3-5

The first administration of the new NYS elementary grade 5 science exam, which assesses students on the performance expectations below, is planned for this June 2024 (per the NYSED science implementation roadmap).

3. Forces and Interactions

3-PS2-1 | Balanced and unbalanced forces
Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence of the effects of balanced and unbalanced forces on the motion of an object.

Clarification statement: Examples could include an unbalanced force on one side of an object can make it start moving; and, balanced forces (including friction) acting on a stationary object from both sides will not produce any motion at all.

Assessment boundary: Assessment is limited to one variable at a time: number, size, or direction of forces. Assessment does not include quantitative force size, only qualitative and relative. Assessment is limited to gravity being addressed as a force that pulls objects down.

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3-PS2-2 | Predicting future motion
Make observations and/or measurements of an object’s motion to provide evidence that a pattern can be used to predict future motion.

Clarification statement: Examples of motion with a predictable pattern could include a child swinging in a swing, a ball rolling back and forth in a bowl, and two children on a see-saw.

Assessment boundary: Assessment does not include technical terms such as period and frequency.

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3-PS2-3 | Electric and magnetic interactions
Ask questions to determine cause and effect relationships of electric or magnetic interactions between two objects not in contact with each other.

Clarification statement: Examples of an electric force could include the force on hair from an electrically charged balloon and the electrical forces between a charged rod and pieces of paper; examples of a magnetic force could include the force between two permanent magnets, the force between an electromagnet and steel paperclips, and the force exerted by one magnet versus the force exerted by two magnets. Examples of cause and effect relationships could include how the distance between objects affects strength of the force and how the orientation of magnets affects the direction of the magnetic force.

Assessment boundary: Assessment is limited to forces produced by objects that can be manipulated by students, and electrical interactions are limited to static electricity.

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3-PS2-4 | Solving a problem with magnets
Define a simple design problem that can be solved by applying scientific ideas about magnets.

Clarification statement: Examples of problems could include constructing a latch to keep a door shut and creating a device to keep two moving objects from touching each other.

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3. Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems

3-LS2-1 | Animal groups
Construct an argument that some animals form groups that help members survive.

Clarification statement: Examples of groups could include a herd of cattle, a swarm of bees, a flock of geese, a pod of whales, etc.

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3-LS4-1 | Fossils
Analyze and interpret data from fossils to provide evidence of the organisms and the environments in which they lived long ago.

Clarification statement: Examples of data could include type, size, and distributions of fossil organisms. Examples of fossils and environments could include marine fossils found on dry land, tropical plant fossils found in Arctic areas, and fossils of extinct organisms.

Assessment boundary: Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include identification of specific fossils or present plants and animals. Assessment is limited to major fossil types and relative ages.

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3-LS4-3 | Organism survival
Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat some organisms can survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all.

Clarification statement: Examples of evidence could include needs and characteristics of the organisms and habitats involved. The organisms and their habitat make up a system in which the parts depend on each other.

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3-LS4-4 | Environment change
Make a claim about the merit of a solution to a problem caused when the environment changes and the types of plants and animals that live there may change.

Clarification statement: Examples of environmental changes could include both natural and human-influenced changes in land characteristics, water distribution, temperature, food, and other organisms.

Assessment boundary: Assessment is limited to a single environmental change. Assessment does not include the greenhouse effect or climate change.

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3. Inheritance and Variation of Traits: Life Cycles and Traits

3-LS1-1 | Life cycles
Develop models to describe that organisms have unique and diverse life cycles but all have in common birth, growth, reproduction, and death.

Clarification statement: Changes organisms go through during their life form a pattern.

Assessment boundary: Assessment of plant life cycles is limited to those of flowering plants. Assessment does not include details of human reproduction.

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3-LS3-1 | Inheritance and variation
Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence that plants and animals have traits inherited from parents and that variation of these traits exists in a group of similar organisms.

Clarification statement: Patterns are the similarities and differences in traits shared between offspring and their parents, or among siblings. Emphasis is on organisms other than humans.

Assessment boundary: Assessment does not include genetic mechanisms of inheritance and prediction of traits. Assessment is limited to non-human examples.

