Short Performance Assessment: MS-PS1-2

Grade Level: Middle School

Adapted from SNAP1

Title Layers in a Test Tube

Designed by Next Generation Science Assessment (NGSA) Course(s) Middle School

project

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Performance MS-PS1-2: Analyze and interpret data on the properties of substances before and after the substances interact to
Expectation determine if a chemical reaction has occurred.
Clarification Statement: Examples of reactions could include burning sugar or steel wool, fat reacting with sodium hydroxide, and mixing
zinc with hydrogen chloride.
Assessment Boundary: Assessment is limited to analysis of the following properties: density, melting point, boiling point, solubility,
flammability, and odor.

Science and Analyzing and Interpreting Data

Engineering • Analyze and interpret data to determine similarities and differences in findings.
Practice

Disciplinary PS1.A: Structure and Properties of Matter

Core Ideas • Each pure substance has characteristic physical and chemical properties (for any bulk quantity under given
conditions) that can be used to identify it.

PS1.B: Chemical Reactions

• Substances react chemically in characteristic ways. In a chemical process, the atoms that make up the original
substances are regrouped into different molecules, and these new substances have different properties from those
of the reactants.

Crosscutting Patterns
Concept • Macroscopic patterns are related to the nature of microscopic and atomic- level structure.

Student 1. Organizing data

Performance 2. Identifying relationships
3. Interpreting data

1 The Short Performance Assessment (SPA) and the Assessment Rubric adapted from the Stanford NGSS Assessment Project http://snapgse.stanford.edu/

This work is licensed by the author(s) under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Hosted by The Wonder of Science
Name________________________________

Miranda placed two liquids in a test tube. The two liquids were soluble in each other and mixed together. She
then heated the test tube to see if the liquids would react. After heating the liquids, two separate layers formed -
Layer A and Layer B.

Miranda tested and measured some properties of the liquids and layers and calculated the density of these
substances, recording the data in Table 1.

Table 1. Data of sample before and after heating.

Solubility in Boiling
Sample Volume Odor Density Temperature
Water Point

Before Heating Liquid 1 0.45cm3 Yes alcohol 78.4°C 0.79g/cm3 25°C

Liquid 2 0.35cm3 Yes vinegar 118.5°C 1.05g/cm3 25°C

After Heating Liquid 1 0.40cm3 No none 77.1°C 0.90g/cm3 48°C

Liquid 2 0.30cm3 Yes fruity 100.0°C 1.00g/cm3 48°C

Use the data in Table 1 to answer the three questions below.

1. State whether mixing and then heating Liquid 1 and Liquid 2 caused a chemical reaction to
occur by relating the liquids before heating to the layers after heating.

2. Describe what information from the data table you would use as evidence to support your
claim and explain why you used it.

3. Support your claim with evidence and reasoning using information in the data table.
This work is licensed by the author(s) under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Hosted by The Wonder of Science
 Assessment Rubric* - Question 1
Emerging Developing Approaching Excelling
Proficiency

Description of
performance

Sample student
responses

Assessment Rubric* - Question 2

Emerging Developing Approaching Excelling
Proficiency

Description of
performance

Sample student
responses

Insert additional Assessment Rubrics (if needed) here.

This work is licensed by the author(s) under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Hosted by The Wonder of Science