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Science Standards

Middle School Science Standards (NGSS*)

All 59 middle school performance expectations of the Next Generation Science Standards, each explained in plain English. The official wording of each one is a click away.

59 standards

Physical Science

19 standards
Structure and Properties of Matter
MS-PS1-1
Build models, like ball-and-stick sets or drawings, that show which atoms make up simple molecules such as ammonia and repeating structures such as salt crystals.
Official wording
Develop models to describe the atomic composition of simple molecules and extended structures.
MS-PS1-3
Research how chemical processes turn natural resources into synthetic materials, like medicines or fuels, and describe how those materials affect society.
Official wording
Gather and make sense of information to describe that synthetic materials come from natural resources and impact society.
MS-PS1-4
Model how adding or removing heat changes how fast particles move, the temperature and the state of a substance, like ice melting and water boiling.
Official wording
Develop a model that predicts and describes changes in particle motion, temperature, and state of a pure substance when thermal energy is added or removed.
Chemical Reactions
MS-PS1-2
Analyze data on properties such as density or melting point before and after substances mix to tell whether a chemical reaction happened, like burning steel wool.
Official wording
Analyze and interpret data on the properties of substances before and after the substances interact to determine if a chemical reaction has occurred.
MS-PS1-5
Use a model of atoms to show that a chemical reaction rearranges atoms without adding or losing any, so the total mass stays the same.
Official wording
Develop and use a model to describe how the total number of atoms does not change in a chemical reaction and thus mass is conserved.
MS-PS1-6
Design, build, test and improve a device that heats up or cools down using a chemical reaction, like a hand warmer or a cold pack.
Official wording
Undertake a design project to construct, test, and modify a device that either releases or absorbs thermal energy by chemical processes.
Forces and Interactions
MS-PS2-1
Design a fix for a crash between two moving objects using Newton's third law, like a bumper that protects a car when it hits another car.
Official wording
Apply Newton’s Third Law to design a solution to a problem involving the motion of two colliding objects.
MS-PS2-2
Plan an investigation showing that how an object's motion changes depends on the total force acting on it and on its mass, like pushing full and empty carts.
Official wording
Plan an investigation to provide evidence that the change in an object’s motion depends on the sum of the forces on the object and the mass of the object.
MS-PS2-3
Ask questions about data to find out what makes electric and magnetic forces stronger or weaker, like the number of wire turns in an electromagnet.
Official wording
Ask questions about data to determine the factors that affect the strength of electric and magnetic forces.
MS-PS2-4
Argue from evidence that gravity always pulls objects toward each other and grows stronger when the objects have more mass, like the sun holding planets in orbit.
Official wording
Construct and present arguments using evidence to support the claim that gravitational interactions are attractive and depend on the masses of interacting objects.
MS-PS2-5
Run and critique an investigation showing that objects can push or pull each other without touching through fields, like magnets or charged strips of tape.
Official wording
Conduct an investigation and evaluate the experimental design to provide evidence that fields exist between objects exerting forces on each other even though the objects are not in contact.
Energy
MS-PS3-1
Graph and interpret data showing how kinetic energy depends on an object's mass and on its speed, like a bike moving fast or slow.
Official wording
Construct and interpret graphical displays of data to describe the relationships of kinetic energy to the mass of an object and to the speed of an object.
MS-PS3-2
Model how stored potential energy changes when objects that pull or push at a distance move closer or farther apart, like magnets or a book lifted higher.
Official wording
Develop a model to describe that when the arrangement of objects interacting at a distance changes, different amounts of potential energy are stored in the system.
MS-PS3-3
Design, build and test a device that keeps heat in or out as well as possible, like an insulated lunch box or a solar cooker.
Official wording
Apply scientific principles to design, construct, and test a device that either minimizes or maximizes thermal energy transfer.
MS-PS3-4
Plan an investigation into how the energy transferred to a sample relates to its material, its mass and its change in temperature, like melting ice in warm water.
Official wording
Plan an investigation to determine the relationships among the energy transferred, the type of matter, the mass, and the change in the average kinetic energy of the particles as measured by the temperature of the sample.
MS-PS3-5
Argue from evidence that whenever an object speeds up or slows down, energy has moved into or out of it, like brakes heating up as a bike slows.
Official wording
Construct, use, and present arguments to support the claim that when the kinetic energy of an object changes, energy is transferred to or from the object.
Waves and Electromagnetic Radiation
MS-PS4-1
Use math to describe a simple wave model, showing how a wave's amplitude relates to the energy it carries, like bigger ocean waves hitting harder.
Official wording
Use mathematical representations to describe a simple model for waves that includes how the amplitude of a wave is related to the energy in a wave.
MS-PS4-2
Use a model to show how light and sound waves bounce off, soak into or pass through different materials, like light hitting a mirror, black cloth or glass.
Official wording
Develop and use a model to describe that waves are reflected, absorbed, or transmitted through various materials.
MS-PS4-3
Combine information from sources to argue that digital signals carry information more reliably than analog signals, like light pulses in fiber optic cables.
Official wording
Integrate qualitative scientific and technical information to support the claim that digitized signals are a more reliable way to encode and transmit information than analog signals.

