HS-PS4-5 | Waves and Technology
Communicate technical information about how some technological devices use the principles of wave behavior and wave interactions with matter to transmit and capture information and energy.
Clarification statement: Examples could include Doppler effect, solar cells capturing light and converting it to electricity; medical imaging; and communications technology.
Assessment boundary: Assessments are limited to qualitative information. Assessments do not include band theory.
Assessment
What assessment of HS-PS4-5 might look like on a NY state exam.
| Exam | Cluster | Question |
|---|---|---|
| June 2026 | Kidney Stone Detection and Removal | Question 6 |
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.
- band theory
- cause and effect
- claim
- communications technology
- computer memory
- device
- digitized
- Doppler effect
- effectiveness and reliability
- electricity
- energy
- interaction
- light
- medical imaging
- pixel
- qualitative
- refute
- scanner
- signal
- solar cell
- support (a claim)
- system
- technical information
- technological device
- transmit and capture information and energy
- wave
- wave behavior
- wave interactions with matter
- wave pulse
- diffraction – June 2026
- electromagnetic radiation – June 2026
- frequency – June 2026
- interference – June 2026
- reflected pulse – June 2026
- refraction – June 2026
- sound – June 2026
- sound wave – June 2026
- speed – June 2026
- ultrasound – June 2026
- wave phenomenon – June 2026
Resources
Examples and discussion of resources for the learning, teaching, and assessment of HS-PS4-5.
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NGSS Dimensions
Performance expectation HS-PS4-5 was developed using the following elements from the NRC document A Framework for K-12 Science Education:
- Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information
- Communicate technical information or ideas (e.g., about phenomena and/or the process of development and the design and performance of a proposed process or system) in multiple formats (including orally, graphically, textually, and mathematically).
- 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.
- PS4.C: Information Technologies and Instrumentation
- Multiple technologies based on the understanding of waves and their interactions with matter are part of everyday experiences in the modern world (e.g., medical imaging, communications, scanners) and in scientific research. They are essential tools for producing, transmitting, and capturing signals and for storing and interpreting the information contained in them.
- Cause and Effect
- Systems can be designed to cause a desired effect.