Science Reasoning Center - NGSS Activities

Unlike Version 1 of our Science Reasoning Center, Version 2 will be the home of a collection of NGSS-inspired activities. These activities will include an evolving story associated with some phenomenon followed by a collection of questions that lie at the intersection of a disciplinary core idea, a science and engineering practice, and a crosscutting concept. These activities will provide teachers, students, and classrooms an environment to practice implementing physics (and chemistry) content in the context of a practice of science and an over-arching science concept.

We accompany each Science Reasoning  Activity with an About page that discusses the connection between the activity and the NGSS standards. In the discussion, we reference the various dimensions of the standards using a notation like CCC 3.2 (representing the second element (".2") of the third ("3.") Crosscutting Concept. For clarity and convenience sake, we have included two pages on our site where we identify those specific dimensions of the standards with the notation that we have used. Tap the links below to view the SEPs and CCCs:

Disclaimer: The standards are not our original work. The standards are the property of the Next Generation Science Standards.

We plan to eventually create at least one activity for each of the performance expectations in the high school Physical Science strand and a few additional performance expectations from the Earth and Space Science strand. As of this writing (4/2/2023), we have several activities in progress and hope to have them live on our site by mid-May. When we complete an activity, we will publish it and provide the link to it. Check back often to view the latest content; or stay abreast of the latest developments by a periodic visit to our What's New at TPC? page.

 

HS-PS1 Matter and Its Interactions

HS-PS1-1: Use the periodic table as a model to predict the relative properties of elements based on the patterns of electrons in the outermost energy level of atoms.
 




HS-PS1-2: Construct and revise an explanation for the outcome of a simple chemical reaction based on the outermost electron states of atoms, trends in the periodic table, and knowledge of the patterns of chemical properties.
 




HS-PS1-3: Plan and conduct an investigation to gather evidence to compare the structure of substances at the bulk scale to infer the strength of electrical forces between particles.
 




HS-PS1-4: Develop a model to illustrate that the release or absorption of energy from a chemical reaction system depends upon the changes in total bond energy.
 




HS-PS1-5: Apply scientific principles and evidence to provide an explanation about the effects of changing the temperature or concentration of the reacting particles on the rate at which a reaction occurs.
 




HS-PS1-6: Refine the design of a chemical system by specifying a change in conditions that would produce increased amounts of products at equilibrium.
 




HS-PS1-7: Use mathematical representations to support the claim that atoms, and therefore mass, are conserved during a chemical reaction.
 




HS-PS1-8: Develop models to illustrate the changes in the composition of the nucleus of the atom and the energy released during the processes of fission, fusion, and radioactive decay.
 


 




 

HS-PS2 Motion and Stability: Force and Interactions

HS-PS2-1: Analyze data to support the claim that Newton’s second law of motion describes the mathematical relationship among the net force on a macroscopic object, its mass, and its acceleration.

 

 




HS-PS2-2: Use mathematical representations to support the claim that the total momentum of a system of objects is conserved when there is no net force on the system.​
 




HS-PS2-3: Apply scientific and engineering ideas to design, evaluate, and refine a device that minimizes the force on a macroscopic object during a collision.​
 




HS-PS2-4: Use mathematical representations of Newton’s Law of Gravitation and Coulomb’s Law to describe and predict the gravitational and electrostatic forces between objects.​
 




HS-PS2-5: Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence that an electric current can produce a magnetic field and that a changing magnetic field can produce an electric current.​
 




HS-PS2-6: Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence that an electric current can produce a magnetic field and that a changing magnetic field can produce an electric current.​
 






 



 

HS-PS3 Energy

HS-PS3-1: Create a computational model to calculate the change in the energy of one component in a system when the change in energy of the other component(s) and energy flows in and out of the system are known.
 




HS-PS3-2: Develop and use models to illustrate that energy at the macroscopic scale can be accounted for as a combination of energy associated with the motions of particles (objects) and energy associated with the relative positions of particles (objects).
 




HS-PS3-3: Design, build, and refine a device that works within given constraints to convert one form of energy into another form of energy.
 




HS-PS3-4: Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence that the transfer of thermal energy when two components of different temperature are combined within a closed system results in a more uniform energy distribution among the components in the system (second law of thermodynamics).
 




HS-PS3-5: Develop and use a model of two objects interacting through electric or magnetic fields to illustrate the forces between objects and the changes in energy of the objects due to the interaction.
 






 






 

HS-PS4 Waves and their Applications in Technologies for Information Transfer

HS-PS4-1: Use mathematical representations to support a claim regarding relationships among the frequency, wavelength, and speed of waves traveling in various media.
 




HS-PS4-2: Evaluate questions about the advantages of using a digital transmission and storage of information.​
 




HS-PS4-3: Evaluate the claims, evidence, and reasoning behind the idea that electromagnetic radiation can be described either by a wave model or a particle model, and that for some situations one model is more useful than the other.​
 




HS-PS4-4: Evaluate the validity and reliability of claims in published materials of the effects that different frequencies of electromagnetic radiation have when absorbed by matter.
 




HS-PS4-5: Communicate technical information about how some technological devices use the principles of wave behavior and wave interactions with matter to transmit and capture information and energy.
 





 






 

HS-ES1 Earth and Space Systems

HS-ESS1-1: Develop a model based on evidence to illustrate the life span of the sun and the role of nuclear fusion in the sun’s core to release energy that eventually reaches Earth in the form of radiation.
 




HS-ESS1-2: Construct an explanation of the Big Bang theory based on astronomical evidence of light spectra, motion of distant galaxies, and composition of matter in the universe.
 



HS-ESS1-3: . Communicate scientific ideas about the way stars, over their life cycle, produce elements.
 



HS-ESS1-4: Use mathematical or computational representations to predict the motion of orbiting objects in the solar system.