HS-PS4-2 | Digital Transmission of Information
Evaluate questions about the advantages of using a digital transmission and storage of information.
Clarification statement: Examples of advantages could include that digital information is stable because it can be stored reliably in computer memory, transferred easily, and copied and shared rapidly. Disadvantages could include issues of easy deletion, security, and theft.
Assessment
What assessment of HS-PS4-2 might look like on a NY state exam.
| Exam | Cluster | Question |
|---|---|---|
| June 2026 | Voice Recognition Software | Question 41 |
| Voice Recognition Software | Question 42 | |
| Voice Recognition Software | Question 45 |
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.
Vocabulary
Terms from the Physics Glossary that come from this standard or from the released exam questions that assess it.
- advantages
- analog
- argument
- computer memory
- deletion
- digital
- digital information
- digital transmission
- digitized
- disadvantages
- pixel
- security
- stability
- storage of information
- system
- technical information
- theft
- wave
- wave pulse
- accuracy – June 2026
- analog-processed sound – June 2026
- bits – June 2026
- data points – June 2026
- device – June 2026
- digital data – June 2026
- digital reproduction – June 2026
- evidence – June 2026
- memory storage – June 2026
- physical medium – June 2026
- processing speed – June 2026
- sampling – June 2026
- sampling rate – June 2026
- sound – June 2026
- sound wave – June 2026
Resources
Examples and discussion of resources for the learning, teaching, and assessment of HS-PS4-2.
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NGSS Dimensions
Performance expectation HS-PS4-2 was developed using the following elements from the NRC document A Framework for K-12 Science Education:
- Asking Questions and Defining Problems
- Evaluate questions that challenge the premise(s) of an argument, the interpretation of a data set, or the suitability of a design.
- PS4.A: Wave Properties
- Information can be digitized (e.g., a picture stored as the values of an array of pixels); in this form, it can be stored reliably in computer memory and sent over long distances as a series of wave pulses.
- Stability and Change
- Systems can be designed for greater or lesser stability.