Science, engineering, and technology permeate nearly every facet of modern life and hold the key to solving many of humanity's most pressing current and future challenges. The United States' position in the global economy is declining, in part because U.S. workers lack fundamental knowledge in these fields. To address the critical issues of U.S. competitiveness and to better prepare the workforce, A Framework for K-12 Science Education proposes a new approach to K-12 science education that will capture students' interest and provide them with the necessary foundational knowledge in the field. A Framework for K-12 Science Education outlines a broad set of expectations for students in science and engineering in grades K-12. These expectations will inform the development of new standards for K-12 science education and, subsequently, revisions to curriculum, instruction, assessment, and professional development for educators. This book identifies three dimensions that convey the core ideas and practices around which science and engineering education in these grades should be built. These three dimensions are: crosscutting concepts that unify the study of science through their common application across science and engineering; scientific and engineering practices; and disciplinary core ideas in the physical sciences, life sciences, and earth and space sciences and for engineering, technology, and the applications of science. The overarching goal is for all high school graduates to have sufficient knowledge of science and engineering to engage in public discussions on science-related issues, be careful consumers of scientific and technical information, and enter the careers of their choice. A Framework for K-12 Science Education is the first step in a process that can inform state-level decisions and achieve a research-grounded basis for improving science instruction and learning across the country. The book will guide standards developers, teachers, curriculum designers, assessment developers, state and district science administrators, and educators who teach science in informal environments.

IAU Symposium No. 82, "Time and the Earth's Rotation", met to discuss modern research in the field of the rotation of the Earth with particu lar emphasis on the role of new observational techniques in this work. The use of these techniques has prompted a new look at the definitions of the traditional reference systems and the concepts of the rotation of the Earth around its center of mass. Specific topics discussed were time, polar motion, reference systems, conventional radio interferometry, very'long baseline interferometry (VLBI), Doppler satellite methods, satellite laser ranging, lunar laser ranging, and geophysical research concerning the Earth's rotation. Improvement in the accuracy of the observations is a key to possible solutions of the many unsolved problems remaining in this field. It appears that such improvement, using both classical and new techniques, is forthcoming in the near future. This will surely contribute to a better understanding of some of the long-standing questions concerning the rotation of the Earth around its center of mass and lead to an improved knowledge of the rotating, deformable Earth. This volume contains the papers presented at IAU Symposium No. 82 as well as the discussions provoked by these papers. It is hoped that it captures the principal points of the meeting and that it will contribute not only to a better understanding of existing problems, but also to future research in time and the Earth's rotation.

This book is intended for geophysicists, astronomers (especially those with an interest in history), historians and orientalists. The culmination of many years of research, it discusses, in depth, ancient and medieval eclipse observations and their importance in studying Earth's past rotation. This was the first major book on this subject to appear in the last twenty years. The author has specialised in the interpretation of early astronomical records and their application to problems in modern astronomy for many years. The book contains an in-depth discussion of numerous eclipse records from Babylon, China, Europe and the Arab lands. Translations of almost every record studied are given. It is shown that although tides play a dominant long-term role in producing variations in Earth's rate of rotation - causing a gradual increase in the length of the day - there are significant, and variable non-tidal changes in opposition to the main trend.

An analysis of the irregular rotation of the Earth and the geophysical mechanisms responsible for it.

Controversial at the time, Copernicus's discoveries led to the scientific revolution, and a greater understanding of our place in the universe. An accessible, abridged edition with a new introduction. Renaissance Natural philosopher Nicolaus Copernicus's pioneering discovery of the heliocentric nature of the solar system is one of the few identifiable moments in history that define the understanding of the nature of all things. His great work was the consequence of long observation and resulted in the first stage of the Scientific Revolution by correctly positing that the earth and other planets of the solar system revolved around the sun. Not only did this promote further study to understand the place of humanity in the world and the universe, it questioned the authority of the organised Christian Church in the West to be the keeper of fundamental truths. Ultimately this would lead to the Enlightenment, and the separation of religion, government and science. The FLAME TREE Foundations series features core publications which together have shaped the cultural landscape of the modern world, with cutting-edge research distilled into pocket guides designed to be both accessible and informative.

We need a new philosophy of the earth. Geological time used to refer to slow and gradual processes, but today we are watching land sink into the sea and forests transform into deserts. We can even see the creation of new geological strata made of plastic, chicken bones, and other waste that could remain in the fossil record for millennia or longer. Crafting a philosophy of geology that rewrites natural and human history from the broader perspective of movement, Thomas Nail provides a new materialist, kinetic ethics of the earth that speaks to this moment. Climate change and other ecological disruptions challenge us to reconsider the deep history of minerals, atmosphere, plants, and animals and to take a more process-oriented perspective that sees humanity as part of the larger cosmic and terrestrial drama of mobility and flow. Building on his earlier work on the philosophy of movement, Nail argues that we should shift our biocentric emphasis from conservation to expenditure, flux, and planetary diversity. Theory of the Earth urges us to rethink our ethical relationship to one another, the planet, and the cosmos at large.

Over the past ten years, since the MERIT project began in 1980, great changes have taken place and significant advances made in the area of Earth Rotation and Coordinate Reference Frames. Symposium 105, held at the 125th Anniversary Meeting of the International Association of Geodesy, August 1989, was devoted to this subject. Major improvements in techniques, such as VLBI and laser ranging, have been accompanied by corresponding improvements in data-processing procedures and theories of relevant phenomena. The papers included in this volume provide both a comprehensive record of past discoveries and a sound basis for further advances. Section headings are as follows: - Earth Rotation: Determination and Prediction - Earth Rotation: Interpretation - Reference Frames