South Dakota ELA 9-10.RST.3
The Standard
Analyze a complex multistep procedure when carrying out experiments, taking measurements, or performing technical tasks, attending to special cases or exceptions defined in the text.
South Dakota English Language Arts Standards (2025) · Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students read a multistep lab or technical procedure and carry it out in order. They notice conditions that change the steps and explain what to do when those conditions occur.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student measures an object's volume by recording water levels before and after submerging it. If the object floats, they follow the sinker instructions and remove the sinker's volume from the result.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may skim past an 'if it floats' note and measure an object that is only partly submerged. They may also treat an exception as optional or forget to subtract the sinker's volume.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: 'A cork floats, so the directions say to read the water level with a pebble alone, then with the pebble and cork together. Which reading do you subtract from which, and why?'
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs a graduated cylinder, water, a pebble, and a cork; have them use printed steps to measure each object's volume.
Ask: 'Why measure the pebble alone before measuring the pebble and cork together? What goes wrong if you skip that step?'
Give groups shuffled water-displacement instruction cards; have them order the steps and place the 'if it floats' card where it belongs.
Give students a printer's paper-jam guide; have them mark the removal steps and the alternate steps to follow if the sheet tears.
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Printable 9-10.RST.3 Worksheet
A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to 9-10.RST.3, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.
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Related Standards
- 6-8.RST.3
Read and precisely follow a multistep procedure when carrying out experiments, taking measurements, or performing technical tasks.
- 11-12.RST.3
Analyze a complex multistep procedure when carrying out experiments, taking measurements, or performing technical tasks; analyze the specific results based on e...
- 11-12.RST.2.a
Analyze and evaluate the text’s development of a complex process, phenomenon, or concept.
- 9-10.RST.2.a
Analyze the text’s development of a complex process, phenomenon, or concept.
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