Test Design and
Test Framework
Field 243: Science: Physics
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The test design below describes general test information. The framework that follows is a detailed outline that explains the knowledge and skills that this test measures.
Test Design
| Format | Computer-based test (CBT) |
|---|---|
| Number of Questions | 100 multiple-choice questions |
| Time* | 3 hours, 15 minutes |
| Passing Score | 240 |
*Does not include 15-minute CBT tutorial
Test Framework
| Test Subarea | Number of Test Objectives | Number of Scorable Items | Number of Non-Scorable Items | subarea weight as percent of total test score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Subarea 1—Science Process Skills | 3 | 18 | 5 | 23 percent |
| Subarea 2—Disciplinary Core Ideas | 5 | 30 | 7 | 37 percent |
| Subarea 3—Physics Skills, Motion, Forces, and Waves | 4 | 16 | 4 | 20 percent |
| Subarea 4—Thermodynamics, Electromagnetism, and Modern Physics | 4 | 16 | 4 | 20 percent |
| Totals | 16 | 80 | 20 | 100 percent |
Subarea 1—Science Process Skills
0001—Understand practices of science and engineering.
For example:
- Apply knowledge of the development of scientific ideas and models, characteristics of models, and how models are used to build and revise scientific explanations and to design and improve engineering systems.
- Demonstrate knowledge of how to ask questions that arise from observation, to seek additional information, to identify relationships, and to pose problems that can be solved through scientific investigation.
- Apply knowledge of how to plan and conduct scientific investigations, including safety considerations and the use of appropriate tools and technologies.
- Demonstrate knowledge of how to obtain, evaluate, and communicate scientific information (e.g., recognizing appropriate sources of scientific information, integrating information from multiple sources, evaluating the validity of claims, recognizing bias).
- Demonstrate knowledge of how to collect, manage, analyze, and interpret scientific and engineering data and information; use mathematics and computational thinking to represent and solve scientific and engineering problems; and draw appropriate and logical conclusions based on evidence.
- Demonstrate the ability to construct and analyze scientific explanations and to evaluate scientific arguments and solutions in terms of their supporting evidence and reasoning (e.g., distinguishing between correlation and causation).
- Apply knowledge of grade-level-appropriate activities and investigations, instructional resources and technologies, and assessment methods for teaching students how to use basic concepts, materials, tools, and scientific and engineering practices; and to make connections between science and engineering, other learning areas, and daily life.
0002—Understand crosscutting concepts and their applications across science and engineering disciplines.
For example:
- Apply knowledge of patterns in natural and engineered systems.
- Analyze cause-and-effect relationships and their mechanisms in natural and engineered systems.
- Apply concepts of scale, proportion, and quantity to describe and analyze natural and engineered systems.
- Demonstrate knowledge of how systems are defined and studied and of how models of different types of natural and engineered systems are used to investigate and make predictions about a system.
- Identify relationships between the flow, cycling, and conservation of energy and matter to describe the inputs, outputs, and operation of natural and engineered systems and surroundings.
- Analyze the relationships between the structural components that make up natural and engineered systems and the functioning of these systems.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the factors that contribute to stability and change in systems (e.g., positive and negative feedback, static and dynamic equilibrium) and of the factors that can alter rates of change in systems (e.g., temperature, tipping points).
- Demonstrate knowledge of the ways that science, engineering, and technology are interdependent in modern society and the influence of science, engineering, and technology on nature and society.
- Apply knowledge of grade-level-appropriate activities and investigations, instructional resources and technologies, and assessment methods for promoting and evaluating students' understanding of crosscutting concepts and of the connections between science, engineering, technology, and society.
0003—Understand the process of reading, and apply knowledge of strategies for promoting students' reading development in the science classroom.
For example:
- Demonstrate knowledge of the reading process (e.g., the construction of meaning through interactions between a reader's prior knowledge, information in the text, and the purpose of the reading situation), and apply knowledge of strategies for integrating the language arts into science instruction to support students' reading and concept development (e.g., providing purposeful opportunities for students to read, write about, and discuss content in order to improve their understanding).
