SCIENCE Standard Units
Unit CS600 Bee Colony Collapse Disorder
Unit Overview
This released unit deals with the phenomenon known as bee colony collapse disorder. The stimulus
materials include a short text introducing the phenomenon and a graph showing results of a study
investigating the relationship between the insecticide imidacloprid and bee colony collapse disorder.
Unit CS600 Bee Colony Collapse Disorder
Released Item #1
To correctly answer this question, students must provide an explanation that states or implies that a flower
cannot produce seeds without pollination. The competency for this item is ‘Explain Phenomena
Scientifically,’ as students are asked to recall appropriate scientific knowledge.
Item Number CS600Q01
Competency Explain Phenomena Scientifically
Science Knowledge Content
Context Local/National – Environmental Quality
Cognitive Demand Medium
Item Format Open Response – Human Coded
7
SCIENCE Standard Units
Unit CS600 Bee Colony Collapse Disorder
Released Item #2
Students are asked to select from among three options in each drop-down menu to demonstrate their
understanding of the question being explored in the researchers’ experiment. Those options include:
• collapse of bee colonies
• concentration of imidacloprid in food
• bee immunity to imidacloprid
The response that the researchers tested the effect of concentration of imidacloprid in food on
collapse of bee colonies correctly identifies the independent and dependent variables in the experiment.
Item Number CS600Q02
Competency Evaluate and Design Scientific Enquiry
Knowledge – System Procedural
Context Local/National – Environmental Quality
Cognitive Demand Medium
Item Format Complex Multiple Choice – Computer Scored
8
SCIENCE Standard Units
Unit CS600 Bee Colony Collapse Disorder
Released Item #3
This question requires interpretation of a graph that presents data related to the relationship between
concentrations of the insecticide and the rate of colony collapse over time.
The correct response is the first option (Colonies exposed to a higher concentration of imidacloprid tend
to collapse sooner) as the graph shows that the percentage of colonies that collapsed is higher when the
hives were exposed to a concentration of 400 μg/kg of the insecticide as compared with 20 μg/kg during
weeks 14-20 of the experiment.
Item Number CS600Q03
Competency Interpret Data and Evidence Scientifically
Knowledge – System Procedural
Context Local/National – Environmental Quality
Cognitive Demand Medium
Item Format Simple Multiple Choice – Computer Scored
9
SCIENCE Standard Units
Unit CS600 Bee Colony Collapse Disorder
Released Item #4
Students must provide a hypothesis for the collapses among the control colonies. A correct response
indicates either that there must be another natural cause of colony collapse for the studied colonies or that
the hives in the control group were not properly protected from exposure.
Item Number CS600Q04
Competency Explain Phenomena Scientifically
Knowledge – System Content – Living
Context Local/National – Environmental Quality
Cognitive Demand Medium
Item Format Open Response – Human Coded
10
SCIENCE Standard Units
Unit CS600 Bee Colony Collapse Disorder
Released Item #5
Students must use appropriate scientific content knowledge about the viral infections to explain the
phenomenon described in this item. The correct response is the third option: Non-bee DNA was found inside
the bees' cells.
Item Number CS600Q05
Competency Explain Phenomena Scientifically
Knowledge – System Content – Living
Context Local/National – Environmental Quality
Cognitive Demand Medium
Item Format Simple Multiple Choice – Computer Scored
11
SCIENCE Standard Units
Unit CS613 Fossil Fuels
Unit Overview
This released unit explores the relationship between the burning of fossil fuels and CO2 levels in the
atmosphere. The stimulus material includes a diagram illustrating how carbon cycles in the environment
and a short text describing strategies for reducing the amount of CO2 released into the atmosphere, a table
comparing the characteristics of ethanol and petroleum when used as fuel, and a graph illustrating the
results of a mathematical model that calculates carbon capture and storage at three different ocean depths.
Unit CS613 Fossil Fuels
Released Item #1
Students must use appropriate scientific content knowledge to explain why the use of plant-based biofuels
does not affect atmospheric levels of CO2 in the same manner as burning fossil fuels. The second option is
the correct response: Plants used for biofuels absorb CO2 from the atmosphere as they grow.
Item Number CS613Q01
Competency Explain Phenomena Scientifically
Knowledge – System Content – Physical
Context Global – Natural Resources
Cognitive Demand Medium
Item Format Simple Multiple Choice – Computer Scored
12
SCIENCE Standard Units
Unit CS613 Fossil Fuels
Released Item #2
The item asks students to analyse data presented in a table to compare ethanol and petroleum as fuel sources.
Students should determine that people might prefer using petroleum over ethanol because it releases more
energy for the same cost and that ethanol has an environmental advantage over petroleum because it releases
less carbon dioxide.
Item Number CS613Q02
Competency Interpret Data and Evidence Scientifically
Knowledge – System Procedural
Context Local/National – Natural Resources
Cognitive Demand Medium
Item Format Open Response – Human Coded
13
SCIENCE Standard Units
Unit CS613 Fossil Fuels
Released Item #31
Students must interpret data presented in a graph to provide an explanation that summarises the overall
finding that storing carbon dioxide deeper in the ocean leads to better retention rates over time than storing
it at shallower depths.
