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Common Core LiteracyGrades 6–8Science & Technical

RST.6-8.3: Follow a Multistep Lab Procedure

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.6-8.3 · Cluster: Key Ideas and Details.

All 29 Grades 6–8 Literacy Standards

The Official Wording

Follow precisely a multistep procedure when carrying out experiments, taking measurements, or performing technical tasks.

Common Core State Standards, Grades 6-8, Reading: Science & Technical Subjects · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026

What RST.6-8.3 Means in Plain English

Students in grades 6 to 8 carry out a lab procedure, a measurement or a shop task exactly as the directions say, in order. Finding a rock’s density means reading the meniscus at eye level, sliding the rock in gently and averaging three trials.

Fifth graders (RI.5.3) explained how ideas and events in a science or technical text relate. This strand, which begins in grade 6, turns that reading into doing: the text is a set of directions. In ninth and tenth grade (RST.9-10.3) procedures get more complex and add special cases.

RST.6-8.3 I Can Statements

  • I can follow each step of a lab procedure in order.
  • I can explain why a step is written the way it is.
  • I can tell how a skipped step would change my data.

RST.6-8.3 Worked Example

Every step in this procedure has a reason, and the weak answer blames carelessness instead of finding the two steps the group skipped.

Read the Story
Finding the density of a small rock. 1. Zero the digital balance, set the dry rock on it, and record its mass in grams.2. Pour about 50 mL of water into a 100 mL graduated cylinder. Read the volume at the bottom of the curved surface, the meniscus, with your eyes level with it, and record it.3. Tilt the cylinder and let the rock slide gently down the side. Dropping it straight in can splash water out or crack the glass.4. Read and record the new water level the same way. The rock’s volume is the new level minus the starting level, and 1 mL equals 1 cubic centimeter.5. Repeat steps 2 to 4 twice more and average the three volumes. Divide the mass by the average volume to get density in grams per cubic centimeter.
A short passage written for this page.
Question: Mara’s group got a density of 3.4 grams per cubic centimeter for a granite rock that should be about 2.7. They dropped the rock straight into the cylinder and measured its volume only once. Which steps did they not follow, and how did each one affect the result?
Not Yet“They should have been more careful. Rocks are heavy, so they probably weighed it wrong.”It blames carelessness in general and guesses at the balance, which the group used correctly, instead of naming steps 3 and 5 and tracing how each one changed the numbers.
Meets the Standard“They skipped step 3 by dropping the rock straight in. That can splash water out, so the new level reads too low and the rock’s volume comes out too small. Dividing the mass by a volume that is too small makes the density too big, which fits 3.4 instead of 2.7. They also skipped the repeats in step 5. With three trials, one splashed reading would have stood out from the other two, and the average would have been closer to the real volume.”It names the exact steps by number, follows the error through the arithmetic in the right direction, and explains what the repeated trials are there to catch.
Question Stems to Use
Which step did you just finish, and what comes next?What does this step tell you to do that would be easy to skip?Why does the procedure say to do it this way?If you skip this step, which number in your data changes, and which way?Where does the procedure tell you to record something?

Common Mistakes with RST.6-8.3

Starting before reading to the end

Dropping the rock in before recording the starting water level

Try this: Have students read the whole procedure before touching equipment, then check off each numbered step as they finish it.

Treating the how-words as optional

Dropping the rock straight in because sliding it down the side seemed fussy

Try this: Ask “Why does it say to do it this way?” for each step with a how-word, like gently, level or twice.

Dropping the repeats

One trial recorded, steps 2 to 4 never repeated

Try this: Build the data table with three trial rows before the lab, so an empty row shows a skipped repeat at a glance.

Where RST.6-8.3 Fits

Comes BeforeRI.5.3Explain how ideas or events in a science or technical text relate, based on specific information in it.
AlongsideWHST.6-8.2Write explanations of scientific procedures and experiments, with the steps in order and precise terms.6.RP.2Understand a unit rate, like the grams per cubic centimeter the procedure ends with.
Comes NextRST.9-10.3Follow a complex multistep procedure precisely, including the special cases and exceptions the text defines.

Practice RST.6-8.3

Quick Check

  1. Why should you slide the rock down the side of the cylinder?
  2. How do you find the rock’s volume?
  3. Where do you read the water level, and from what angle?

RST.6-8.3: Other Names

RST.6-8.3CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.6-8.3

Common Core State Standards © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved. Official wording from the Common Core State Standards PDFs at corestandards.org, last checked October 14, 2026. The explanation, I can statements, example, mistakes and practice on this page are EMStudio’s own, written beside the official wording. They are not part of the standard.