Mississippi Science PHS.1.4
The Standard
- PHS.1
- Students will demonstrate an understanding of the nature of matter.
Design and conduct investigations to explore techniques in measurements of mass, volume, length, and temperature.
2026 Mississippi College- and Career-Readiness Standards for Science · Nature of Matter
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students plan how to measure an object's mass, length, and volume and a sample's temperature. They choose tools, take readings, repeat measurements, and record results with units.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Given a rock and water, a student can use a balance, ruler, graduated cylinder, and thermometer to collect measurements. They read the cylinder at eye level and find the rock's volume by subtracting the starting water level from the final level.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may read a graduated cylinder from above or forget to subtract the starting water level. Some confuse mass with volume or leave units off their results.
How to Assess It
- Give pairs a small rock, water, a balance, a ruler, a graduated cylinder, and a thermometer. In ten minutes, have them write a plan and record the rock's mass, longest length, displacement volume, and water temperature with units.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs a metal bolt, balance, ruler, graduated cylinder, water, and thermometer to measure bolt mass, length, displaced volume, and water temperature.
Show two sketches of a graduated cylinder read from different eye levels and ask, “Which reading would you trust, and why?”
Run a tool-matching relay with cards labeled coin mass, pencil length, water volume, and water temperature.
Bring a shipping box and scale; have students measure package length and mass, then check a carrier's size and weight limits.
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Printable PHS.1.4 Worksheet
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Related Standards
- P.5.5A.2
Collect, analyze, and interpret data from measurements of the physical properties of solids, liquids, and gases (e.g., volume, shape, movement, and spacing of p...
- PHS.1.5
Design and conduct an investigation using graphical analysis (e.g., line graph) to determine the density of liquids and/or solids.
- PHS.4.2
Design and conduct investigations to produce evidence that mass is conserved in chemical reactions (e.g., vinegar and baking soda in a Ziploc© bag).
- CHE.1.2
Design and conduct experiments using appropriate measurements, significant figures, graphical analysis to analyze data.
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