- Demonstrate knowledge of the role of vocabulary knowledge in supporting students' reading comprehension and concept development, and apply knowledge of strategies for promoting students' discipline-specific vocabulary development (e.g., recognizing structural and/or meaning-based relationships between words, using context clues, distinguishing denotative and connotative meanings of words, interpreting idioms and figurative language, consulting specialized reference materials).
- Apply knowledge of strategies for preparing students to read text effectively and teaching and modeling the use of comprehension strategies before, during, and after reading, including strategies that promote close reading (e.g., breaking down complex sentences, monitoring for comprehension to correct confusions and misunderstandings that arise during reading).
- Apply knowledge of strategies for developing students' ability to comprehend and critically analyze discipline-specific texts, including recognizing organizational patterns unique to informational texts; using graphic organizers as an aid for analyzing and recalling information from texts; analyzing and summarizing an author's argument, claims, evidence, and point of view; evaluating the credibility of sources; and synthesizing multiple sources of information presented in different media or formats.
- Apply knowledge of strategies for evaluating, selecting, modifying, and designing reading materials appropriate to the academic task and students' reading abilities (e.g., analyzing instructional materials in terms of readability, content, length, format, illustrations, graphs, tables, and other pertinent factors).
- Apply knowledge of strategies for providing continuous monitoring of students' reading progress through observations, work samples, and various informal assessments and for differentiating science instruction to address all students' assessed reading needs.
Subarea 2—Disciplinary Core Ideas
0004—Understand the disciplinary core ideas of chemistry.
For example:
- Apply knowledge of the structure of atoms and molecules and how to differentiate between ions, molecules, elements, and compounds.
- Apply knowledge of the development and organization of the periodic table and how to predict the properties of elements on the basis of their positions in the periodic table.
- Analyze and predict the outcome of a chemical reaction based on the outermost electron states of atoms, trends in the periodic table, and patterns of chemical properties.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the composition of the nucleus and characteristics of nuclear decay, fission, and fusion.
- Recognize the types of chemical reactions and their applications and that chemical reactions can be understood in terms of the collisions between ions, atoms, or molecules and the rearrangement of particles.
- Apply the principles of conservation of matter to balance chemical equations.
- Apply knowledge of the nature of the forces between particles to the phases and properties of matter (e.g., mass, density, specific heat, melting point, solubility) and of the energy changes that accompany changes in states of matter.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the effect of temperature, pressure, and concentration on chemical equilibrium (i.e., Le Chatelier's principle) and reaction rate.
- Apply knowledge of the engineering design process (e.g., define the problem, design solutions, optimize solutions) and chemistry concepts, including their use in technology and scientific applications (e.g., synthesizing materials, designing a cold pack).
- Apply knowledge of grade-level-appropriate activities and investigations, instructional resources and technologies, and assessment methods for teaching students how to use basic concepts, materials, tools, and scientific practices in chemistry; and to make connections between chemistry, engineering, other learning areas, and daily life.
0005—Understand the disciplinary core ideas of physics.
For example:
- Apply knowledge of the description of motion and the use of Newton's second law to analyze situations and data (e.g., graphs, tables) involving the forces on and the motion of an object.
- Demonstrate knowledge of mathematical representations to support the claim that the total momentum of a system is conserved when there is no net external force on the system.
- Demonstrate knowledge of factors that influence the gravitational force and the Coulomb force between two objects.
- Apply relationships between force, work, energy, and power; concepts associated with mechanical energy (i.e., kinetic and potential); and the conservation of energy.
- Demonstrate knowledge of energy at the macroscopic level (e.g., motion, sound, light, thermal energy) and microscopic level (e.g., average molecular kinetic energy of particles).
- Demonstrate knowledge of factors that affect the transfer and transformations of energy between systems (e.g., type of matter, mass, change in temperature, phase).
- Demonstrate knowledge of electricity and magnetism, the source of electric and magnetic fields, and applications of electromagnetism (e.g., simple circuits, electromagnets, generators, motors).
- Demonstrate knowledge of the nature and properties of mechanical (i.e., matter) and electromagnetic waves (e.g., medium, frequency, wavelength, amplitude, polarization, reflection, refraction, diffraction, interference) and their applications (e.g., musical instruments, lenses).
- Demonstrate knowledge of relationships between waves, energy, transmission of information, and information technologies.