Life Science

21 standards
Structure, Function, and Information Processing
MS-LS1-1
Investigate with tools like microscopes to gather evidence that every living thing is made of cells, whether one cell or many cells of different kinds.
Official wording
Conduct an investigation to provide evidence that living things are made of cells; either one cell or many different numbers and types of cells.
MS-LS1-2
Use a model to explain how a cell works as a whole and how parts like the nucleus, mitochondria, cell membrane and cell wall each do their job.
Official wording
Develop and use a model to describe the function of a cell as a whole and ways the parts of cells contribute to the function.
MS-LS1-3
Argue from evidence that the body is made of systems that work together, with cells forming tissues and tissues forming organs, like the heart and lungs.
Official wording
Use argument supported by evidence for how the body is a system of interacting subsystems composed of groups of cells.
MS-LS1-8
Gather information on how sense receptors react to things like heat or sound and send signals to the brain that trigger a quick response or become memories.
Official wording
Gather and synthesize information that sensory receptors respond to stimuli by sending messages to the brain for immediate behavior or storage as memories.
Matter and Energy in Organisms and Ecosystems
MS-LS1-6
Explain with evidence how photosynthesis moves matter and energy into living things, as plants use sunlight to turn carbon dioxide and water into sugar.
Official wording
Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for the role of photosynthesis in the cycling of matter and flow of energy into and out of organisms.
MS-LS1-7
Model how food molecules are broken apart and rebuilt through chemical reactions in the body, releasing energy and providing material for growth.
Official wording
Develop a model to describe how food is rearranged through chemical reactions forming new molecules that support growth and/or release energy as this matter moves through an organism.
MS-LS2-1
Analyze data to show how the amount of food, water or space affects individual organisms and the size of populations, like deer numbers during a drought.
Official wording
Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for the effects of resource availability on organisms and populations of organisms in an ecosystem.
MS-LS2-3
Model how matter cycles and energy flows between the living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem, like nutrients passing from plants to animals to soil.
Official wording
Develop a model to describe the cycling of matter and flow of energy among living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem.
MS-LS2-4
Argue from evidence that changes to an ecosystem's physical or living parts change its populations, like a new predator or a long dry spell.
Official wording
Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations.
Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems
MS-LS2-2
Explain and predict patterns in how organisms interact, like competition, predation and mutual help, that repeat across very different ecosystems.
Official wording
Construct an explanation that predicts patterns of interactions among organisms across multiple ecosystems.
MS-LS2-5
Compare design solutions for protecting biodiversity and ecosystem services, like clean water or healthy soil, weighing costs, benefits and constraints.
Official wording
Evaluate competing design solutions for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services.
Growth, Development, and Reproduction of Organisms
MS-LS1-4
