Activity 1.1: Plants Unit Pretest (20 min)

Target Student Performance

Students show their initial proficiencies for the overall unit goal: Questioning, investigating, and explaining how matter and energy move and change as plants live, move, and grow.

Resources You Provide

  • pencils (1 per student)

Resources Provided

Setup

Print one copy of the 1.1 Plants Unit Pretest for each student.

Directions

1. Describe the unit pretest.

Explain the purpose of the unit pretest to students:

  • It will help you as a teacher understand how students think about what happens when plants grow.
  • It will help them think about what they know and what questions they have.

Assessment

Use the 1.1 Plants Unit Pretest to assess students' understanding of photosynthesis, cellular respiration, and biosynthesis in terms of learning progression levels. You should not give your students grades on the pretest or expect your students to know the correct answers. The document 1.1 Assessing Plants Unit Pretest has assessment guidelines, identifies correct responses, and explains how students’ responses reveal their learning progression levels.

Differentiation
Modifications

If classroom in includes English Language Learners or have other special needs and considerations, you may want to read questions aloud and discuss meaning of questions.

Extending the Learning