- Apply knowledge of the engineering design process (e.g., define the problem, design solutions, optimize solutions) and physics concepts, including their use in technology and scientific applications (e.g., build a device to convert one type of energy to another, modify a model that demonstrates the law of conservation of momentum).
- Apply knowledge of grade-level-appropriate activities and investigations, instructional resources and technologies, and assessment methods for teaching students how to use basic concepts, materials, tools, and scientific practices in physics; and to make connections between physics, engineering, other learning areas, and daily life.
0006—Understand the disciplinary core ideas of biology.
For example:
- Apply knowledge of the characteristics of viruses, the structures and functions of prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, and how cellular organelles contribute to cell function.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the structure and function of different molecules (e.g., carbohydrates, proteins) in living organisms and how photosynthesis, respiration (both anaerobic and aerobic), and the breakdown of food all cycle energy and matter through the body.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the hierarchical structure of multicellular organisms (i.e., cells, tissues, organs, and organ systems), major anatomical structures and systems and life processes of plants and animals, and feedback mechanisms responsible for maintaining homeostasis.
- Demonstrate knowledge of processes of growth and development in unicellular and multicellular organisms, including mitosis and cellular differentiation.
- Apply knowledge of asexual and sexual reproduction in prokaryotes, plants, and animals and the nature of meiosis and its role in sexual reproduction.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the structure and function of DNA, genes, and chromosomes; their role in determining inherited traits; and how genotypes influence phenotypes (e.g., dominant and recessive traits).
- Demonstrate knowledge of how individuals and species adapt to their environments, how natural selection leads to increases of genetic traits within a population that favor the reproductive success of some individuals over others, and lines of evidence for biological evolution (e.g., fossil record, genetics).
- Apply knowledge of the engineering design process (e.g., define the problem, design solutions, optimize solutions) and biology concepts, including their use in technology and scientific applications (e.g., genetic engineering, modeling a food web).
- Apply knowledge of grade-level-appropriate activities and investigations, instructional resources and technologies, and assessment methods for teaching students how to use basic concepts, materials, tools, and scientific practices in biology; and to make connections between biology, engineering, other learning areas, and daily life.
0007—Understand the disciplinary core ideas of Earth and space science.
For example:
- Demonstrate knowledge of the Big Bang theory of the origin and evolution of the universe, including understanding supporting evidence of this theory (e.g., light spectra, composition of matter).
- Demonstrate knowledge of the theories explaining the formation of the solar system and planets, including understanding supporting evidence of these theories (e.g., composition of matter, lunar rocks, meteorites).
- Demonstrate knowledge of characteristics of objects in the universe (e.g., stars, galaxies), including understanding stellar life cycles and the basic process of nuclear fusion in stars.
- Apply knowledge of the regular and predictable patterns of movements of stars, planets, Earth, and the moon, including their effects on Earth's systems (e.g., seasons, eclipses, tides) and the physical laws that govern their movement (e.g., Kepler's laws, Newton's laws).
- Demonstrate knowledge of the structure and composition of Earth's interior and methods for studying Earth's interior (e.g., seismic waves, magnetic data).
- Demonstrate knowledge of the evidence used to develop the geologic timescale, including relative and absolute dating techniques (e.g., fossil record, stratigraphy, radiometric dating).
- Demonstrate knowledge of geologic processes (e.g., plate tectonics, weathering, transport) and recognize their role in the formation and presence of geographic features (e.g., mountains, valleys, seamounts) and in the formation and distribution of Earth materials (e.g., minerals; igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks).
- Demonstrate knowledge of the evidence for plate tectonics (e.g., ages of rocks, fossil distribution) and factors that affect the large-scale motions of tectonic plates (e.g., thermal convection, density and buoyancy of rock).
- Demonstrate knowledge of how the motions of tectonic plates relate to earthquakes, volcanoes, mountain building, and the formation of sea-floor structures (e.g., seafloor spreading at ocean ridges, subduction at ocean trenches).
- Demonstrate knowledge of the physical and chemical properties of water, the hydrological cycle, and how water affects Earth materials.
- Apply knowledge of the movement and interactions of air masses; convection, conduction, and radiation; and the rotation of Earth (e.g., day-night cycle, Coriolis effect) to the formation of local and global weather patterns.
