Performance expectationDevelop 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.
Emphasis is on simple qualitative models, such as pictures or diagrams, and on the scale of energy released in nuclear processes relative to other kinds of transformations.
Assessment does not include quantitative calculation of energy released. Assessment is limited to alpha, beta, positron, and gamma radioactive decays.
Qualitative focus, understanding the conservation of mass and charge.
This performance expectation appears in more than one course map. The note above is the scope NYSED specifies for Physical Science: Chemistry.
Every item written to HS-PS1-8 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.
Developing and Using Models
What a student at each level can do with HS-PS1-8. 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 a nuclear process or change in nuclear composition.
Use a model to predict changes in nuclear composition.
Use models to compare nuclear composition changes or energy scale.
Develop models illustrating fission, fusion, radioactive decay, and released energy.
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.