Mississippi Science P.3.5.3
The Standard
- P.3.5
- Students will demonstrate an understanding of the physical properties of matter to explain why matter can change states between a solid, liquid, or gas dependent upon the addition or removal of heat.
Plan and conduct investigations that particles speed up or slow down with addition or removal of heat.
2026 Mississippi College- and Career-Readiness Standards for Science · Organization of Matter and Chemical Interactions
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students plan and run a fair test with warm and cool water. They observe how food coloring spreads and use what they see to explain how adding or removing heat changes particle motion.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student uses the same amount of water and one drop of coloring in each cup, changing only the temperature. They record what happens and explain that warming speeds particle motion while cooling slows it.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think particles get bigger when heated, rather than move faster. They may think particles stop moving when cooled, or that stirring one cup still makes the test fair.
How to Assess It
- Give pairs equal cups of warm and cool water and food coloring. Have them name what must stay the same, add one drop to each without stirring, then write what they saw and what it suggests about particle motion.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Put one drop of food coloring in equal cups of warm and cool water; have pairs compare how far the color spreads in 30 seconds.
Ask, 'What happens to particle motion as a mug of warm water cools, and do the particles stop moving?'
Sort cards labeled 'ice melting,' 'water freezing,' 'soup cooling,' and 'water warming' into faster or slower particle motion.
Measure warm water in a mug every two minutes as it cools, then sketch particle motion at the first and last readings.
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Printable P.3.5.3 Worksheet
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Related Standards
- PHY.3.6
Enrichment: Design, conduct, and communicate investigations that explore how temperature and thermal energy relate to molecular motion and states of matter.
- P.4.6A.2
Plan and conduct scientific investigations to classify different materials as either an insulator or conductor of electricity.
- P.3.5.1
Plan and conduct scientific investigations to determine how changes in heat (i.e., an increase or decrease) change matter from one state to another (e.g., melti...
- P.5.6.4
Plan and conduct scientific investigations to test the effects of balanced and unbalanced forces on the speed and/or direction of objects in motion.
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