HS-ESS1-3

Communicate scientific ideas about the way stars, over their life cycle, produce elements.

Clarification statement: Emphasis is on how nucleosynthesis varies as a function of the mass of a star and the stage of its lifetime.

Assessment boundary: Details of the many different nucleosynthesis pathways for stars of differing masses are not assessed.

Resources

Relevant reference tables:

What assessment of HS-ESS1-3 might look like on a NY state exam.

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Performance expectation HS-ESS1-3 was developed using the following elements from the NRC document A Framework for K-12 Science Education:

Science and Engineering Practices

Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information: Communicate scientific 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).

Disciplinary Core Ideas

The universe and its stars: The study of stars’ light spectra and brightness is used to identify compositional elements of stars, their movements, and their distances from Earth.
The universe and its stars: Other than the hydrogen and helium formed at the time of the Big Bang, nuclear fusion within stars produces all atomic nuclei lighter than and including iron, and the process releases electromagnetic energy. Heavier elements are produced when certain massive stars achieve a supernova stage and explode.

Crosscutting Concepts

Energy and matter: In nuclear processes, atoms are not conserved, but the total number of protons plus neutrons is conserved.