NGSS HS-LS1-6
The Standard
Construct and revise an explanation based on evidence for how carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen from sugar molecules may combine with other elements to form amino acids and/or other large carbon-based molecules.
Next Generation Science Standards
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students use diagrams, models, or simulations to track atoms as sugar is used to build new carbon-based molecules. They explain the evidence and revise their explanation when a model shows missing or misplaced atoms.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students trace carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms from sugar into new molecules and identify where added elements came from. They cite model evidence and revise explanations that lose atoms or change one element into another.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think sugar atoms turn into energy or change into different elements. They may also assume sugar stays intact, or that every atom in a large molecule comes from sugar.
How to Assess It
- Show a model containing sugar atoms, separate nitrogen atoms, and a carbon-based product. Ask, “Where did each element in the product come from, and what model evidence supports your explanation?”
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give groups colored atom cards, then have them rearrange a sugar model with nitrogen cards into products while preserving every atom shown.
Ask, “How can food become body tissue without atoms turning into new elements?” Students write a claim and cite model evidence.
Run an atom-tracking relay where teams match labeled sugar atoms to their locations in product diagrams and explain each match.
Use a carbon-tracer diagram from a nutrition study to explain how carbon eaten in sugar can appear in growing tissue.
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Printable HS-LS1-6 Worksheet
A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to HS-LS1-6, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.
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