Test Design and
Test Framework
Field 239: Science: Biology
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The test design below describes general test information. The framework that follows is a detailed outline that explains the knowledge and skills that this test measures.
Test Design
| Format | Computer-based test (CBT) |
|---|---|
| Number of Questions | 100 multiple-choice questions |
| Time* | 3 hours, 15 minutes |
| Passing Score | 240 |
*Does not include 15-minute CBT tutorial
Test Framework
Pie chart of approximate test weighting outlined in the table below.
| Test Subarea | Number of Test Objectives | Number of Scorable Items | Number of Non-Scorable Items | subarea weight as percent of total test score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Subarea 1—Science Process Skills | 3 | 18 | 5 | 23 percent |
| Subarea 2—Disciplinary Core Ideas | 5 | 30 | 7 | 37 percent |
| Subarea 3—Biochemistry, Cells, and Energetics | 2 | 9 | 2 | 11 percent |
| Subarea 4—Molecular Biology, Genetics, and Evolution | 3 | 14 | 4 | 18 percent |
| Subarea 5—Ecology and the Unity and Diversity of Life | 2 | 9 | 2 | 11 percent |
| Totals | 15 | 80 | 20 | 100 percent |
Subarea 1—Science Process Skills
0001—Understand practices of science and engineering.
For example:
- Apply knowledge of the development of scientific ideas and models, characteristics of models, and how models are used to build and revise scientific explanations and to design and improve engineering systems.
- Demonstrate knowledge of how to ask questions that arise from observation, to seek additional information, to identify relationships, and to pose problems that can be solved through scientific investigation.
- Apply knowledge of how to plan and conduct scientific investigations, including safety considerations and the use of appropriate tools and technologies.
- Demonstrate knowledge of how to obtain, evaluate, and communicate scientific information (e.g., recognizing appropriate sources of scientific information, integrating information from multiple sources, evaluating the validity of claims, recognizing bias).
- Demonstrate knowledge of how to collect, manage, analyze, and interpret scientific and engineering data and information; use mathematics and computational thinking to represent and solve scientific and engineering problems; and draw appropriate and logical conclusions based on evidence.
- Demonstrate the ability to construct and analyze scientific explanations and to evaluate scientific arguments and solutions in terms of their supporting evidence and reasoning (e.g., distinguishing between correlation and causation).
- Apply knowledge of grade-level-appropriate activities and investigations, instructional resources and technologies, and assessment methods for teaching students how to use basic concepts, materials, tools, and scientific and engineering practices; and to make connections between science and engineering, other learning areas, and daily life.
0002—Understand crosscutting concepts and their applications across science and engineering disciplines.
For example:
- Apply knowledge of patterns in natural and engineered systems.
- Analyze cause-and-effect relationships and their mechanisms in natural and engineered systems.
- Apply concepts of scale, proportion, and quantity to describe and analyze natural and engineered systems.
- Demonstrate knowledge of how systems are defined and studied and of how models of different types of natural and engineered systems are used to investigate and make predictions about a system.
- Identify relationships between the flow, cycling, and conservation of energy and matter to describe the inputs, outputs, and operation of natural and engineered systems and surroundings.
- Analyze the relationships between the structural components that make up natural and engineered systems and the functioning of these systems.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the factors that contribute to stability and change in systems (e.g., positive and negative feedback, static and dynamic equilibrium) and of the factors that can alter rates of change in systems (e.g., temperature, tipping points).
- Demonstrate knowledge of the ways that science, engineering, and technology are interdependent in modern society and the influence of science, engineering, and technology on nature and society.
- Apply knowledge of grade-level-appropriate activities and investigations, instructional resources and technologies, and assessment methods for promoting and evaluating students' understanding of crosscutting concepts and of the connections between science, engineering, technology, and society.
0003—Understand the process of reading, and apply knowledge of strategies for promoting students' reading development in the science classroom.
