Performance expectationConstruct 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.
Examples of chemical reactions could include the reaction of sodium and chlorine, of carbon and oxygen, or of carbon and hydrogen.
Assessment is limited to chemical reactions involving main group elements and combustion reactions.
Every item written to HS-PS1-2 has to assess all three dimensions together, not the content alone. This is the structural change that made older practice material stop matching the exam.
Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions
What a student at each level can do with HS-PS1-2. These drive how a cluster spreads difficulty across its items.
Summarised by ScienceIQ from the NYSED Performance Level Descriptions for Physical Science: Chemistry. These are our wording, not the Department’s — the official descriptions are the authority.
Identify simple reaction outcomes using provided patterns or properties.
Predict the outcome of a simple chemical reaction from atomic or periodic patterns.
Construct or revise an explanation for the outcome of a simple chemical reaction.
Construct and revise explanations for reaction outcomes using electron states, periodic trends, and chemical properties.
Phenomenon stimulus, connected items across the required types, answer key, rubric and figures drawn deterministically from a structured spec — in the format your students will sit.