Science Assessment ~ Ideas ~ Motion energy (kinetic energy) is associated with the speed and the mass of an object.

Key Idea: When warmer things are touching cooler ones, the warmer things get cooler and the cooler things get warmer until they all are the same temperature.

Sub-Ideas
Items & Student Performance
Misconceptions
NGSS

Students should know that:

When a cooler object is touching a warmer object, the cooler object will get warmer and the warmer object will get cooler. This is true for liquids and gases as well as for solid objects.
In a confined space, when a cooler object is in contact with warmer air, the cooler object will get warmer and the air will get cooler, and when a warmer object is in contact with cooler air, the warmer object will get cooler and the air will get warmer.
Once the objects (including air) reach the same temperature, the objects will remain at that temperature until another warmer or cooler object is introduced.

Boundaries:

At this level, students are not expected to know that temperature changes that occur when an object at one temperature is placed next to another object at a different temperature are due to a transfer of thermal energy. The words “transfer” or “conduction” are not used in items.
Students are not expected to know that energy can be transferred between an object and the surrounding air even when the air is not in a confined space. Energy dissipation to the surroundings is considered a separate idea. Assessment items will use only confined spaces.
Contexts of assessment items are limited to those that do not involve changes of state.

Percent of students answering correctly (click on the item ID number to view the item and additional data)
Item ID Number	Knowledge Being Assessed	Grades 4–5	Grades 6–8	Grades 9–12
RG201001	When an ice cube is placed in a glass of warm water, the ice cube will get warmer and the water will get colder.	58%	64%	65%
RG080003	When a hot cookie is placed on a cool plate, the plate will get warmer, and the cookie will get cooler until they are both the same temperature.	46%	58%	61%
RG166001	When a warmer block is placed on top of a cooler block, the warmer block will get cooler and the cooler block will get warmer until both blocks are at the same temperature.	36%	54%	60%
RG079002	When hot corn comes in contact with cold butter, the hot corn will get cooler and cold butter will get warmer.	30%	43%	45%

Frequency of selecting a misconception
Misconception ID Number	Student Misconception	Grades 4–5	Grades 6–8	Grades 9–12
RGM056	When a very hot [very cold] object comes in contact with a cooler [warmer] object, only the temperature of the cooler [warmer] object changes.	39%	32%	29%
NGM013	Thermal energy will continue to be transferred by conduction even after objects in contact with each other reach the same temperature; the temperature of the object getting warmer will continue to increase and the temperature of the object getting cooler will continue to decrease (Kesidou & Duit, 1993).	22%	18%	17%
NGM014	Objects at different temperatures that are made of different materials will never reach the same temperature when they are brought in contact with each other (Erickson & Tiberghien, 1985; Kesidou & Duit, 1993; Wiser, 1986).	13%	14%	12%

Frequency of selecting a misconception was calculated by dividing the total number of times a misconception was chosen by the number of times it could have been chosen, averaged over the number of students answering the questions within this particular idea.

NGSS Statements
Code	Statement
PS3.B MS	Energy is spontaneously transferred out of hotter regions or objects and into colder ones.