Do You Have Assessment Items Linked to Science Leaning
Goals?
Project 2061 is seeking test items that are aligned with learning
goals selected from Benchmarks
for Science Literacy and National
Science Education Standards. To see a tentative list of
the learning goals that are being
targeted, click on a topic below.
Please note that this list of goals
is only a starting point and is likely
to evolve as the project progresses.
(The code at the beginning of most of
the statements indicates the relevant
chapter, section, grade span, and
item number in the Benchmarks book.
Statements taken from NSES include similar information
and page numbers.)
To contribute an item that you think is well aligned to one or more
of these goals, please contact Dr. George DeBoer at 202-326-6624 or through
our staff contact form. We would also welcome your participation
in field testing items in your classroom; please contact Dr. DeBoer
if this is of interest to you.
Topic 1: Nature of Science: Scientific Investigations
1B6-8#1b: Although there is no fixed set of steps that all scientists
follow, scientific investigations usually involve the collection
of relevant evidence, the use of logical reasoning, and the application
of imagination in devising hypotheses and explanations to make sense
of the collected evidence.
9E9-12#3c: Logic may be of limited help in finding solutions to
problems if one isn't sure that general rules always hold or that
particular information is correct; most often, one has to deal with
probabilities rather than certainties.
1B6-8#2a: If more than one variable changes at the same time in
an experiment, the outcome of the experiment may not be clearly attributable
to any one of the variables.
1B9-12#3: Sometimes, scientists can control conditions in order
to obtain evidence. When that is not possible for practical or ethical
reasons, they try to observe as wide a range of natural occurrences
as possible to be able to discern patterns.
Topic 2: Earth Science: The Solar System
NSES, 5-8D 3 B (p.160): Most objects in the solar system
are in regular and predictable motion. Those motions explain such
phenomena as the day, the year, phases of the moon and eclipses.
Topic 3: Earth Science: Weather and Climate
4B6-8#4: Because the earth turns daily on an axis that is tilted
relative to the plane of the earth's yearly orbit around the sun,
sunlight falls more intensely on different parts of the earth during
the year. The difference in heating of the earth's surface produces
the planet's seasons and weather patterns.
4B6-8#7: The cycling of water in and out of the atmosphere plays
an important role in determining climatic patterns. Water evaporates
from the surface of the earth, rises and cools, condenses into rain
or snow, and falls again to the surface. The water falling on land
collects in rivers and lakes, soil, and porous layers of rock, and
much of it flows back into the ocean.
4B9-12#2: Weather (in the short run) and climate (in the long run)
involve the transfer of energy in and out of the atmosphere. Solar
radiation heats the land masses, oceans, and air. Transfer of heat
energy at the boundaries between the atmosphere, the land masses,
and the oceans results in layers of different temperatures and densities
in both the ocean and atmosphere. The action of gravitational force
on regions of different densities causes them to rise or fall--and
such circulation, influenced by the rotation of the earth, produces
winds and ocean currents.
Topic 4: Earth Science: Changes in the Earth’s Surface
4C6-8#2: Some changes in the earth's surface are abrupt (such as
earthquakes and volcanic eruptions) while other changes happen very
slowly (such as uplift and wearing down of mountains). The earth's
surface is shaped in part by the motion of water and wind over very
long times, which act to level mountain ranges.
4C9-12#4: The solid crust of the earth--including both the continents
and the ocean basins--consists of separate plates that ride on a
denser, hot, gradually deformable layer of the earth. The crust sections
move very slowly, pressing against one another in some places, pulling
apart in other places. Ocean-floor plates may slide under continental
plates, sinking deep into the earth. The surface layers of these
plates may fold, forming mountain ranges.
NSES, 9-12 p. 189: The outward transfer of earth’s
internal heat drives convection circulation in the mantle that propels
the plates comprising earth’s surface across the face of the
globe.
Topic 5: Physical Science: Atoms, Molecules, and States
of Matter
4D6-8#1: All matter is made up of atoms, which are far too small
to see directly through a microscope. The atoms of any element are
alike but are different from atoms of other elements. Atoms may stick
together in well-defined molecules or may be packed together in large
arrays. Different arrangements of atoms into groups compose all substances.
4D6-8#3: Atoms and molecules are perpetually in motion. Increased
temperature means greater average energy of motion, so most substances
expand when heated. In solids, the atoms are closely locked in position
and can only vibrate. In liquids, the atoms or molecules have higher
energy, are more loosely connected, and can slide past one another;
some molecules may get enough energy to escape into a gas. In gases,
the atoms or molecules have still more energy and are free of one
another except during occasional collisions.
Topic 6: Physical Science: Substances, Chemical Reactions,
and Conservation of Matter
NSES, 5-8 p. 154: A substance has characteristic properties,
such as density, a boiling point, and solubility, all of which are
independent of the amount of the sample. A mixture of substances
often can be separated into the original substances using one or
more of the characteristic properties.
NSES, 5-8 p. 154: Substances react chemically in characteristic
ways with other substances to form new substances (compounds) with
different characteristic properties.
4D9-12#9: The rate of reactions among atoms and molecules depends
on how often they encounter one another, which is affected by the
concentration, pressure, and temperature of the reacting materials.
Some atoms and molecules are highly effective in encouraging the
interaction of others.
4D6-8#7: No matter how substances within a closed system interact
with one another, or how they combine or break apart, the total weight
of the system remains the same. The idea of atoms explains the conservation
of matter: If the number of atoms stays the same no matter how they
are rearranged, then their total mass stays the same.
Topic 7: Physical Science: Energy Transformations
4E6-8#2: Most of what goes on in the universe--from exploding stars
and biological growth to the operation of machines and the motion
of people--involves some form of energy being transformed into another.