For example:
- Demonstrate knowledge of the reading process (e.g., the construction of meaning through interactions between a reader's prior knowledge, information in the text, and the purpose of the reading situation), and apply knowledge of strategies for integrating the language arts into science instruction to support students' reading and concept development (e.g., providing purposeful opportunities for students to read, write about, and discuss content in order to improve their understanding).
- Demonstrate knowledge of the role of vocabulary knowledge in supporting students' reading comprehension and concept development, and apply knowledge of strategies for promoting students' discipline-specific vocabulary development (e.g., recognizing structural and/or meaning-based relationships between words, using context clues, distinguishing denotative and connotative meanings of words, interpreting idioms and figurative language, consulting specialized reference materials).
- Apply knowledge of strategies for preparing students to read text effectively and teaching and modeling the use of comprehension strategies before, during, and after reading, including strategies that promote close reading (e.g., breaking down complex sentences, monitoring for comprehension to correct confusions and misunderstandings that arise during reading).
- Apply knowledge of strategies for developing students' ability to comprehend and critically analyze discipline-specific texts, including recognizing organizational patterns unique to informational texts; using graphic organizers as an aid for analyzing and recalling information from texts; analyzing and summarizing an author's argument, claims, evidence, and point of view; evaluating the credibility of sources; and synthesizing multiple sources of information presented in different media or formats.
- Apply knowledge of strategies for evaluating, selecting, modifying, and designing reading materials appropriate to the academic task and students' reading abilities (e.g., analyzing instructional materials in terms of readability, content, length, format, illustrations, graphs, tables, and other pertinent factors).
- Apply knowledge of strategies for providing continuous monitoring of students' reading progress through observations, work samples, and various informal assessments and for differentiating science instruction to address all students' assessed reading needs.
Subarea 2—Disciplinary Core Ideas
0004—Understand the disciplinary core ideas of chemistry.
For example:
- Apply knowledge of the structure of atoms and molecules and how to differentiate between ions, molecules, elements, and compounds.
- Apply knowledge of the development and organization of the periodic table and how to predict the properties of elements on the basis of their positions in the periodic table.
- Analyze and predict the outcome of a chemical reaction based on the outermost electron states of atoms, trends in the periodic table, and patterns of chemical properties.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the composition of the nucleus and characteristics of nuclear decay, fission, and fusion.
- Recognize the types of chemical reactions and their applications and that chemical reactions can be understood in terms of the collisions between ions, atoms, or molecules and the rearrangement of particles.
- Apply the principles of conservation of matter to balance chemical equations.
- Apply knowledge of the nature of the forces between particles to the phases and properties of matter (e.g., mass, density, specific heat, melting point, solubility) and of the energy changes that accompany changes in states of matter.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the effect of temperature, pressure, and concentration on chemical equilibrium (i.e., Le Chatelier's principle) and reaction rate.
- Apply knowledge of the engineering design process (e.g., define the problem, design solutions, optimize solutions) and chemistry concepts, including their use in technology and scientific applications (e.g., synthesizing materials, designing a cold pack).
- Apply knowledge of grade-level-appropriate activities and investigations, instructional resources and technologies, and assessment methods for teaching students how to use basic concepts, materials, tools, and scientific practices in chemistry; and to make connections between chemistry, engineering, other learning areas, and daily life.
0005—Understand the disciplinary core ideas of physics.
For example:
- Apply knowledge of the description of motion and the use of Newton's second law to analyze situations and data (e.g., graphs, tables) involving the forces on and the motion of an object.
- Demonstrate knowledge of mathematical representations to support the claim that the total momentum of a system is conserved when there is no net external force on the system.
- Demonstrate knowledge of factors that influence the gravitational force and the Coulomb force between two objects.
- Apply relationships between force, work, energy, and power; concepts associated with mechanical energy (i.e., kinetic and potential); and the conservation of energy.
- Demonstrate knowledge of energy at the macroscopic level (e.g., motion, sound, light, thermal energy) and microscopic level (e.g., average molecular kinetic energy of particles).
- Demonstrate knowledge of factors that affect the transfer and transformations of energy between systems (e.g., type of matter, mass, change in temperature, phase).