- Apply knowledge of the engineering design process (e.g., define the problem, design solutions, optimize solutions) and Earth and space science concepts, including their use in technology and scientific applications (e.g., evaluate a design intended to mitigate a natural disaster).
- Apply knowledge of grade-level-appropriate activities and investigations, instructional resources and technologies, and assessment methods for teaching students how to use basic concepts, materials, tools, and scientific practices in Earth and space science; and to make connections between Earth and space science, engineering, other learning areas, and daily life.
0008—Understand the disciplinary core ideas of environmental science.
For example:
- Analyze energy flow, nutrient cycling, and matter transfer in ecosystems (e.g., food webs, biogeochemical cycles), including the roles of photosynthesis, respiration, and decomposition.
- Demonstrate knowledge of abiotic and biotic components of various types of ecosystems; interrelationships within and among ecosystems; and factors that affect population types, sizes, and carrying capacities in ecosystems (e.g., availability of resources, predation, competition, disease).
- Demonstrate understanding of the coevolution of Earth's systems and life on Earth (e.g., production of oxygen by early photosynthetic organisms, formation of soil through microbial action).
- Analyze how changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations and how natural and human-caused factors affect biodiversity in different types and scales of ecosystems.
- Demonstrate knowledge of renewable and nonrenewable natural resources, including energy; the costs and environmental impacts of extracting natural resources; and how sustainable practices are used to minimize environmental damages and maintain access to renewable resources.
- Recognize the causes of natural hazards (e.g., earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, droughts, floods, hurricanes), their impact on human societies and infrastructure, and how human activities can affect the frequency and severity of natural hazards (e.g., climate change increasing droughts and hurricanes).
- Demonstrate knowledge of short-term (e.g., greenhouse effect, ocean acidification, burning of fossil fuels, volcanic eruptions), intermediate (e.g., solar cycles), and long-term (e.g., changes in the tilt of Earth's axis, changes in Earth's orbit) factors that affect Earth's climate.
- Analyze the various ways that humans affect Earth's systems (e.g., land use patterns, global climate change, water and air pollution, habitat destruction) and engineering strategies for mitigating and reversing human-caused adverse impacts on the environment.
- Demonstrate understanding of societal, economic, and cultural influences on the environmental decision-making process and the potential and actual impacts of local, state, national, and global policies on environmental issues.
- Apply knowledge of the engineering design process (e.g., define the problem, design solutions, optimize solutions) and environmental science concepts, including their use in technology and scientific applications (e.g., designing an efficient composting system, creating a soil erosion barrier).
- Apply knowledge of grade-level-appropriate activities and investigations, instructional resources and technologies, and assessment methods for teaching students how to use basic concepts, materials, tools, and scientific practices in environmental science; and to make connections between environmental science, engineering, other learning areas, and daily life.
Subarea 3—Physics Skills, Motion, Forces, and Waves
0009—Understand skills required to practice physics.
For example:
- Demonstrate knowledge of fundamental physical quantities, concepts of measurement (e.g., precision, significant digits), and the International System of Units (SI), including unit conversions.
- Demonstrate knowledge of vector and scalar quantities, how vectors can be used to represent directional quantities (e.g., displacement, velocity), and how vectors can be added to find resultants (e.g., net force, total momentum) in two and three dimensions.
- Demonstrate knowledge of mathematical concepts, strategies, and procedures necessary for physics investigations and problem solving (e.g., scientific notation, statistical methods, calculus, differential equations).
- Apply knowledge of physics to social, ethical, and environmental issues (e.g., nuclear technologies); and demonstrate knowledge of the applications of physics in related disciplines (e.g., medical imaging, digital communications).
- Demonstrate understanding of the growth of physics knowledge from a historical perspective.
- Apply pedagogical knowledge of grade-level-appropriate activities and investigations, instructional resources and technologies, safety considerations, and assessment methods for teaching students how to use basic concepts, materials, tools, and scientific practices in physics skills; and to make connections between physics skills, engineering, other learning areas, and daily life.
0010—Understand kinematics and mechanics.
For example:
- Compare and contrast multiple representations of the motion of a particle or object in one dimension (e.g., displacement vs. time, acceleration vs. time graphs, equations).
