• Analyze data using tools, technologies, and/or models (e.g., computational, mathematical) in order to make valid and reliable scientific claims or determine an optimal design solution.

• Apply concepts of statistics and probability (including determining function fits to data, slope, intercept, and correlation coefficient for linear fits) to scientific and engineering questions and problems, using digital tools when feasible.

• Consider limitations of data analysis (e.g., measurement error, sample selection) when analyzing and interpreting data.

• Compare and contrast various types of data sets (e.g., self-generated, archival) to examine consistency of measurements and observations.

• Evaluate the impact of new data on a working explanation and/or model of a proposed process or system.

• Analyze data to identify design features or characteristics of the components of a proposed process or system to optimize it relative to criteria for success.

• Make a quantitative and/or qualitative claim regarding the relationship between dependent and independent variables.

• Construct and revise an explanation based on valid and reliable evidence obtained from a variety of sources (including students’ own investigations, models, theories, simulations, peer review) and the assumption that theories and laws that describe the natural world operate today as they did in the past and will continue to do so in the future.

• Apply scientific ideas, principles, and/or evidence to provide an explanation of phenomena and solve design problems, taking into account possible unanticipated effects.

• Apply scientific reasoning, theory, and/or models to link evidence to the claims to assess the extent to which the reasoning and data support the explanation or conclusion.

• Design, evaluate, and/or refine a solution to a complex real-world problem, based on scientific knowledge, student-generated sources of evidence, prioritized.

• Compare and evaluate competing arguments or design solutions in light of currently accepted explanations, new evidence, limitations (e.g., trade-offs), constraints, and ethical issues.

• Evaluate the claims, evidence, and/or reasoning behind currently accepted explanations or solutions to determine the merits of arguments.

• Respectfully provide and/or receive critiques on scientific arguments by probing reasoning and evidence, challenging ideas and conclusions, responding thoughtfully to diverse perspectives, and determining additional information required to resolve contradictions.

• Construct, use, and/or present an oral and written argument or counter-arguments based on data and evidence.

• Make and defend a claim based on evidence about the natural world or the effectiveness of a design solution that reflects scientific knowledge and student generated evidence.

• Evaluate competing design solutions to a real-world problem based on scientific ideas and principles, empirical evidence, and/or logical arguments regarding relevant factors (e.g. economic, societal, environmental, ethical considerations).

Performance Standards

• HS-LS1 – FROM MOLECULES TO ORGANISMS: STRUCTURES AND PROCESSES

  • HS-LS1-1: Construct an explanation based on evidence for how the structure of DNA determines the structure of proteins which carry out the essential functions of life through systems of specialized cells.

Disciplinary Core Ideas

• LS1: FROM MOLECULES TO ORGANISMS: STRUCTURES AND PROCESSES

  • LS1.A: Structure and Function

    • Systems of specialized cells within organisms help them perform the essential functions of life.

    • All cells contain genetic information in the form of DNA molecules. Genes are regions in the DNA that contain the instructions that code for the formation of proteins.

    • Multicellular organisms have a hierarchical structural organization, in which any one system is made up of numerous parts and is itself a component of the next level.

    • Feedback mechanisms maintain a living system’s internal conditions within certain limits and mediate behaviors, allowing it to remain alive and functional even as external conditions change within some range. Feedback mechanisms can encourage (through positive feedback) or discourage (negative feedback) what is going on inside the living system.

• LS4: BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION: UNITY AND DIVERSITY

  • LS4.A: Evidence of Common Ancestry and Diversity

    • Genetic information provides evidence of evolution. DNA sequences vary among species, but there are many overlaps; in fact, the ongoing branching that produces multiple lines of descent can be inferred by comparing the DNA sequences of different organisms. Such information is also derivable from the similarities and differences in amino acid sequences and from anatomical and embryological evidence.

Performance Standards

• None for Chemistry

Disciplinary Core Ideas

• PS1: MATTER AND ITS INTERACTIONS

  • PS1.B: Chemical Reactions

    • Chemical processes, their rates, and whether or not energy is stored or released can be understood in terms of the collisions of molecules and the rearrangements of atoms into new molecules, with consequent changes in the sum of all bond energies in the set of molecules that are matched by changes in kinetic energy. (HS-PS1-4), (HS-PS1-5)

    • In many situations, a dynamic and condition-dependent balance between a reaction and the reverse reaction determines the numbers of all types of molecules present. (HS-PS1-6)

    • The fact that atoms are conserved, together with knowledge of the chemical properties of the elements involved, can be used to describe and predict chemical reactions. (HS-PS1-2), (HS-PS1-7)

Performance Standards

• None for Physics

Disciplinary Core Ideas

• PS2: MOTION AND STABILITY: FORCES AND INTERACTIONS

  • PS2.A: Forces and Motion

    • Newton’s second law accurately predicts changes in the motion of macroscopic objects.

    • Momentum is defined for a particular frame of reference; it is the mass times the velocity of the object. In any system, total momentum is always conserved.

    • If a system interacts with objects outside itself, the total momentum of the system can change; however, any such change is balanced by changes in the momentum of objects outside the system.

  • PS2.B: Types of Interactions

    • Newton’s law of universal gravitation and Coulomb’s law provide the mathematical models to describe and predict the effects of gravitational and electrostatic forces between distant objects.

    • Forces at a distance are explained by fields (gravitational, electric, and magnetic) permeating space that can transfer energy through space. Magnets or electric currents cause magnetic fields; electric charges or changing magnetic fields cause electric fields.

    • Attraction and repulsion between electric charges at the atomic scale explain the structure, properties, and transformations of matter, as ell as the contact forces between material objects. (HS-PS1-1), (secondary to HS-PS1-3)