- Demonstrate knowledge of electricity and magnetism, the source of electric and magnetic fields, and applications of electromagnetism (e.g., simple circuits, electromagnets, generators, motors).
- Demonstrate knowledge of the nature and properties of mechanical (i.e., matter) and electromagnetic waves (e.g., medium, frequency, wavelength, amplitude, polarization, reflection, refraction, diffraction, interference) and their applications (e.g., musical instruments, lenses).
- Demonstrate knowledge of relationships between waves, energy, transmission of information, and information technologies.
- Apply knowledge of the engineering design process (e.g., define the problem, design solutions, optimize solutions) and physics concepts, including their use in technology and scientific applications (e.g., build a device to convert one type of energy to another, modify a model that demonstrates the law of conservation of momentum).
- Apply knowledge of grade-level-appropriate activities and investigations, instructional resources and technologies, and assessment methods for teaching students how to use basic concepts, materials, tools, and scientific practices in physics; and to make connections between physics, engineering, other learning areas, and daily life.
0006—Understand the disciplinary core ideas of biology.
For example:
- Apply knowledge of the characteristics of viruses, the structures and functions of prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, and how cellular organelles contribute to cell function.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the structure and function of different molecules (e.g., carbohydrates, proteins) in living organisms and how photosynthesis, respiration (both anaerobic and aerobic), and the breakdown of food all cycle energy and matter through the body.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the hierarchical structure of multicellular organisms (i.e., cells, tissues, organs, and organ systems), major anatomical structures and systems and life processes of plants and animals, and feedback mechanisms responsible for maintaining homeostasis.
- Demonstrate knowledge of processes of growth and development in unicellular and multicellular organisms, including mitosis and cellular differentiation.
- Apply knowledge of asexual and sexual reproduction in prokaryotes, plants, and animals and the nature of meiosis and its role in sexual reproduction.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the structure and function of DNA, genes, and chromosomes; their role in determining inherited traits; and how genotypes influence phenotypes (e.g., dominant and recessive traits).
- Demonstrate knowledge of how individuals and species adapt to their environments, how natural selection leads to increases of genetic traits within a population that favor the reproductive success of some individuals over others, and lines of evidence for biological evolution (e.g., fossil record, genetics).
- Apply knowledge of the engineering design process (e.g., define the problem, design solutions, optimize solutions) and biology concepts, including their use in technology and scientific applications (e.g., genetic engineering, modeling a food web).
- Apply knowledge of grade-level-appropriate activities and investigations, instructional resources and technologies, and assessment methods for teaching students how to use basic concepts, materials, tools, and scientific practices in biology; and to make connections between biology, engineering, other learning areas, and daily life.
0007—Understand the disciplinary core ideas of Earth and space science.
For example:
- Demonstrate knowledge of the Big Bang theory of the origin and evolution of the universe, including understanding supporting evidence of this theory (e.g., light spectra, composition of matter).
- Demonstrate knowledge of the theories explaining the formation of the solar system and planets, including understanding supporting evidence of these theories (e.g., composition of matter, lunar rocks, meteorites).
- Demonstrate knowledge of characteristics of objects in the universe (e.g., stars, galaxies), including understanding stellar life cycles and the basic process of nuclear fusion in stars.
- Apply knowledge of the regular and predictable patterns of movements of stars, planets, Earth, and the moon, including their effects on Earth's systems (e.g., seasons, eclipses, tides) and the physical laws that govern their movement (e.g., Kepler's laws, Newton's laws).
- Demonstrate knowledge of the structure and composition of Earth's interior and methods for studying Earth's interior (e.g., seismic waves, magnetic data).
- Demonstrate knowledge of the evidence used to develop the geologic timescale, including relative and absolute dating techniques (e.g., fossil record, stratigraphy, radiometric dating).
- Demonstrate knowledge of geologic processes (e.g., plate tectonics, weathering, transport) and recognize their role in the formation and presence of geographic features (e.g., mountains, valleys, seamounts) and in the formation and distribution of Earth materials (e.g., minerals; igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks).