- Apply knowledge of kinematic equations to solve problems involving displacement, velocity, time, and constant acceleration in one and two dimensions (e.g., projectile motion).
- Apply knowledge of contact forces (e.g., normal, frictional) and forces at a distance (e.g., gravitational, magnetic).
- Apply knowledge of basic forces, free-body diagrams, and Newton's third law.
- Apply Newton's second law to solve problems using algebra and trigonometry.
- Apply Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation to interactions between two different objects, and solve problems involving planetary motion (e.g., Kepler's laws).
- Apply knowledge of rotational kinematics and uniform circular motion to solve problems involving angular velocity, angular and centripetal acceleration, and centripetal force.
- Apply knowledge of rigid bodies to solve problems involving net torques and moments of inertia in static and dynamic systems.
- Apply pedagogical knowledge of grade-level-appropriate activities and investigations, instructional resources and technologies, safety considerations, and assessment methods for teaching students how to use basic concepts, materials, tools, and scientific practices in kinematics and mechanics; and to make connections between kinematics and mechanics, engineering, other learning areas, and daily life.
0011—Understand momentum, work, and energy.
For example:
- Apply knowledge of momentum and the impulse-momentum theorem to solve problems involving momentum changes and impact forces in closed systems.
- Apply knowledge of momentum conservation in a system with no net external forces acting to solve problems involving elastic collisions, inelastic collisions, and systems breaking apart.
- Demonstrate knowledge of energy as a quantitative property of a closed system that depends on the motion and interactions of matter and electromagnetic radiation within that system.
- Apply knowledge of the multiple forms of energy (e.g., kinetic, potential, electromagnetic) to show how energy is converted when work is done, including energy that leaves a system.
- Apply knowledge of the conservation of mechanical energy in a system to analyze changes in potential and kinetic energies of moving objects, including those undergoing simple harmonic motion.
- Apply knowledge of power as the rate at which work is done to solve problems involving energy transfer and to compare the power dissipation of various devices.
- Apply knowledge of rotational kinetic energy and the conservation of angular momentum to analyze and predict the motion of rotating bodies.
- Apply pedagogical knowledge of grade-level-appropriate activities and investigations, instructional resources and technologies, safety considerations, and assessment methods for teaching students how to use basic concepts, materials, tools, and scientific practices in the study of momentum, minimizing and maximizing impact forces, work, and energy; and to make connections between momentum, work, energy, engineering, other learning areas, and daily life.
0012—Understand properties of mechanical and electromagnetic waves.
For example:
- Apply knowledge of simple harmonic motion, and analyze systems undergoing simple harmonic motion (e.g., simple pendulum, mass on a spring).
- Apply knowledge of wave characteristics (e.g., speed, frequency, wavelength, amplitude), distinguish between transverse and longitudinal waves, and explain how waves transfer energy and momentum within a medium.
- Apply knowledge of wave interactions and changes in media to solve problems involving wave interference, superposition, reflection, and refraction for wave pulses, traveling waves, and standing waves.
- Demonstrate knowledge of wave diffraction, polarization, and the Doppler effect in reference to amplitude and frequency.
- Apply knowledge of wave phenomena to analyze the nature, production, and transmission of sound waves in various media, including resonance and harmonics on strings and in tubes, and calculations of sound intensity, power, and intensity level on the decibel scale.
- Apply pedagogical knowledge of grade-level-appropriate activities and investigations, instructional resources and technologies, safety considerations, and assessment methods for teaching students how to use basic concepts, materials, tools, and scientific practices in the study of waves; and to make connections between the study of waves, engineering, digital communications, other learning areas, and daily life.
Subarea 4—Thermodynamics, Electromagnetism, and Modern Physics
0013—Understand the principles of thermodynamics.
For example:
- Apply knowledge of the first law of thermodynamics to show that the total energy of an isolated system remains constant and that the internal energy of a closed system depends on the heat applied to it and the work done.
- Apply knowledge of the second law of thermodynamics to show that when substances at different temperatures are combined in an isolated system, entropy increases and a more uniform energy distribution results.
- Demonstrate knowledge of kinetic-molecular theory and Brownian motion to describe the thermal properties and behaviors of solids, liquids, and gases.