Argue from evidence how animal behaviors like nest building and plant parts like bright flowers raise the chances that animals and plants reproduce.
Official wording
Use argument based on empirical evidence and scientific reasoning to support an explanation for how characteristic animal behaviors and specialized plant structures affect the probability of successful reproduction of animals and plants respectively.
MS-LS1-5
Use evidence to explain how both environmental factors, like light and water, and genetic factors, like a large cattle breed, affect how organisms grow.
Official wording
Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for how environmental and genetic factors influence the growth of organisms.
MS-LS3-1
Use a model to show how a mutation in a gene can change the protein it makes and turn out harmful, helpful or neutral for the organism.
Official wording
Develop and use a model to describe why structural changes to genes (mutations) located on chromosomes may affect proteins and may result in harmful, beneficial, or neutral effects to the structure and function of the organism.
MS-LS3-2
Use models like Punnett squares to show why asexual reproduction makes identical offspring while sexual reproduction mixes genes from two parents.
Official wording
Develop and use a model to describe why asexual reproduction results in offspring with identical genetic information and sexual reproduction results in offspring with genetic variation.
MS-LS4-5
Research technologies like selective breeding and genetic engineering that change how people shape the traits passed on in plants and animals.
Official wording
Gather and synthesize information about technologies that have changed the way humans influence the inheritance of desired traits in organisms.
Natural Selection and Adaptations
MS-LS4-1
Analyze the fossil record for patterns showing how life forms appeared, diversified, changed and died out, assuming nature's laws never changed.
Official wording
Analyze and interpret data for patterns in the fossil record that document the existence, diversity, extinction, and change of life forms throughout the history of life on Earth under the assumption that natural laws operate today as in the past.
MS-LS4-2
Explain how shared and differing body structures in living and fossil organisms point to how they are related, like bones in a whale fin and a human arm.
Official wording
Apply scientific ideas to construct an explanation for the anatomical similarities and differences among modern organisms and between modern and fossil organisms to infer evolutionary relationships.
MS-LS4-3
Compare pictures of embryos from different species to spot developmental similarities that reveal relationships hidden in the adult forms.
Official wording
Analyze displays of pictorial data to compare patterns of similarities in the embryological development across multiple species to identify relationships not evident in the fully formed anatomy.
MS-LS4-4
Explain with evidence how inherited trait variations in a population help some individuals survive and reproduce in a given environment, like darker moths on sooty trees.
Official wording
Construct an explanation based on evidence that describes how genetic variations of traits in a population increase some individuals’ probability of surviving and reproducing in a specific environment.
MS-LS4-6
Use math like probability and proportions to explain how natural selection can make certain traits more or less common in a population over time.
Official wording
Use mathematical representations to support explanations of how natural selection may lead to increases and decreases of specific traits in populations over time.