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3-LS3-2 | Environmental influence
Use evidence to support the explanation that traits can be influenced by the environment.

Clarification statement: Examples of the environment affecting a trait could include normally tall plants grown with insufficient water are stunted; and, a pet dog that is given too much food and little exercise may become overweight.

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3-LS4-2 | Advantages from characteristics
Use evidence to construct an explanation for how the variations in characteristics among individuals of the same species may provide advantages in surviving, finding mates, and reproducing.

Clarification statement: Examples of cause and effect relationships could include plants that have larger thorns than other plants may be less likely to be eaten by predators; and, animals that have better camouflage coloration than other animals may be more likely to survive and therefore more likely to produce offspring.

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3. Weather and Climate

3-ESS2-1 | Life cycles
Represent data in tables and graphical displays to describe typical weather conditions expected during a particular season.

Clarification statement: Examples of data could include average temperature, precipitation, and wind direction.

Assessment boundary: Assessment of graphical displays is limited to pictographs and bar graphs. Assessment does not include climate change.

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3-ESS2-2 | Life cycles
Obtain and combine information to describe climates in different regions of the world.

Clarification statement: Emphasis should be on various climates in different regions rather than on localized weather conditions.

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3-ESS3-1 | Life cycles
Make a claim about the merit of a design solution that reduces the impacts of a weather-related hazard.

Clarification statement: Examples of design solutions to weather-related hazards could include barriers to prevent flooding, wind resistant roofs, and lightning rods.

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3-ESS2-3 | Life cycles
Plan and conduct an investigation to determine the connections between weather and water processes in Earth systems.

Clarification statement: Emphasis should be on the processes that connect the water cycle and weather patterns.

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4. Energy

4-PS3-1 | Speed and energy
Use evidence to construct an explanation relating the speed of an object to the energy of that object.

Assessment boundary: Assessment does not include quantitative measures of changes in the speed of an object or on any precise or quantitative definition of energy.

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4-PS3-2 | Conservation of energy
Make observations to provide evidence that energy is conserved as it is transferred and/or converted from one form to another.

Clarification statement: Examples of forms of energy could include sound, light, heat, and electrical.

Assessment boundary: Assessment does not include quantitative measurements of energy.

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4-PS3-3 | Changes in energy
Ask questions and predict outcomes about the changes in energy that occur when objects collide.

Clarification statement: Emphasis is on the change in the energy due to the change in speed, not on the forces, as objects interact.

Assessment boundary: Assessment does not include quantitative measurements of energy.

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4-PS3-4 | Energy conversion device
Apply scientific ideas to design, test, and refine a device that converts energy from one form to another.

Clarification statement: Examples of devices could include electric circuits that convert electrical energy into energy of motion of a vehicle, light, or sound; batteries that convert chemical energy to electrical energy; and, a passive solar heater that converts light into heat. Examples of constraints could include the materials, cost, or time to design the device.

Assessment boundary: Devices should be limited to those that convert motion energy to electric energy or use stored energy to cause motion or produce light or sound.

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4-ESS3-1 | Energy and fuels: natural resources and the environment
Obtain and combine information to describe that energy and fuels are derived from natural resources and their uses affect the environment.

Clarification statement: Examples of renewable energy resources could include wind, water behind dams, and sunlight; non-renewable energy resources are fossil fuels and fissile materials. Examples of environmental effects could include loss of habitat due to dams, loss of habitat due to surface mining, and air pollution from burning of fossil fuels.

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4. Waves: Waves and Information

4-PS4-1 | Waves
Develop a model of waves to describe patterns in terms of amplitude and wavelength and that waves can cause objects to move.

Clarification statement: Examples of models could include diagrams, analogies, and physical models using wire to illustrate wavelength and amplitude of waves.

Assessment boundary: Assessment does not include interference effects, electromagnetic waves, non- periodic waves, or quantitative models of amplitude and wavelength.

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4-PS4-3 | Information transmission
Generate and compare multiple solutions that use patterns to transfer information.

Clarification statement: Examples of solutions could include drums sending coded information through sound waves, using a grid of 1’s and 0’s representing black and white to send information about a picture, and using Morse code to send text.

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