This course introduces scientific investigations, methods, observations, and communication, along with common tools and methods used for understanding Earth and its environments. Minerals and rocks that make up the Earth's crust, Earth's features, identification, and uniqueness as a planet are also covered in this course. Students will also examine continental drift, seafloor spreading, plate tectonic movement, plate boundaries, landforms, volcanic activity, earthquakes, and mountains resulting from plate tectonic processes, as well as surface processes that create and modify landforms. The course also explores water on earth, covering its distribution, states, and the processes involving Earth’s water. Students will learn how features and processes of the atmosphere determine weather and climate, how life is supported on planet Earth, and how Earth scientists learn about Earth's past as well as Earth’s history. The course continues with human dependence on natural resources for energy and materials, the effects of human overpopulation and overconsumption on Earth's systems. It concludes with introducing the objects of our solar system and explorations beyond our solar system.