Science and Engineering Practices Quiz

When a science question asks you to 'construct an explanation' for a natural phenomenon, what is the most important thing your response must be based on?

• Information from a single textbook.

• Your personal opinion.

• Scientific evidence and reasoning.

• What the majority of people believe.

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS1-4

NGSS.MS-LS2-4

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What three essential components are needed when you are asked to engage in 'argument from evidence' in science?

• Observation, Data, Graph.

• Question, Hypothesis, Experiment.

• Belief, Debate, Conclusion.

• Claim, Evidence, Reasoning.

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS1-3

NGSS.MS-LS2-4

NGSS.MS-LS4-4

When a science or engineering task asks you to 'evaluate' something (like a claim, evidence, or a design solution), what are you expected to do?

• Judge its merit, validity, or effectiveness based on criteria and evidence.

• Only find flaws or weaknesses within the system or solution using resources.

• Just state whether you agree or disagree.

• Describe it without judgment.

Tags

NGSS.MS-ETS1-2

NGSS.MS-ETS1-3

NGSS.MS-PS3-5

In science, what is the primary purpose of citing evidence from observations, data, or texts?

• To make your answer longer.

• To impress the reader with facts.

• To show you read the provided information.

• To support claims and explanations.

Tags

NGSS.MS-PS3-5

What is the main difference between being asked to 'describe' a phenomenon and being asked to 'explain' it?

• Describe is about listing options, explain is about facts and tradeoffs within a system.

• Describe focuses on observations, explain focuses on causes or mechanisms.

• Describe uses fewer words than explain.

• Describe is for physical science, explain is for life science.

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS4-4

NGSS.MS-PS3-1

Scientists and engineers use models (like diagrams, physical replicas, or computer simulations) for many reasons. According to the Science and Engineering Practices, what is a key purpose of using models?

• To make complex things look pretty.

• To replace real-world experiments.

• To represent ideas, explanations, and predict phenomena.

• To prove that a hypothesis is correct using drawings and other media.

Tags

NGSS.MS-ETS1-4

NGSS.MS-LS2-3

NGSS.MS-PS1-1

When you are asked to 'analyze and interpret data,' what are you primarily looking for?

• Patterns, trends, and relationships within and between datasets.

• Interesting colors or shapes in graphs.

• Errors in measurement.

• Whether the data supports your initial idea.

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS2-1

NGSS.MS-LS4-1

NGSS.MS-PS3-1

You observe that event A and event B often happen at the same time (they are correlated). According to science practices, what must you do to claim that event A causes event B?

• Show many examples where A and B occur together.

• Find empirical evidence that differentiates between correlation and causation by identifying a mechanism.

• Get an expert to agree that A causes B.

• Identify a Crosscutting Concept like 'Patterns.'

Tags

NGSS.HS-PS2-5

NGSS.HS-PS4-3

Identifying patterns in observations or data is important in science because patterns can:

• Only be found in biological systems.

• Guide organization, prompt questions, and be used as evidence.

• Make data sets look organized.

• Prove a hypothesis without further testing.

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS4-1

Why is it important in science to consider the 'scale' at which a phenomenon is observed (e.g., looking at a single cell vs. a whole organism)?

• Different scales require different types of measurements (metric vs. imperial).

• The observed function or properties of a system can change with scale.

• Scientists just like looking at different sizes.

• It helps determine the cost of research.

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS1-2

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