HS-PS1-5

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Apply scientific principles and evidence to explain how the rate of a physical or chemical change is affected when conditions are varied.

Clarification statement: Explanations should be based on three variables in collision theory: number of collisions per unit time, particle orientation on collision, and energy required to produce the change. Conditions that affect these three variables include temperature, pressure, nature of reactants, concentrations of reactants, mixing, particle size, surface area, and addition of a catalyst.

Assessment boundary: Assessment is limited to simple reactions in which there are only two reactants and to specifying the change in only one condition at a time.

Performance Level Descriptions

PLDs communicate the knowledge and skills expected of students to demonstrate proficiency in each Learning Standard. NYS assessments classify student performance into one of five levels.

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Level 1: Use provided information to identify the evidence for how the rate of a physical or chemical change is affected when conditions are varied.

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Level 2: Predict and/or describe how the rate of a physical or chemical change is affected when conditions are varied.

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Level 3: Use data/information that provides evidence to predict and explain how the rate of a physical or chemical change is affected when conditions are varied.

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Level 4: Apply scientific principles and evidence to explain how the rate of a physical or chemical change is affected when conditions are varied.

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Level 5: Construct explanations and design solutions, using student-generated evidence, that apply scientific principles to explain how the rate of chemical changes are affected when conditions are varied.

Resources

Examples and discussion of resources for the learning, teaching, and assessment of HS-PS1-5.

This section could be expanded upon. You can help out by adding to this section.

Assessment

What assessment of HS-PS1-5 might look like on a NY state exam.

Exam	Cluster	Question
August 2026	Catalytic Converter in Cars	Question 30
	Catalytic Converter in Cars	Question 33
	Get a Whiff of That!	Question 37
	Safe Transport of Drinking Water	Question 48
June 2026	Chemistry of Beverages	Question 7
	Equilibria in the Blood	Question 11
	Equilibria in the Blood	Question 13
	Clock Reaction	Question 28
	Clock Reaction	Question 29

NGSS Dimensions

Performance expectation HS-PS1-5 was developed using the following elements from the NRC document A Framework for K-12 Science Education:

Science and Engineering Practices

• Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions
  • Apply scientific principles and evidence to provide an explanation of phenomena and solve design problems, taking into account possible unanticipated effects.

Disciplinary Core Ideas

• PS1.B: Chemical Reactions
  • (NYSED) Chemical processes, their rates, and whether or not energy is stored or released can be understood in terms of the collisions of particles and the rearrangements of particles into new substances, with consequent changes in the sum of all bond energies in the set of substances that are matched by changes in energy.

Crosscutting Concepts

• Patterns
  • Different patterns may be observed at each of the scales at which a system is studied and can provide evidence for causality in explanations of phenomena.

Page contributors: Conrad Richman, Caroline Leonard

Chemistry | HS. Chemical Reactions