Key Idea: The loose rock material on the surface of the earth broke off from the solid rock layer (bedrock) that makes up the outer portion of the earth.
Students are expected to know that:
- Broken rocks form a relatively thin layer of loose rock material on the surface of the earth.
- Most of the loose rocks on the surface of the earth originally came from the breaking of the solid rock layer (bedrock) that makes up the outer portion of the earth. These rocks continue to break, such that large loose rocks (e.g., boulders), are broken down to even smaller rocks (e.g., sand).
| Item ID Number |
Knowledge Being Assessed | Grades 6–8 |
Grades 9–12 |
Select This Item for My Item Bank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
62% |
66% |
|
||
55% |
60% |
|
||
35% |
40% |
|
Misconception |
Student Misconception |
Grades |
Grades |
|---|---|---|---|
50% |
45% | ||
49% |
46% | ||
45% |
40% | ||
27% |
23% | ||
The rock material of sand was never part of earth's solid rock layer (AAAS Project 2061, n.d.). | 25% |
22% | |
21% |
19% | ||
10% |
10% | ||
8% |
7% |
Frequency of selecting a misconception was calculated by dividing the total number of times a misconception was chosen by the number of times it could have been chosen, averaged over the number of students answering the questions within this particular idea.
No NGSS statements are associated with this idea in the selected project.