Earth and Space Science

15 standards
Space Systems
MS-ESS1-1
Use a model of the Earth, sun and moon to explain repeating patterns like moon phases, solar and lunar eclipses, and the seasons.
Official wording
Develop and use a model of the Earth-sun-moon system to describe the cyclic patterns of lunar phases, eclipses of the sun and moon, and seasons.
MS-ESS1-2
Use a model to show how gravity holds the solar system and the Milky Way together and controls how planets, moons and stars orbit.
Official wording
Develop and use a model to describe the role of gravity in the motions within galaxies and the solar system.
MS-ESS1-3
Analyze data from telescopes and spacecraft to compare the sizes, distances and other scale features of planets, moons and other solar system objects.
Official wording
Analyze and interpret data to determine scale properties of objects in the solar system.
History of Earth
MS-ESS1-4
Use evidence from rock layers and fossils to explain how the geologic time scale puts the major events of Earth's 4.6 billion years in order.
Official wording
Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence from rock strata for how the geologic time scale is used to organize Earth's 4.6-billion-year-old history.
MS-ESS2-2
Explain with evidence how processes like landslides, erosion and plate motion reshape Earth's surface, some in minutes and some over millions of years.
Official wording
Construct an explanation based on evidence for how geoscience processes have changed Earth's surface at varying time and spatial scales.
MS-ESS2-3
Analyze data on matching fossils and rocks, continent shapes and seafloor features to find evidence that plates have moved, like Africa and South America fitting together.
Official wording
Analyze and interpret data on the distribution of fossils and rocks, continental shapes, and seafloor structures to provide evidence of the past plate motions.
Earth's Systems
MS-ESS2-1
Model how Earth's materials cycle through melting, cooling, weathering and settling into new rocks, and how energy from the sun and Earth's interior drives the cycle.
Official wording
Develop a model to describe the cycling of Earth's materials and the flow of energy that drives this process.
MS-ESS2-4
Model how water cycles through Earth's systems, changing state as it evaporates, condenses and falls, driven by sunlight and gravity.
Official wording
Develop a model to describe the cycling of water through Earth's systems driven by energy from the sun and the force of gravity.
MS-ESS3-1
Explain with evidence how past and present geologic processes left minerals, fuels and groundwater unevenly spread, like oil found only in certain rock layers.
Official wording
Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for how the uneven distributions of Earth's mineral, energy, and groundwater resources are the result of past and current geoscience processes.
Weather and Climate
MS-ESS2-5
Collect weather data to show how moving and colliding air masses change the weather, like a cold front bringing a sudden storm and a drop in temperature.
Official wording
Collect data to provide evidence for how the motions and complex interactions of air masses result in changes in weather conditions.
MS-ESS2-6
Use a model to show how uneven heating by the sun and Earth's spin create wind and ocean current patterns that shape regional climates.
Official wording
Develop and use a model to describe how unequal heating and rotation of the Earth cause patterns of atmospheric and oceanic circulation that determine regional climates.
MS-ESS3-5
Ask questions to sort out the evidence for what has made global temperatures rise over the last century, like burning fossil fuels or changes in sunlight.
Official wording
Ask questions to clarify evidence of the factors that have caused the rise in global temperatures over the past century.
Human Impacts
MS-ESS3-2
Analyze data on natural hazards like volcanoes and floods to forecast future events and guide technologies that reduce the damage.
Official wording
Analyze and interpret data on natural hazards to forecast future catastrophic events and inform the development of technologies to mitigate their effects.
MS-ESS3-3
Use science to design and evaluate a way to monitor and shrink a human impact on the environment, like runoff polluting a local stream.
Official wording
Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment.
MS-ESS3-4
Argue from evidence how a growing population and rising use of resources per person affect Earth's systems, like more water and land being used up.
Official wording
Construct an argument supported by evidence for how increases in human population and per-capita consumption of natural resources impact Earth's systems.

Engineering, Technology, and Applications of Science

4 standards
Engineering Design
MS-ETS1-1
Define a design problem's criteria and constraints precisely enough for success, factoring in the science involved and possible effects on people and nature.
Official wording
Define the criteria and constraints of a design problem with sufficient precision to ensure a successful solution, taking into account relevant scientific principles and potential impacts on people and the natural environment that may limit possible solutions.
MS-ETS1-2
Compare design solutions step by step to judge how well each one meets the problem's criteria and constraints, like scoring bridge designs in a table.
Official wording
Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.
MS-ETS1-3
Analyze test data from several design solutions to find the best features of each and combine them into a new, better design.
Official wording
Analyze data from tests to determine similarities and differences among several design solutions to identify the best characteristics of each that can be combined into a new solution to better meet the criteria for success.
MS-ETS1-4
Build a model to test a proposed object, tool or process again and again, using the data to improve it until the design works as well as possible.
Official wording
Develop a model to generate data for iterative testing and modification of a proposed object, tool, or process such that an optimal design can be achieved.

The official document

Official wording from NGSS Lead States. 2013. Next Generation Science Standards: For States, By States. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. The plain-English lines and everything else on this page are EMStudio’s own explanations, written beside the official wording. They are not part of the standards.

*NGSS is a registered trademark of WestEd. Neither WestEd nor the lead states and partners that developed the Next Generation Science Standards were involved in the production of this product, and do not endorse it.