ILTS Earth and Space Science (241) case studies
ILTS Earth and Space Science (241) · Put your knowledge to work in context.
The ILTS Earth and Space Science (241) test is the Illinois content-area examination used by candidates seeking an Earth and Space Science teaching endorsement, typically as part of an initial secondary science license or an added endorsement on an existing certificate. It is designed for people who will teach geology, astronomy, meteorology, oceanography, and the history of Earth to middle or high school students, so the content spans the full breadth of the discipline rather than one specialty. The ILTS Earth and Space Science (241) case studies are 5 cases and about 3,627 words.
1Erosion Inquiry With Confounded Variables
At a suburban middle school, two seventh-grade teachers pilot a three-day inquiry on erosion control. Each class receives four identical trays of sieved loam, three watering cans calibrated to deliver 500 mL in 20 s, and a stopwatch.
777 words, about 4 min2Interpreting a Dipping Earthquake Zone and Arc Volcanism
A summer research intern is given a spreadsheet from a remote continental margin. It contains 47 earthquake hypocenters: a shallow cluster at 5-15 km depth near the coast, a dipping band of events at 40-80 km, and isolated events at 120-190 km farther inland.
688 words, about 3 min3Roadcut Stratigraphy, an Ash Date, and a Dinosaur Bone
During a field lab at a roadcut, a high-school class records four sedimentary units from bottom to top: (A) cross-bedded sandstone with shell fragments, (B) dark shale containing ammonites, (C) a 12 cm volcanic ash layer, and (D) mudstone with a hadrosaur limb bone. A normal fault offsets units A, B, and the ash layer by about 3 m but does not cut unit D; the fault surface is weathered and truncated at the base of D.
705 words, about 4 min4Rooftop Weather Station and a Fast Pressure Drop
On a spring afternoon, a middle-school rooftop weather station logs a rapid change. At 13:00 the pressure is 1008 hPa, temperature 24 C, dew point 18 C, and wind is from the southeast at 15 km/h.
702 words, about 4 min5Assessment Review: Seasons Item and Modeling Task
A tenth-grade Earth and space science team reviews results from a 128-student unit assessment. One four-option item asks, 'Earth has seasons mainly because...' The options are: (A) Earth's distance from the Sun changes during its orbit; (B) Earth's axis is tilted relative to its orbital plane; (C) the Sun's brightness varies seasonally; (D) Earth rotates on its axis.
755 words, about 4 min