AEPA Earth Science AZ045 study guide
AEPA Earth Science AZ045 · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The AEPA Earth Science test is one of the assessments listed in the Arizona Educator Proficiency Assessments program, a testing program for prospective Arizona educators. It is aimed at candidates preparing to teach Earth science, and it appears alongside the other subject tests in the program's test-selection menu, so anyone registering can choose it from that list. The AEPA Earth Science AZ045 study guide has 5 sections and about 1,809 words.
01Scientific Inquiry and the Nature of Science
Inquiry questions reward precision about how science works. Know the hierarchy: an observation is a recorded measurement or sensory fact; an inference is a conclusion drawn from observations; a hypothesis is a testable, falsifiable proposed explanation; a theory is a broad explanatory framework supported by many independent lines of evidence; a law is a concise statement of a regular relationship that describes but does not explain.
333 words, about 2 min02Earth Materials, Structure, and Plate Tectonics
A mineral is naturally occurring, inorganic, solid, with a definite composition and an ordered internal structure - glass fails that last test. Know Mohs hardness (talc 1, quartz 7, diamond 10; quartz scratches glass), cleavage versus fracture, streak, luster, and the silica tetrahedron as the building block of most crustal minerals.
366 words, about 2 min03Earth History and the Fossil Record
Sequence reasoning rests on superposition (in undisturbed layers, younger above older), original horizontality , lateral continuity , cross-cutting relationships (a fault or intrusion is younger than what it cuts), inclusions (a fragment enclosed in a rock is older than the rock), and baked contacts. Unconformities mark missing time: angular unconformity (tilted beds truncated and overlain), disconformity (erosion surface between parallel beds), nonconformity (sedimentary rocks over igneous or metamorphic basement).
324 words, about 2 min04Oceans, Atmosphere, and Climate
Seawater density increases with salinity and decreases with temperature, so cold, salty water is densest and sinks at high latitudes, driving thermohaline circulation . Distinguish the surface mixed layer, thermocline, and deep zone.
376 words, about 2 min05Astronomy and the Earth–Moon–Sun System
Earth rotates west-to-east on an axis tilted 23.4°, producing day and night; revolution with that fixed tilt produces seasons. Seasons are not caused by distance - Earth is nearest the Sun in early January.
410 words, about 2 min