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MTEL General Science Test Answer Key

1. A: The US Department of Education established criteria for testing comprehension of science concepts using recommendations from the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Tests should measure whether students can take cognitive skills learned in science, apply them in other disciplines, and use them outside of school in meaningful ways.

2. D: Matter is any substance that has mass and takes up space. It is all the physical items in the universe: dirt, air, water, pencils, parsnips and pumpkins. Matter is comprised of atoms (small particles with a positively charged core made of protons, neutrons and electrons) and molecules (the smallest part of an element that contains all of its particular properties).

3. C: Physics studies matter, motion, energy, space and time and how they interact. Its goal is to understand the natural world by formulating and testing hypotheses in an effort to develop scientific laws that predict other phenomena. Physics is one of the oldest sciences; humans have been trying to figure out how the world works since we started walking upright.

4. B: Life science or biology is the study of living organisms, their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution and distribution. This science studies how living things began, divides them into species, describes what they do, and how they interact with and relate to each other and the rest of the natural world. The disciplines in the life sciences are grouped by the organisms they study.

5. B: The earth sciences or geosciences study the earth, the only known life-baring planet. This field is concerned with the lithosphere, the hydrosphere and the atmosphere. These three working together create the conditions needed to sustain the biosphere, which is composed of all living organisms, i.e. life science or biology.