5-PS1-3 Make observations and measurements to identify materials based on their properties.
Clarification Statement: Examples of materials to be identified could include baking soda and other powders, metals, minerals, and liquids. Examples of properties could include color, hardness, reflectivity, electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, response to magnetic forces, and solubility; density is not intended as an identifiable property.
Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include density or distinguishing mass and weight.
This resource is explicitly designed to build towards this performance expectation.
Comments about Including the Performance Expectation
The activity describes students making observations of several powders and using the properties to identify the powders. However, the article doesn’t include any description of making measurments during the activity. A focusing or driving question might be a good start to the instructional sequence explained in the article. The practice of this Performance Expectation is implicitly identified many times throughout the article