Item Number CS613Q03
Competency Interpret Data and Evidence Scientifically
Knowledge – System Procedural
Context Global – Natural Resources
Cognitive Demand Medium
Item Format Open Response – Human Coded
14
SCIENCE Standard Units
Unit 655 Groundwater Extraction and Earthquakes
Unit Overview
This unit focuses on natural and human processes that may lead to earthquakes. The stimulus materials
include a text and graphic illustrating the relationship of faults to earthquakes, a map showing levels of
stress in one region of Earth, and a short text about an earthquake believed to have been caused by
groundwater extraction.
Unit 655 Groundwater Extraction and Earthquakes
Released Item #1
Using the description and representation of faults provided in the stimulus, students must provide an
explanation that indicates or implies that the movement of tectonic plates leads to the build-up of stress
and/or that rock or land moving in different directions is stopped by friction at a fault.
Item Number CS655Q01
Competency Explain Phenomena Scientifically
Knowledge – System Content – Earth and Space
Context Local/National – Hazards
Cognitive Demand Medium
Item Format Open Response – Human Coded
15
SCIENCE Standard Units
Unit 655 Groundwater Extraction and Earthquakes
Released Item #2
Students must apply their understanding of the relationship between stress in Earth’s crust and earthquakes
to predict the risk of earthquakes in four specific locations that are near faults. The location with the highest
risk is the one labelled “D” on the diagram, followed by “B”, “C” and finally “A”, which has the lowest
risk because it has the lowest level of stress.
Item Number CS655Q02
Competency Interpret Data and Evidence Scientifically
Knowledge – System Procedural
Context Local/National – Hazards
Cognitive Demand Low
Item Format Complex Multiple Choice – Computer Scored
16
SCIENCE Standard Units
Unit 655 Groundwater Extraction and Earthquakes
Released Item #3
Students must identify the one observation that supports the hypothesis presented in the stimulus that
groundwater extraction triggered an earthquake by contributing to stress on a nearby fault. The second
option (Movement along the fault was greatest in areas where the pumping created the greatest stress) is
the correct response as it supports an association between the water extraction and the earthquake.
Item Number CS655Q03
Competency Explain Phenomena Scientifically
Knowledge – System Content – Earth and Space
Context Local/National – Hazards
Cognitive Demand Medium
Item Format Simple Multiple Choice – Computer Scored
17
SCIENCE Interactive Units
Unit 639 Blue Power Plant
Unit Overview
Unit 655 Groundwater Extraction and Earthquakes
Released Item #4
In this item, students must use their understanding of earthquakes and the provided information about the
earthquake in Lorca to identify the question or questions most likely to provide information about the risk
of earthquakes in a particular region. Both the first and second questions would provide that information:
Does the crust in the region contain faults? and Is the crust in the region subject to stress from natural
causes?
Item Number CS655Q04
Competency Explain Phenomena Scientifically
Knowledge – System Content – Earth and Space
Context Local/National – Hazards
Cognitive Demand Medium
Item Format Complex Multiple Choice – Computer Scored
22
SCIENCE Interactive Units
Unit 639 Blue Power Plant
Unit Overview
This released unit focuses on a power plant that uses the differences in the salt concentration between salt
water and fresh water to generate electricity. The stimulus includes text describing this process and an
animation showing the movement of water through the plant and the movement of water molecules across
a semipermeable membrane.
View with the magnifying glass:
23
SCIENCE Interactive Units
Unit 639 Blue Power Plant
Released Item #1
Students must apply their understanding of how water moves through the power plant presented in the
diagram to identify Location 2 and Location 4 as containing water molecules from the river.
Item Number CS639Q01
Competency Interpret Data and Evidence Scientifically
Knowledge – System Content – Physical
Context Local/National – Frontiers
Cognitive Demand Low
Item Format Complex Multiple Choice – Computer Scored
23
SCIENCE Interactive Units
Unit 639 Blue Power Plant
Released Item #2
Students are asked to use the animation to determine the effect the movement of water across the membrane
on the salt concentration of the fresh water and the salt water. The correct response is: As the molecules
move through the membrane, the salt concentration in the container of fresh water increases and the salt
concentration in the container of salt water decreases.
Item Number CS639Q02
Competency Interpret Data and Evidence Scientifically
Knowledge – System Procedural
Context Global – Frontiers
Cognitive Demand Medium
Item Format Complex Multiple Choice – Computer Scored
24
SCIENCE Interactive Units
Unit 639 Blue Power Plant
Released Item #3
Each drop-down menu in this item lists four types of energy: gravitational, potential, kinetic and electrical.
Students must correctly interpret the animated diagram and specify that the turbine and generator convert
kinetic to electrical energy.
Item Number CS639Q04
Competency Interpret Data and Evidence Scientifically
Knowledge – System Content – Physical
Context Local/National – Frontiers
Cognitive Demand Medium
Item Format Complex Multiple Choice – Computer Scored
25
SCIENCE Interactive Units
Unit 639 Blue Power Plant
Released Item #4
Students must provide an explanation that identifies a way in which plants that burn fossil fuel are more
harmful to the environment than the new power plant illustrated in this unit, or identify a feature of the
new power plant that makes it more environmentally friendly.
Item Number CS639Q05
Competency Explain Phenomena Scientifically
Knowledge – System Content – Physical
Context Global – Frontiers
Cognitive Demand Medium
Item Format Open Response – Human Coded
26
SCIENCE Interactive Units
Unit 639 Blue Power Plant
Released Item #4
27
