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Next Generation Science Standards Flashcards

7 cards from real STEM practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.

Read the first 7 Next Generation Science Standards flashcards as text

  1. Which Disciplinary Core Idea (DCI) domain addresses how organisms interact with their environment and each other?

    Answer: Life Sciences

    Life Sciences DCIs (LS1–LS4) cover ecosystems, heredity, evolution, and organism interactions with the environment.

  2. In NGSS, the DCI 'PS3: Energy' specifically emphasizes that students should understand energy as:

    Answer: A property of objects and systems that can be transferred and transformed

    PS3 frames energy as a property that can be transferred between objects and transformed between forms, not as a substance.

  3. Which NGSS DCI focuses on plate tectonics and large-scale system interactions within the Earth?

    Answer: ESS2: Earth's Systems

    ESS2 covers Earth's systems including plate tectonics, the rock cycle, and interactions among the geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere.

  4. A performance expectation at the middle school level requires students to 'develop a model to describe the cycling of matter and flow of energy among living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem.' Which DCI does this primarily address?

    Answer: LS2: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics

    LS2 addresses ecosystem interactions including cycling of matter and energy flow among biotic and abiotic components.

  5. Under the NGSS DCI 'ETS1: Engineering Design,' what is the primary purpose of defining constraints and criteria?

    Answer: To specify what a successful solution must do and what limits it must work within

    Criteria define what a successful solution must achieve; constraints define the boundaries (cost, materials, time) within which solutions must operate.

  6. Which Physical Sciences DCI would be most directly addressed when students investigate how the arrangement of atoms determines the properties of substances?

    Answer: PS1: Matter and Its Interactions

    PS1 covers atomic structure, chemical reactions, and how the arrangement of atoms determines physical and chemical properties of matter.

  7. The NGSS DCI 'LS4: Biological Evolution' includes which of the following as a key component?

    Answer: Evidence of common ancestry and natural selection as the mechanism of evolution

    LS4 focuses on evidence of common ancestry, natural selection, adaptation, and biodiversity as mechanisms and outcomes of biological evolution.