High School Science - Chemistry Year at a Glance

Year at a Glance

The science standards for high science school build upon the foundation for students to work as scientists by asking testable questions, collecting and analyzing different types of evidence, and by providing rationale for their interpretations through reasoning and/or argumentation. Mastery of these standards will result in students deepening their understanding of science through an application and development of scientific knowledge to the solution of practical problems.

Physical Science: Students studying physical science continue to develop their understanding of the four core ideas in the discipline. These ideas include the most fundamental concepts from chemistry and physics, but are intended to leave room for expanded study in upper-level high school courses. The high school evidence outcomes in Physical Science build on the middle school ideas and skills and allow high school students to explain more in-depth phenomena central not only to the physical sciences, but to life and earth and space sciences as well. Students will study content across the following core ideas: (1) Structure and Properties of Matter, (2) Chemical Reactions, (3) Forces and Interactions, (4) Energy, and (5) Waves and Electromagnetic Energy. Students may encounter these standards across a variety of courses, including but not limited to Chemistry and Physics.

Teacher Resources

Storyline Pages

Green Chemistry

Green chemistry is the design of chemical products and processes that reduce and/or eliminate the use or generation of hazardous substances. This approach requires an open and interdisciplinary view of material and product design, applying the principle that it is better to consider waste and hazard prevention options during the design and development phase, rather than disposing, treating and handling waste and hazardous chemicals after a process or material has been developed.

Expectations for Students in Physical Science

Understand that the sub-atomic structural model and interactions between electric charges at the atomic scale can be used to explain the structure and interactions of matter.
Recognize that chemical processes, their rates, their outcomes, and whether or not energy is stored or released can be understood in terms of collisions of molecules, rearrangement of atoms, and changes in energy as determined by the properties of elements involved.
Analyze how strong nuclear interaction in an atom provides the primary force that holds nuclei together. Nuclear processes including fusion, fission, and radioactive decay of unstable nuclei involve changes in nuclear binding energies.
Explain how Newton’s second law and the conservation of momentum can be used to predict changes in the motion of macroscopic objects.
Recognize that Forces at a distance are explained by fields that can transfer energy and can be described in terms of the arrangement and properties of the interacting objects and the distance between them.
Recognize that energy is a quantitative property of a system that depends on the motion and interactions of matter and radiation within that system.
Understand that energy cannot be created or destroyed, but it can be transported from one place to another and transferred between systems, and that although energy cannot be destroyed, it can be converted to less useful forms as it is captured, stored and transferred.
Explain how force fields (gravitational, electric, and magnetic) contain energy and can transmit energy across space from one object to another.
Explain how waves have characteristic properties and behaviors, and understand that both an electromagnetic wave model and a photon model explain features of electromagnetic radiation broadly and describe common applications of electromagnetic radiation.
Understand how multiple technologies that are part of everyday experiences are based on waves and their interactions with matter

When Studying Physical Science You May Find Students:

Using the periodic table as a model to predict the relative properties of elements based on the patterns of electrons in the outermost energy levels of atoms.
Constructing and revising an explanation for the outcome of a simple chemical reaction based on the outermost electron states of atoms, trends in the periodic table, and knowledge of the patterns of chemical properties.
Refining the design of a chemical system by specifying a change in conditions that would produce increased amounts of products at equilibrium.
Developing models to illustrate the changes in the composition of the nucleus of the atom and the energy released during the processes of fission, fusion, and radioactive decay.
Applying scientific and engineering ideas to design, evaluate, and refine a device that minimizes the force on a macroscopic object during a collision.
Planning and conducting an investigation to provide evidence that an electric current can produce a magnetic field and that a changing magnetic field can produce an electric current.
Creating a computational model to calculate the change in the energy of one component in a system when the change in energy of the other component(s) and energy flows in and out of the system are known.
Developing and using a model of two objects interacting through electric or magnetic fields to illustrate the forces between objects and the changes in energy of the objects due to the interaction.
Using mathematical representations to support a claim regarding relationships among the frequency, wavelength, and speed of waves traveling in various media.
Communicating technical information about how some technological devices use the principles of wave behavior and wave interactions with matter to transmit and capture information and energy.

Experience Chemistry: Storyline Overviews

Storyline 1: Atoms, Elements and Molecules

Investigation 1 Atomic Structure: What Causes the colors in a firework display?

Students relate the properties of atoms to the differences in mineral properties, and the atomic emission spectra of elements to light emitted by fireworks.

Investigation 2 The Periodic Table: Why are elements in pure form so rare?

