Texas TEKS 4.6.C
The Standard
demonstrate that matter is conserved when mixtures such as soil and water or oil and water are formed.
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Science
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students measure the mass of each material before combining them, then measure the finished mixture. They use the results to show that mixing changes how materials are arranged, not how much matter is present.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student predicts a mixture's mass by adding the component masses and confirms it with a balance. The student explains small differences as spills, residue, or measurement error rather than matter disappearing.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think a material disappears when it settles, floats, or becomes hard to see. They may treat a spill or material left in a cup as evidence that mixing destroys matter.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: A student mixes 35 g of soil with 60 g of water without spilling. What should the mixture's mass be, and why?
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Measure soil and water separately, mix them in a lidded cup, then compare the measured mixture mass with the calculated total.
Show oil floating on water and ask students to write why neither layer's position changes the total mass.
Play Mass Match by pairing component-mass cards with the correct total-mass card, then have partners justify each match.
Make a snack mix by weighing pretzels and raisins separately, combining them, and checking whether the total mass stays the same.
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Printable 4.6.C Worksheet
A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to 4.6.C, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.
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Related Standards
- 5.6.C
compare the properties of substances before and after they are combined into a solution and demonstrate that matter is conserved in solutions; and
- 4.6.B
investigate and compare a variety of mixtures, including solutions that are composed of liquids in liquids and solids in liquids; and
- 5.6.B
demonstrate and explain that some mixtures maintain physical properties of their substances such as iron filings and sand or sand and water;
- 8.6
The student understands that matter can be classified according to its properties and matter is conserved in chemical changes that occur within closed systems
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