- Apply knowledge of thermodynamics to solve problems involving temperature changes, heat, specific heat capacity, latent heat, and phase changes.
- Apply pedagogical knowledge of grade-level-appropriate activities and investigations, instructional resources and technologies, safety considerations, and assessment methods for teaching students how to use basic concepts, materials, tools, and scientific practices in thermodynamics; and to make connections between thermodynamics, engineering, other learning areas, and daily life.
0014—Understand static and moving electric charges.
For example:
- Apply knowledge of Coulomb's law to predict the effects of attractive and repulsive electrostatic forces between charges and within charge distributions.
- Demonstrate knowledge of methods by which objects can gain, lose, or redistribute charge (e.g., conduction, induction, polarization) through the use of electroscopes and multimeters.
- Apply knowledge of moving electric charges to calculate current.
- Apply knowledge of circuit diagrams, basic circuit elements, Kirchhoff's laws, and Ohm's law and calculate power, current, resistance, and voltage in series and parallel DC circuits.
- Demonstrate knowledge of simple series AC circuits (e.g., frequency, root-mean-square, peak values).
- Apply knowledge of electric fields and electric potentials to predict the motion of electric charges and interpret the relationship between work and electric potential.
- Apply pedagogical knowledge of grade-level-appropriate activities and investigations, instructional resources and technologies, safety considerations, and assessment methods for teaching students how to use basic concepts, materials, tools, and scientific practices in electricity; and to make connections between electricity, engineering, other learning areas, and daily life.
0015—Understand magnetism and electromagnetic radiation.
For example:
- Apply knowledge of the structure and properties of ferromagnetic materials, including how they are impacted by magnetic fields and how they can produce their own magnetic fields.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the characteristics of magnetic fields produced by straight and coiled current-carrying conductors.
- Apply knowledge of right-hand rules to analyze the direction of forces on current-carrying conductors and on charged particles moving in magnetic fields.
- Apply knowledge of the torque on a current-carrying coil in a magnetic field (e.g., electric motors, generators).
- Demonstrate knowledge of the structure and function of electric motors, electric generators, and transformers using Faraday's law of induction.
- Apply knowledge of the connections between electricity and magnetism, the production and transmission of electromagnetic waves (e.g., digital communications), and the characteristics of the electromagnetic spectrum.
- Apply knowledge of the ray model of light, including Snell's law, and the thin lens equation to analyze setups of lenses, fiber optics, mirrors, and opaque objects; predict images produced; and calculate critical angles.
- Apply knowledge of how electromagnetic radiation can be modeled as a wave of changing electric and magnetic fields or as photons to explain various phenomena (e.g., interference, diffraction, interactions of light and matter).
- Apply pedagogical knowledge of grade-level-appropriate activities and investigations, instructional resources and technologies, safety considerations, and assessment methods for teaching students how to use basic concepts, materials, tools, and scientific practices in magnetism and electromagnetic radiation; and to make connections between magnetism and electromagnetic radiation (e.g., the effects of electromagnetic radiation when absorbed by matter), engineering, other learning areas, and daily life.
0016—Understand basic concepts of modern physics.
For example:
- Demonstrate knowledge of the quantum mechanical model of the hydrogen atom, including discrete energy levels and atomic orbitals.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the basic principles of quantum mechanics (e.g., wave-particle duality, probability amplitudes, the uncertainty principle) and the photoelectric effect.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the basic principles of special relativity (e.g., invariance of the speed of light, mass-energy equivalence, time dilation, length contraction).
- Demonstrate knowledge of the properties of the four fundamental forces (e.g., gravitational force on the macro scale; strong, weak, and electromagnetic forces on the atomic scale).
- Analyze and interpret nuclear fission and fusion reactions, including radiation emitted (e.g., alpha particles, gamma rays), the concept of half-life, and the conservation of the total number of protons plus neutrons.
- Apply pedagogical knowledge of grade-level-appropriate activities and investigations (e.g., double slit experiment), instructional resources and technologies, safety considerations, and assessment methods for teaching students how to use basic concepts, materials, tools, and scientific practices in modern physics; and to make connections between modern physics, engineering, other learning areas, and daily life.