS-PS2 Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions

  • MS-PS2-1 Apply Newton's Third Law to design a solution to a problem involving the motion of two colliding objects.
Resource Type
Subject Guides
Grade Level
6-8
Learning Standards
Next Generation Science Standards
Topics
Earth Science, Physical Science