The latest state science tests have moved beyond simple fact recall, now assessing how students think through and demonstrate their knowledge. This shift requires students to both know the content and show their scientific reasoning. For teachers, this means helping students master two key areas:

🧠 Articulate scientific principles

🌍 Apply knowledge to real-world scenarios

🛠️ Engineer and evaluate solutions

📊 Analyze raw data

📈 Interpret and graph data

🔗 Question Clusters

🎯 Multiple Choice

🗂️ Multi-select

✏️ Constructed Responses

💻 Technology-Enhanced Items

Mosa Mack Science seamlessly integrates these elements into every lesson and assessment, meaning students develop and practice scientific skills as they progress through the curriculum. Each unit includes a variety of performance-based assessments, giving students frequent, authentic practice with the exact types of thinking and question formats they’ll encounter on state tests.

Let’s take a closer look at how Mosa Mack seamlessly embeds both scientific thinking and question types throughout its lessons.

Pedagogically, the phenomenon serves two key purposes:

As a result, the phenomenon authentically prepares students for state test questions in the following ways:

How The Phenomenon Develops Scientific Thinking for State Tests:

Each phenomenon begins with a real-world problem that students must

investigate. As they 📊 analyze raw data, including 📈 reading tables and graphs

and 📉 graphing and presenting data, they are required to 🧠 articulate

knowledge of relevant scientific principles and 🌍 apply that knowledge to

understand real-world problems.

Students Work Through the Following Questions Types:

🔗 Question Clusters

🎯 Multiple Choice

✏️ Constructed Responses

The animated mystery offers educators another angle to investigate a problem, setting students up to discover key, standards-based information. The animation authentically prepares students for state test questions in the following ways:

How The Animation Develops Scientific Thinking for State Tests:

In the mystery, students are presented with a problem that may or may not be

explicitly science-related. Our protagonist, Mosa Mack, arrives on the scene with

no more information than the students, ensuring that she never lectures but

instead models how to think through problems scientifically.

This process includes 📊 analyzing raw data as students uncover clues. At the

conclusion of the mystery, they must solve it, requiring them to 🧠 articulate

knowledge of relevant scientific principles and 🌍 apply that knowledge to

understand real-world problems.

Following the mystery, students engage with vocabulary mind maps, episode

questions designed to support their reasoning, and a quiz to check for

understanding.

Students work through the following question types:

Mosa Mack Science labs are challenge-based. At the start of the lab, students are presented with a real-world challenge. Working collaboratively, they investigate the challenge through hands-on experimentation.

How The Lab Develops Scientific Thinking for State Tests:

In groups, students design and carry out an investigation, requiring them to 📊

analyze raw data and 📈 interpret and graph data. As they draw conclusions, they

🌍 apply knowledge to the original real-world scenario and 🧠 articulate scientific

principles to support their findings.

Students Work Through the Following Question Types:

🔗 Question Clusters

✏️ Constructed Responses

💻 Technology-Enhanced Items

In The Engineer, students apply the knowledge they’ve developed in The Solve and The Lab to tackle a real-world problem.

How The Engineer Develops Scientific Thinking for State Tests:

Educators begin the lesson with a presentation that introduces students to a

challenge aligned with the standard—such as cleaning up an oil spill, repairing a

broken body part, or developing a new product. Students engage with the

challenge through a structured series of questions, thinking as real engineers

would.

Throughout the lesson, they 🛠️ engineer and evaluate solutions, conducting

research, brainstorming possible approaches, and 📊 analyzing raw data to weigh

limitations and opportunities. They then develop and test a product. At the

conclusion of the challenge, students 🌍 apply knowledge to real-world scenarios

and 🧠 articulate scientific principles as they present their final product to the

class, explaining both their thinking and design.

Students Work Through the Following Question Types:

🔗 Question Clusters

✏️ Constructed Responses

Test prep is most effective when it’s consistent and meaningful—not an extra layer of stress. Because Mosa Mack seamlessly integrates the skills and question types found on state tests, students are constantly practicing the most important thinking strategies—not just for the test, but for real-world problem-solving.

For educators looking to further reinforce these skills, we’ve developed Data-Driven Test Prep Sets designed to provide authentic, NGSS-aligned practice with real-world scenarios, data analysis, and multi-step reasoning. Check out our full Test Prep Sets here!