This packet is everything a parent or guide needs to assess Unit 05 at home — learning targets, the answers that count as correct, the mastery rubric, calibration examples, and a clipboard score sheet. No multiple-choice test: the student shows mastery by placing stars on an H–R diagram and observing sunspots safely by projection.
By the end of the Sun & the Stars unit, a student should be able to:
Six criteria, each judged Not yet / Approaching / Mastered (Page 3).
Project the Sun's image to find and track sunspots across weeks.
The student reads a star's stage from the H–R diagram (Page 4).
H–R placements, distance work, and dated sunspot sketches kept distinct.
You are making a decision, not adding up points. For each criterion, decide whether the work is Not yet, Approaching, or Mastered — the column language tells you which. A criterion counts as mastered only when the student can both read a star's stage from evidence and observe the Sun safely by projection. A student carries three tokens per term; one token buys a re-do of one criterion on another day, so a single cloudy night never sinks the unit.
Accept any answer in the synonyms column — they are pre-approved as equivalent. The third column flags the confusions that look close but are not yet, so you can coach precisely.
| Canonical answer | Accepted synonyms | Common confusion / discriminator |
|---|---|---|
| The Sun & fusion | ||
| Nuclear fusion | hydrogen burning; proton–proton chain | Energy comes from fusing hydrogen in the core, not surface burning like a fire |
| The Sun's layers | core, radiative zone, convective zone | Energy is made in the core, then carried outward layer by layer |
| Photosphere & sunspots | visible surface; magnetic spots | Sunspots are cooler, darker regions — view only by projection |
| Solar safety | projection viewing | Never look at the Sun directly; project its image, never an unfiltered eye or lens |
| Stars, the H–R diagram & distance | ||
| Luminosity vs temperature | true brightness; color as temperature | Blue is hot, red is cool; luminosity is not how bright a star looks from Earth |
| H–R diagram | Hertzsprung–Russell diagram | Temperature vs luminosity; a star's position reveals its stage |
| Stellar life cycle by mass | main sequence → giant → remnant | Low mass ends as a white dwarf; high mass as a neutron star or black hole |
| Parallax & Cepheids | trigonometric parallax; period–luminosity law | Parallax reaches nearby stars; Cepheids (Leavitt) reach far — period gives true luminosity |
| Criterion | Not yet | Approaching | Mastered |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Sun's structure & fusion | Thinks the Sun burns like an ordinary fire. | Says fusion but cannot locate it or name the Sun's layers. | Describes the Sun's layers and explains its energy as hydrogen fusion in the core. |
| Stellar properties | Assumes all stars are essentially alike. | Names a property or two but cannot read color as temperature. | Relates luminosity, temperature, color, and mass, reading a star's color as a clue to its temperature. |
| The H–R diagram | Cannot read the diagram. | Locates the main sequence but not the giants or dwarfs. | Places stars on an H–R diagram and reads each one's stage from its position. |
| Stellar life cycles by mass | Thinks every star ends the same way. | Names one endpoint but not the mass that decides it. | Traces life cycles by mass — main sequence to giant to white dwarf, neutron star, or black hole. |
| Distance & safe solar observation | Has no distance method and would look at the Sun directly. | Names parallax but not Cepheids, and observes sunspots carelessly. | Measures distance by parallax and Cepheid variables (Leavitt's period–luminosity law) and observes sunspots safely by projection — never directly — logging them across weeks. |
| Integration (cross-domain) | Treats the science as isolated facts; makes no cross-domain connection. | Names a link to history, reading, or writing but cannot defend why it matters. | Connects the unit to its anchor across History · Reading · Writing (plus chosen electives) and defends why the connection matters. |
The split between Approaching and Mastered is the stage is read from evidence: a star's color gives its temperature, and its place on the H–R diagram gives its stage. Ask “what does this star's color tell you, and where does it sit on the diagram?”
Read these before you grade. They show what Mastered and Not yet actually sound like, plus the edge cases where you should coach rather than decide on the spot.
Student: ______________________________________ Date: _______________ Guide: _________________________
| # | Criterion | Decision | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Sun's structure & fusion | NY / Appr / Mast | |
| 2 | Stellar properties | NY / Appr / Mast | |
| 3 | The H–R diagram | NY / Appr / Mast | |
| 4 | Stellar life cycles by mass | NY / Appr / Mast | |
| 5 | Distance & safe solar observation | NY / Appr / Mast | |
| 6 | Integration (cross-domain) | NY / Appr / Mast |
☐ No ☐ Yes — for criterion: __________ Tokens remaining: ☐ 3 ☐ 2 ☐ 1 ☐ 0
NY = Not yet · Appr = Approaching · Mast = Mastered · Unsure between two levels? Circle the lower one and note what a re-do would need.