Common Core LiteracyGrades 9–10Science & Technical

RST.9-10.5: How Key Terms and Concepts Relate

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.9-10.5 · Cluster: Craft and Structure.

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The Official Wording

Analyze the structure of the relationships among concepts in a text, including relationships among key terms (e.g., force, friction, reaction force, energy).

Common Core State Standards, Grades 9-10, Reading: Science & Technical Subjects · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026

What RST.9-10.5 Means in Plain English

Ninth and tenth graders map how the key terms in a science text depend on each other, not just what each one means. In a reading on curling, a reaction force starts the stone, friction drains its kinetic energy, and sweeping changes how fast.

In grades 6 to 8 (RST.6-8.5), students analyzed how the major sections of a text fit the whole. Ninth and tenth grade turn to the links among concepts and terms. In grades 11 and 12 (RST.11-12.5), students analyze how a text sorts ideas into categories or hierarchies.

RST.9-10.5 I Can Statements

I can explain how two key terms in a text connect.
I can trace energy from where it starts to where it goes.
I can sketch a concept map from a science reading.

RST.9-10.5 Worked Example

The passage links four physics terms through one curling shot, and the weak answer defines each term without connecting any of them.

Read the Story

To deliver a curling stone, a player crouches in the hack, a rubber foothold set into the ice, and pushes backward against it. The hack pushes the player forward with an equal reaction force, and the player and the stone, about 19 kilograms of granite, slide off together.Once the player lets go, no force pushes the stone forward. It carries kinetic energy, and friction between the ice and the stone’s running band, a ring of polished granite only a few millimeters wide, turns that energy into thermal energy until the stone stops.The ice is not smooth. Before a game, crews spray it with fine droplets that freeze into bumps called pebble, so the stone rides on the tops of the bumps rather than on a flat sheet.Sweeping in front of the stone warms the pebble tops slightly. Less friction means the stone gives up its kinetic energy more slowly, so a well-swept stone can travel a few meters farther and curl less.

A short passage written for this page.

Question: How does the text connect the reaction force, friction and kinetic energy? Explain how each term depends on the others.

Not Yet“The text is about curling and uses physics words. Force is when you push, friction slows things down, and energy is what makes things move. Sweeping helps the stone go farther.”It defines each term on its own, the way a glossary would, and never says how they connect: the reaction force gives the stone its kinetic energy and friction then drains it, which is the whole reason sweeping works.

Meets the Standard“The terms form a chain. The player pushes back on the hack, and the hack’s ‘equal reaction force’ pushes the player and stone forward, so the reaction force is what gives the stone its kinetic energy. After the release, ‘no force pushes the stone forward,’ so what matters is how fast friction turns that kinetic energy into thermal energy. Sweeping changes that link: it warms the pebble tops, and ‘Less friction means the stone gives up its kinetic energy more slowly,’ so it travels farther. Friction is not just the opposite of motion here. It is the one link in the chain the players can control.”It explains each term through its relationship to the others, follows the energy from the push to the stop, and shows why the text builds toward sweeping.

Question Stems to Use

Which term causes which? Draw an arrow between them.Where does the stone’s energy come from, and where does it go?Which force acts after the release, and which one stops acting?How does the last paragraph use the terms defined earlier?Which link in the chain can the players change?

Common Mistakes with RST.9-10.5

Defining terms one at a time

A glossary of force, friction and energy with no arrows between them

Try this: Have students write each relationship as a sentence with a connecting verb, such as gives, drains or reduces, rather than as separate definitions.

Thinking motion needs a force

“The push keeps the stone moving down the ice.”

Try this: Ask students to find the sentence that says which forces act after the release, then redraw their concept map to match it.

Missing why a section comes last

Treating the sweeping paragraph as a fun fact

Try this: Have students explain how the last paragraph depends on terms the earlier paragraphs defined, naming each term it reuses.

Where RST.9-10.5 Fits

Comes BeforeRST.6-8.5Analyze how the major sections of a science text contribute to the whole and to the topic.

AlongsideRI.9-10.5Analyze how particular sentences and paragraphs develop and refine an author’s ideas.WHST.9-10.2Write explanations that make clear connections and distinctions among scientific concepts.

Comes NextRST.11-12.5Analyze how a text sorts information or ideas into categories or hierarchies.

Practice RST.9-10.5

Jeopardy Game MakerFree ToolBuild a review game with one category per key term, and write clues that ask how each term changes another, not just what it means.Physics termsGrades 9-10How terms connect

Make a Game

Quick Check

What gives the stone its forward motion at the start?
The hack’s reaction force: the player pushes back on the hack, and the hack pushes the player and stone forward.
What happens to the stone’s kinetic energy as it slides?
Friction between the ice and the running band turns it into thermal energy until the stone stops.
Why does sweeping make a stone travel farther?
It warms the pebble tops, which lowers friction, so the stone gives up its kinetic energy more slowly.

RST.9-10.5: Other Names

RST.9-10.5CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.9-10.5