Exploring Our Fluid Earth

Content aligned with middle school PS4

Content aligned with high school PS4

In middle school, students develop an understanding of the disciplinary core ideas in the physical science domain. The middle school performance expectations build on the elementary performance expectations and allow students to explain concepts that are important not only to physical science, but also to life science and the earth and space sciences. In PS4: Waves and Their Applications in Technologies for Information Transfer, performance expectations allow students to demonstrate an understanding of wave properties and behaviors of and the use of waves to send digital information.

In high school, students continue to develop and refine their understanding of physical science concepts. The high school performance expectations are meant to expand on the middle school performance expectations. The high school performance expectations cover fundamental concepts of chemistry and physics, while leaving room for more expanded and in-depth study in upper level high school courses. As in middle school, physical sciences concepts are also important for understanding life and Earth and space sciences. Performance expectations in high school PS4: Waves and Their Applications in Technologies for Information Transfer require students to demonstrate an understanding of how waves transfer energy and send and store information. By the end of high school, students should be able to demonstrate a quantitative understanding of physical and electromagnetic waves through a variety of models.