Developing Assessments Based on NJ Standards
Science: Animal Adaptations
Grades: Elementary and Middle
GEPA - Cumulative Progress Indicators for Science
| Overview
| Student | Teacher|
Assessment Steps |
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Standard 5.1:
(SCIENTIFIC PROCESSES) ALL STUDENTS WILL DEVELOP PROBLEM-SOLVING,
DECISION-MAKING AND INQUIRY
SKILLS, REFLECTED BY FORMULATING USABLE QUESTIONS AND
HYPOTHESES, PLANNING EXPERIMENTS, CONDUCTING SYSTEMATIC OBSERVATIONS,
INTERPRETING AND ANALYZING DATA, DRAWING CONCLUSIONS, AND COMMUNICATING
RESULTS.
|
Standard 5.5:
(CHARACTERISTICS OF LIFE) ALL STUDENTS WILL GAIN AN
UNDERSTANDING OF THE STRUCTURE,
CHARACTERISTICS, AND BASIC
NEEDS OF ORGANISMS AND WILL INVESTIGATE THE DIVERSITY
OF LIFE.
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Descriptive Statement: Students best learn science by
doing science. Science is not merely a collection of facts and
theories but a process, a way of thinking about and investigating
the world in which we live. This standard addresses those skills
that are used by scientists as they discover and explain the
physical universe - skills that are an essential and ongoing
part of learning science.
| 1. |
Evaluate the strengths
and weaknesses of data, claims, and arguments. |
| 2. |
Communicate experimental
findings to others. |
| 3. |
Recognize that the results of
scientific investigations are seldom exactly the same and
that replication is often necessary. |
| 4. |
Recognize that curiosity, skepticism,
open-mindedness, and honesty are attributes of scientists. |
| B. Inquiry and Problem Solving |
| 1. |
Identify questions and make predictions that
can be addressed by conducting investigations. |
| 2. |
Design and conduct investigations
incorporating the use of a control. |
| 3. |
Collect, organize, and interpret the data
that result from experiments. |
| 1. |
Know when and how to use appropriate
safety equipment with all classroom materials. |
| 2. |
Understand and practice safety procedures
for conducting science investigations. |
|
Descriptive Statement: The study of science must include
the diversity, complexity, and interdependence of life on
earth. Students should know how organisms evolve, reproduce,
and adapt to their environments.
| A. Matter, Energy and Organization in
Living Systems |
| 1. |
Explain how the products respiration
and photosynthesis are recycled. |
| 2. |
Recognize that
complex multicellular organisms, including humans, are
composed of and defined by interactions of the following:
• cells
• tissues
• organs
• systems |
| B. Diversity and Biological Evolution |
| 1. |
Compare and contrast
kinds of organisms using their internal and external characteristics. |
| 2. |
Discuss how changing
environmental conditions can result in evolution or extinction
of a species. |
| 3. |
Recognize that
individual organisms with certain traits are more likely
to survive and have offspring. |
| C. Reproduction and Heredity |
| 1. |
Describe how the
sorting and recombining of genetic material results in
the potential for variation among offspring of humans
and other species. |
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