Energy in the form of heat is almost always one of the products of
an energy transformation.
4E6-8#4: Energy appears in different forms. Heat energy is in the
disorderly motion of molecules; chemical energy is in the arrangement
of atoms; mechanical energy is in moving bodies or in elastically
distorted shapes; gravitational energy is in the separation of mutually
attracting masses.
Topic 8: Physical Science: Sight and Vision
4F6-8#2: Something can be "seen" when light waves emitted
or reflected by it enter the eye--just as something can be "heard" when
sound waves from it enter the ear.
Topic 9: Physical Science: Laws of Motion
4F6-8#3: An unbalanced force acting on an object changes its speed
or path of motion, or both. If the force acts toward a single center,
the object's path may curve into an orbit around the center.
Topic 10: Physical Science: Forces of Nature
4G6-8#1: Every object exerts gravitational force on every other
object. The force depends on how much mass the objects have and on
how far apart they are. The force is hard to detect unless at least
one of the objects has a lot of mass.
4G9-12#2: Electromagnetic forces acting within and between atoms
are vastly stronger than the gravitational forces acting between
the atoms. At the atomic level, electric forces between oppositely
charged electrons and protons hold atoms and molecules together and
thus are involved in all chemical reactions. On a larger scale, these
forces hold solid and liquid materials together and act between objects
when they are in contact--as in sticking or sliding friction.
Topic 11: Life Science: Interdependence, Diversity, and
Survival of Living Organisms
5A6-8#5abc: All organisms, including the human species, are part
of and depend on two main interconnected global food webs. One includes
microscopic ocean plants, the animals that feed on them, and finally
the animals that feed on those animals. The other web includes land
plants, the animals that feed on them, and so forth.
5D6-8#1: In all environments--freshwater, marine, forest, desert,
grassland, mountain, and others--organisms with similar needs may
compete with one another for resources, including food, space, water,
air, and shelter. In any particular environment, the growth and survival
of organisms depend on the physical conditions.
5F6-8#2: Individual organisms with certain traits are more likely
than others to survive and have offspring. Changes in environmental
conditions can affect the survival of individual organisms and entire
species.
5A9-12#1: The variation of organisms within a species increases
the likelihood that at least some members of the species will survive
under changed environmental conditions, and a great diversity of
species increases the chance that at least some living things will
survive in the face of large changes in the environment.
Topic 12: Life Science: Sexual Reproduction, Genes, and
Heredity
5B6-8#2: In sexual reproduction, a single specialized cell from
a female merges with a specialized cell from a male. As the fertilized
egg, carrying genetic information from each parent, multiplies to
form the complete organism with about a trillion cells, the same
genetic information is copied in each cell.
NSES 5-8C 2D (p.157): Hereditary information is contained in genes,
located in the chromosomes of each cell. Each gene carries a single
unit of information. An inherited trait of an individual can be determined
by one or by many genes, and a single gene can influence more than
one trait. A human cell contains many thousands of different genes.
5B9-12#2: The sorting and recombining of genes in sexual reproduction
results in a great variety of possible gene combinations from the
offspring of any two parents.
5B9-12#4: Genes are segments of DNA molecules. Inserting, deleting,
or substituting DNA segments can alter genes. An altered gene may
be passed on to every cell that develops from it. The resulting features
may help, harm, or have little or no effect on the offspring's success
in its environment.
Topic 13: Life Science: Cell Function and Protein Synthesis
5C9-12#3: The work of the cell is carried out by the many different
types of molecules it assembles, mostly proteins. Protein molecules
are long, usually folded chains made from 20 different kinds of amino-acid
molecules. The function of each protein molecule depends on its specific
sequence of amino acids and the shape the chain takes is a consequence
of attractions between the chain's parts.
5C9-12#4: The genetic information in DNA molecules provides instructions
for assembling protein molecules. The code used is virtually the
same for all life forms.
Topic 14: Life Science: Flow of Matter and Energy in Living
Organisms
5E6-8#1: Food provides the molecules that serve as fuel and building
material for all organisms. Plants use the energy from light to make
sugars from carbon dioxide and water. This food can be used immediately
or stored for later use. Organisms that eat plants break down the
plant structures to produce the materials and energy they need to
survive. Then they are consumed by other organisms.
5E6-8#3: Energy can change from one form to another in living things.
Animals get energy from oxidizing their food, releasing some of its
energy as heat. Almost all food energy comes originally from sunlight.
5E9-12#3: The chemical elements that make up the molecules of living
things pass through food webs and are combined and recombined in
different ways. At each link in a food web, some energy is stored
in newly made structures but much is dissipated into the environment
as heat. Continual input of energy from sunlight keeps the process
going.
Topic 15: Life Science: Natural Selection
5F9-12#3: Natural selection provides the following mechanism for
evolution: Some variation in heritable characteristics exists within
every species, some of these characteristics give individuals an
advantage over others in surviving and reproducing, and the advantaged
offspring, in turn, are more likely than others to survive and reproduce.
The proportion of individuals that have advantageous characteristics
will increase.
Topic 16: Life Science: Basic Functions in Humans
6C6-8#2: For the body to use food for energy and building materials,
the food must first be digested into molecules that are absorbed
and transported to cells.
6C6-8#3: To burn food for the release of energy stored in it, oxygen
must be supplied to cells, and carbon dioxide removed. Lungs take
in oxygen for the combustion of food and they eliminate the carbon
dioxide produced. The urinary system disposes of dissolved waste
molecules, the intestinal tract removes solid wastes, and the skin
and lungs rid the body of heat energy. The circulatory system moves
all these substances to or from cells where they are needed or produced,
responding to changing demands.