- Demonstrate knowledge of the evidence for plate tectonics (e.g., ages of rocks, fossil distribution) and factors that affect the large-scale motions of tectonic plates (e.g., thermal convection, density and buoyancy of rock).
- Demonstrate knowledge of how the motions of tectonic plates relate to earthquakes, volcanoes, mountain building, and the formation of sea-floor structures (e.g., seafloor spreading at ocean ridges, subduction at ocean trenches).
- Demonstrate knowledge of the physical and chemical properties of water, the hydrological cycle, and how water affects Earth materials.
- Apply knowledge of the movement and interactions of air masses; convection, conduction, and radiation; and the rotation of Earth (e.g., day-night cycle, Coriolis effect) to the formation of local and global weather patterns.
- Apply knowledge of the engineering design process (e.g., define the problem, design solutions, optimize solutions) and Earth and space science concepts, including their use in technology and scientific applications (e.g., evaluate a design intended to mitigate a natural disaster).
- Apply knowledge of grade-level-appropriate activities and investigations, instructional resources and technologies, and assessment methods for teaching students how to use basic concepts, materials, tools, and scientific practices in Earth and space science; and to make connections between Earth and space science, engineering, other learning areas, and daily life.
0008—Understand the disciplinary core ideas of environmental science.
For example:
- Analyze energy flow, nutrient cycling, and matter transfer in ecosystems (e.g., food webs, biogeochemical cycles), including the roles of photosynthesis, respiration, and decomposition.
- Demonstrate knowledge of abiotic and biotic components of various types of ecosystems; interrelationships within and among ecosystems; and factors that affect population types, sizes, and carrying capacities in ecosystems (e.g., availability of resources, predation, competition, disease).
- Demonstrate understanding of the coevolution of Earth's systems and life on Earth (e.g., production of oxygen by early photosynthetic organisms, formation of soil through microbial action).
- Analyze how changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations and how natural and human-caused factors affect biodiversity in different types and scales of ecosystems.
- Demonstrate knowledge of renewable and nonrenewable natural resources, including energy; the costs and environmental impacts of extracting natural resources; and how sustainable practices are used to minimize environmental damages and maintain access to renewable resources.
- Recognize the causes of natural hazards (e.g., earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, droughts, floods, hurricanes), their impact on human societies and infrastructure, and how human activities can affect the frequency and severity of natural hazards (e.g., climate change increasing droughts and hurricanes).
- Demonstrate knowledge of short-term (e.g., greenhouse effect, ocean acidification, burning of fossil fuels, volcanic eruptions), intermediate (e.g., solar cycles), and long-term (e.g., changes in the tilt of Earth's axis, changes in Earth's orbit) factors that affect Earth's climate.
- Analyze the various ways that humans affect Earth's systems (e.g., land use patterns, global climate change, water and air pollution, habitat destruction) and engineering strategies for mitigating and reversing human-caused adverse impacts on the environment.
- Demonstrate understanding of societal, economic, and cultural influences on the environmental decision-making process and the potential and actual impacts of local, state, national, and global policies on environmental issues.
- Apply knowledge of the engineering design process (e.g., define the problem, design solutions, optimize solutions) and environmental science concepts, including their use in technology and scientific applications (e.g., designing an efficient composting system, creating a soil erosion barrier).
- Apply knowledge of grade-level-appropriate activities and investigations, instructional resources and technologies, and assessment methods for teaching students how to use basic concepts, materials, tools, and scientific practices in environmental science; and to make connections between environmental science, engineering, other learning areas, and daily life.
Subarea 3—Biochemistry, Cells, and Energetics
0009—Understand biochemistry and energetics.
For example:
- Demonstrate knowledge of the types and characteristics of chemical bonding that influences the properties of carbon and other biologically relevant elements (e.g., nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen, phosphate, sulfur), ions, and compounds and the biological significance of these properties.
- Apply knowledge of the molecular structure and function of water and the significance of the unique properties of water at different levels of the biological hierarchy (e.g., cell, organism, ecosystem).
