SEP & CCC

Content for Subtest-1 (215)

Official Test Guide

1.  SCIENTIFIC PRACTICES, ENGINEERING, CROSSCUTTING CONCEPTS 

1.1 Understand scientific practices. 

 a. Demonstrate knowledge of how to ask questions that can be addressed by scientific  investigation, help further understanding of observed phenomena, and help clarify scientific  explanations and relationships.  

 b. Apply knowledge of the development of important scientific ideas and models over time  and of how history shows that evaluating a model's merits and limitations leads to its  improvement.  

 c. Apply knowledge of planning and conducting scientific investigations, including safety  considerations and the use of appropriate tools and technology.  

 d. Apply modeling and the mathematical concepts of statistics and probability to the analysis  and interpretation of data, including analysis of errors and their origins.  

 e. Demonstrate the ability to analyze scientific data and information and draw appropriate and  logical conclusions.  

 f. Use mathematics (e.g., dimensional analysis, statistics, proportional thinking) and  computational thinking to represent and solve scientific problems and to assess scientific  simulations.  

 g. Demonstrate the ability to construct and analyze scientific explanations.   h. Demonstrate the ability to evaluate scientific arguments in terms of their supporting  evidence and reasoning.  

 i. Demonstrate knowledge of the ability to obtain, evaluate, interpret, and communicate  scientific information (e.g., determining central ideas, integrating information from multiple  sources, evaluating the validity of claims, using multiple formats to communicate scientific  results).  

1.2 Understand engineering practices, design, and applications. 

 a. Apply knowledge of engineering practices to define problems, determine specifications of  designed systems, and identify constraints.  

 b. Evaluate design solutions in terms of their scientific and engineering constraints and the  environmental, social, and cultural impacts of these solutions.  

 c. Apply knowledge of the roles of models (e.g., mathematical, physical, computer  simulations) in the engineering design process.  

 d. Demonstrate knowledge of the process used to optimize a design solution (e.g., prioritizing  criteria, refining a design due to test results).  

 e. Apply knowledge of the interdependence of science, engineering, and technology (e.g., in  agriculture, health care, and communications).  

 f. Demonstrate knowledge of the influence of engineering, technology, and science on society  and the natural world (e.g., in land use, transportation, and energy production).  

1.3 Understand crosscutting concepts among the sciences and engineering. 

 a. Apply knowledge of patterns characteristic of natural phenomena and engineered systems.  

 b. Analyze cause-and-effect relationships and their mechanisms in natural phenomena and  engineered systems.  

 c. Apply knowledge of the concepts of scale, proportion, and quantity to describe and  compare natural and engineered systems.  

 d. Apply knowledge of how systems are defined and studied and of how system models are  used to make predictions.  

 e. Apply knowledge of the flow, cycling, and conservation of energy and matter to analyze  natural and engineered systems.  

 f. Analyze the relationship between structure and function in natural and engineered systems.   

g. Analyze the factors contributing to stability and change in systems (e.g., static and dynamic  equilibrium, feedback) and the rates at which systems change.