Earth and Environmental Science study guides

A deep-dive guide to Module 1 of the Virginia Earth Science SOL: experimental design and variables, measurement with SI units and the right instruments, organizing and reading data in tables and graphs, calculating rate of change, and the nature of science (models, and the difference between a hypothesis, theory and law).

A deep-dive guide to Module 2 of the Virginia Earth Science SOL: identifying minerals from their properties, the three rock types and the rock cycle, Earth's interior and the seismic-wave evidence, plate tectonics and the three boundary types, earthquakes and volcanoes, and renewable versus non-renewable resources.

A deep-dive guide to Module 3 of the Virginia Earth Science SOL: relative dating and reading a geologic cross section, radioactive decay and half-life calculations, fossils and the geologic time scale, weathering, erosion and deposition, soil formation, and how to read a topographic map.

A deep-dive guide to Module 4 of the Virginia Earth Science SOL: the water cycle and watersheds, the ocean floor and seawater density, surface and deep ocean currents, waves and tides, and the Chesapeake Bay estuary and coastal Virginia.

A deep-dive guide to Module 5 of the Virginia Earth Science SOL: the composition and layers of the atmosphere and energy transfer, moisture and clouds, air pressure and wind, air masses, fronts and severe weather, reading weather maps and station models, and climate and climate change.

A deep-dive guide to Module 6 of the Virginia Earth Science SOL: the Earth-Moon-Sun system (day and night, Moon phases, eclipses), the seasons and Earth's tilt, the solar system and gravity, stars and the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, and the universe and the Big Bang.