Mississippi Science FSL.3D.5

ScienceGrades 9–12Foundations of Science Literacy

The Standard

FSL.3D: Students will apply scientific literacy and thinking skills to evaluate theoretical models, inferences, and experimental results found in various experimental designs including, but not limited to, those found in sample ACT science passages.

Select and explain why a hypothesis, prediction, or conclusion is, or is not, supported by two or more data presentations or theoretical models.

2026 Mississippi College- and Career-Readiness Standards for Science · Nature of Science

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students check a hypothesis, prediction, or conclusion against at least two data displays or models. They use details from each source to explain whether the claim holds up.
What Mastery Looks Like: A student cites specific values or model features from both sources. They explain when one source supports a claim but another conflicts.
Common Misconceptions: Students may treat one matching graph as proof and ignore a second graph that disagrees. They may mistake a model's prediction for measured data or count two displays of the same results as independent evidence.
How to Assess It: Show a bar graph with low-light plants at 8 cm and high-light plants at 12 cm, plus a second-trial table with low light at 11 cm and high light at 9 cm. Ask: “Does more light always increase growth? Use a number from each display.”

Lesson moves

Roll toy cars across carpet and tile, record distances in two trials, then use a table and dot plot to check a prediction.
Show a rainfall graph and crop-yield table from the same years; ask, “Does higher rainfall always mean higher yield? Cite both displays.”
Give teams a rising-temperature graph and a flat-ice-cover table; award a point when they explain why “warming always shrinks ice cover” fails.
Check hourly rain forecasts in two weather apps; decide whether both support “rain is likely before noon,” citing times and percentages.

Free download

A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to FSL.3D.5, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.

PDF, US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white.

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