Performance expectationCommunicate scientific and technical information about why the particulate-level structure is important in the functioning of designed materials.
Emphasis is on the attractive and repulsive forces that determine the functioning of the material. Examples could include why electrically conductive materials are often made of metal, flexible but durable materials are made up of long chained molecules, and pharmaceuticals are designed to interact with specific receptors.
Assessment is limited to provided particulate structures of specific designed materials.
Every item written to HS-PS2-6 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.
Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information
What a student at each level can do with HS-PS2-6. 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.
Use information to identify a particulate-level structure or function of a designed material.
Use information to describe how particulate-level structure supports material function.
Use scientific or technical information to explain how particulate-level structure supports function.
Communicate scientific and technical information about why particulate-level structure matters in designed materials.
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.