Students explain periodic trends of elements in relation to the differences in minerals.

Investigation 3 Chemical Bonding: Why do gems have different properties than metals?

Students explain how differences in bonding produce differences in properties of gems and metals and apply the knowledge to explain how minerals are distinguished from one another.

Storyline 2: Understanding Chemical Reactions

Investigation 4 Physical Properties of Materials: How do we design materials for a specific function?

Students identify properties of different states of matter and use this to better produce materials and foods.

Investigation 5 Chemical Quantities: Why do we quantify matter in different ways?

Students use their knowledge of molar and mass relationships to explain how to quantify different types of matter and to apply these calculations to producing better foods.

Investigation 6 Chemical Reactions: How is energy obtained from chemical reactions?

Students apply this knowledge while explaining chemical reactions in food and how to produce better foods.

Investigation 7 Stoichiometry: What can make a recipe fail?

Students apply knowledge of limiting and excess reagents to explain why a recipe fails. They also explain limiting and excess ingredients in foods.

Investigation 8 Thermochemistry: Why do you get hot when you exercise?

Students use knowledge of system enthalpy to explain why we get hot when we exercise. They further apply this to enthalpy of foods and how to change it.

Storyline 3: Understanding Chemical Reactions

Investigation 9 The Behavior of Gases: What causes the Santa Ana winds?

Students develop the ability to analyze and model the relationships between the pressure, temperatures, and volume of a gas, and the number of particles. They apply that information to explain what causes the Santa Ana winds.

Investigation 10 Weather and Climate: What is causing drought in California?

Students identify severe weather and evaporation feedbacks and use this to explain the cause of drought. They then apply this to why there is an increase in extreme weather events.

Investigation 11 Global Climate Change: What is causing an increase in floods?

Students use the greenhouse effect and climate models to explain the cause of an increase in floods. They apply this knowledge to an increase in other extreme weather events.

Storyline 4: The Dynamic of Chemical Reactions and Ocean Acidification

Investigation 12 Reaction Rates and Equilibrium: How do limestone caves form?

Investigation 13 Acid-Base Equilibria: How does acid rain impact the environment?

Students use reaction rates and energy diagrams to explain how limestone caves form. They apply this toward explaining reactions that cause ocean acidification.

Investigation 14 Ocean Acidification: What is happening to the world's coral reefs?

Students use acid-base reactions to explain how acid rain impacts the environment. They apply this knowledge towards explaining ocean acidification.

Storyline 5: Industrial Applications

Investigation 15 Oxidation-Reducation Reactions: How do batteries store energy?

Students relate their knowledge of the relationship of redox reactions to the transformation of potential energy into electrical energy.

Investigation 16 Organic Chemistry: How is energy stored in food?

Students investigate how the saturation of carbon in each food molecule type and the kinds of functional groups in the molecule can help predict the amount of energy the molecule stores

Investigation 17 Nuclear Processes: What gives robots enough energy to explore Mars for many years? Students use knowledge of radioactive processes and half-lives to explain how nuclear energy can power the Mars rover for many years.

Investigation 18 Green Chemistry: Can algae be used as a renewable energy source? Students make connections between green chemistry and technology to consider the use of algae as a renewable energy source.

Multilingual Learner Language Expectations

High School Language Expectations

High School Science Language Expectations

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It is always a good reminder for both students and teachers, that we are all scientist! Below are some resources to share with your students about what a scientist looks like, what a scientist does and the importance of contributing to the world's collective science knowledge. The world needs science, and science needs YOU!

The Stories & Science of Real World Scientist

An interactive for inclusive Science and STEM education, this project aims to give young students real-life STEM role models.

Project Overview - Project Home Page

Science & STEM Careers Portal - Explore Hundreds of STEM Fields

Encourage students to prepare for their future career success with Career Profile videos and student activations focusing on the STEM skills, knowledge, and interests needed to pursue exciting careers in the STEM industry. It’s never too early for students to plan their career path--help inspire the future workforce today. Explore More

IF/THEN STEM Initiative

The IF/THEN Initiative is committed to showing young girls exactly what a scientist looks like. IF/THEN seeks to further advance women in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) by empowering current innovators and inspiring the next generation of pioneers. Explore More

DoDSTEM

Scientists and engineers work across a wide range of career pathways throughout the STEM fields including biology, chemistry, physics, environmental science, engineering, mathematics, robotics, computer science and more. Explore the different types of STEM careers here and see what kind of opportunities might ignite your curiosity! Select a Topic to learn about STEM careers