- Apply knowledge of the monomers, structure, and function of macromolecules and biologically important functional groups (e.g., carboxyl, amine, alcohol).
- Apply knowledge of the laws of thermodynamics, the structure and function of energy-carrying molecules in energy transformations in cells, and the structure and function of energy-producing organelles.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the structure and function of enzymes in cells and factors that affect enzyme activity.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the characteristics, reactants, and products of aerobic and anaerobic respiration and the comparison and contrast between these processes and their biological significance.
- Apply knowledge of cellular respiration processes (e.g., electron transport chain, chemiosmosis, glycolysis, the citric acid cycle) and anabolic and catabolic pathways.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the overall reactants and products of photosynthesis, light-independent and light-dependent reactions, and the significance of the structure and adaptations of plant leaves in regard to these processes.
- Apply pedagogical knowledge of grade-level-appropriate activities and investigations, instructional resources, safety considerations, and assessment methods for teaching students how to use concepts, materials, tools, and scientific practices in biochemistry and energetics; and to make connections between biochemistry and energetics, other learning areas, and daily life.
0010—Understand cells and cell biology.
For example:
- Apply knowledge of the structure and function of viruses and prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, including the specialization of cells for specific functions.
- Apply knowledge of the structure and function of organelles in prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells and the ways in which these organelles interact.
- Apply knowledge of the structure and function of the cell membrane, movement of molecules, and the processes used to maintain homeostasis in cells.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the phases of the cell cycle, the relationship between the cell cycle and the process of mitosis, and the significance of cell cycle control.
- Apply knowledge of the diversity of cellular division (e.g., binary fission, mitosis), including the differences and similarities of these processes.
- Apply knowledge of the process of meiosis, the phases of meiosis, and the role of meiosis in sexual reproduction and how it increases genetic variation as well as how meiosis differs from mitosis.
- Apply pedagogical knowledge of grade-level-appropriate activities and investigations, instructional resources, safety considerations, and assessment methods for teaching students how to use concepts, materials, tools, and scientific practices in cell biology; and to make connections between cell biology, other learning areas, and daily life.
Subarea 4—Molecular Biology, Genetics, and Evolution
0011—Understand molecular biology.
For example:
- Demonstrate knowledge of the universality of the genetic code and how to interpret and apply the genetic code.
- Apply knowledge of the structure and function of DNA and the process of DNA replication.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the basic structure of RNA and the functions of m R N A, r R N A, and t R N A in the processes of protein synthesis.
- Apply knowledge of the processes of transcription and translation in protein synthesis.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the causes and types of mutations in gene expression and their impact upon protein products and biological function.
- Demonstrate knowledge of gene expression in cells (e.g., promoters, enhancer regions), including repressible and inducible operons.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the basic methods, processes, and tools used in molecular biology research (e.g., electrophoresis, polymerase chain reaction), their applications (e.g., genetic engineering, forensic science), and the societal and ethical implications of their use.
- Apply pedagogical knowledge of grade-level-appropriate activities and investigations, instructional resources, safety considerations, and assessment methods for teaching students how to use concepts, materials, tools, and scientific practices in molecular biology; and to make connections between molecular biology, other learning areas, and daily life.
0012—Understand genetics and patterns of inheritance.
For example:
- Apply knowledge of Mendel's laws of dominance, segregation, and independent assortment, including their role in producing genetic variation.
- Apply knowledge of the structure and function of genes and chromosomes, including their role in inheritance.
- Apply knowledge of Punnett squares based on the genotypes and phenotypes of parent organisms to predict and calculate the probable outcomes of monohybrid and dihybrid crosses.
- Apply knowledge of pedigree charts and non-Mendelian inheritance (e.g., incomplete inheritance, codominance, sex-linkage, multiple alleles).
- Demonstrate knowledge of the causes of human genetic disorders (e.g., sickle cell anemia, Tay-Sachs disease, Down syndrome, Huntingtons).
- Demonstrate knowledge of the basic processes used for genetic research, the real-world applications of genetics (e.g., genetic counseling, genome mapping, artificial selection), and their societal and ethical implications.
- Apply pedagogical knowledge of grade-level-appropriate activities and investigations, instructional resources, safety considerations, and assessment methods for teaching students how to use concepts, materials, tools, and scientific practices in the study of genetics; and to make connections between genetics, other learning areas, and daily life.
0013—Understand biological evolution.
For example:
- Demonstrate knowledge of the historical progression of evolutionary thought and evidence for the theory of evolution by natural selection (e.g., fossil record, comparative anatomy, biochemistry, molecular biology).
- Apply knowledge of the factors that are needed for natural selection to influence a given population (e.g., overproduction, variation, inheritance competition, differential survival, reproductive success) that can lead to adaptation.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the process of speciation, including mechanisms that maintain reproductive isolation (e.g., pre-zygotic, post-zygotic), and factors that affect the reproductive success of populations.
- Apply knowledge of the ways in which natural selection can influence the phenotypes in a population to affect the distribution of heritable traits (e.g., disruptive selection, stabilizing selection, directional selection) and the rate of these changes (e.g., punctuated equilibrium, gradualism).
- Demonstrate knowledge of the effects of gene flow and genetic drift on species diversity (e.g., population bottlenecks, founder effect).
- Demonstrate knowledge of the conditions associated with the Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium, and solve problems related to the frequency of genotypes and phenotypes in specific populations.
- Apply pedagogical knowledge of grade-level-appropriate activities and investigations, instructional resources, safety considerations, and assessment methods for teaching students how to use concepts, materials, tools, and scientific practices in the study of biological evolution; and to make connections between biological evolution, other learning areas, and daily life.
Subarea 5—Ecology and the Unity and Diversity of Life
0014—Understand ecology.
For example:
- Apply knowledge of the trophic interactions between organisms in ecosystems and biomes (e.g., food webs, energy flow, food chains).
- Apply knowledge of symbiotic interactions between organisms in an ecosystem (e.g., competition, predation, commensalism, mutualism, parasitism).
- Demonstrate knowledge of the characteristics of major biomes (e.g., prairie wetland, tundra, boreal) and effective adaptations of organisms inhabiting these biomes.
- Demonstrate knowledge of stability and change in ecosystems, including characteristics of ecosystem succession and the significance of keystone species.
- Apply knowledge of how the availability of abiotic and biotic resources affects the distribution and abundance of organisms and populations of organisms (e.g., growth, carrying capacity, limiting factors, resource competition) in different environments.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the impacts of human activity upon ecosystems and biodiversity.
- Apply pedagogical knowledge of grade-level-appropriate activities and investigations, instructional resources, safety considerations, and assessment methods for teaching students how to use concepts, materials, tools, and scientific practices in ecology; and to make connections between ecology, other learning areas, and daily life.
0015—Understand the unity and diversity of life.
For example:
- Demonstrate knowledge of the characteristics of life (e.g., metabolic activities, growth, inheritance of traits).
- Demonstrate knowledge of the advantages and disadvantages of asexual (e.g., budding, fragmentation, binary fission, parthenogenesis) and sexual reproduction in a given environment.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the growth and development of organisms and the hierarchical organization of these interacting biological systems (e.g., the formation of tissues, organs, complete organisms).
- Analyze how different organisms respond to physiological or environmental stimuli to maintain homeostasis (e.g., positive feedback, negative feedback).
- Demonstrate knowledge of the structures, functions, and interactions of the human nervous, endocrine, and reproductive systems.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the structures, functions, and interactions of the human digestive, respiratory, circulatory, and excretory systems.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the importance of and dynamic methods of classification in biology, the system of binomial nomenclature, and the application of phylogenetic trees and cladograms.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the characteristics of domains, kingdoms, and vertebrate classes.
- Apply pedagogical knowledge of grade-level-appropriate activities and investigations, instructional resources, safety considerations, and assessment methods for teaching students how to use concepts, materials, tools, and scientific practices in the study of the unity and diversity of life; and to make connections between the studies of these topics, other learning areas, and daily life.