Use these targets, vocabulary, rubrics, examples, and score sheet with the instructor's approved lesson and procedure. This is an assessment companion, not a complete lesson or safety authorization.
Student lessons, data, and worked answers: Unit 05 learning pathway.
The student demonstrates the following:
Five science criteria plus separately reported integration (Page 3).
Follow the linked normal-care study or approved analysis route; distinguish observations from inferred signals.
The student explains a tropism or apical dominance aloud (Page 4).
Setup, measurements, and hormone reasoning kept distinct.
You are making a decision, not adding up points. For each criterion, decide whether the work is Developing, Proficient, or Mastery — the column language tells you which. A criterion counts as mastered only when the student can both run the setup and defend the plant biology behind it. Each student has three tokens per term; each token retries one rubric criterion. Approved accommodations, equipment failures, and approved absences are handled separately and do not consume these tokens.
Accept listed synonyms; use the distinction column to resolve near-matches.
| Canonical answer | Accepted synonyms | Common confusion / discriminator |
|---|---|---|
| Plant hormones | ||
| Auxin | IAA / growth hormone | Drives cell elongation; builds up on the shaded or lower side to bend growth |
| Gibberellin | GA | Triggers stem elongation and seed germination; breaks dormancy |
| Cytokinin | cell-division hormone | Promotes cell division and delays leaf aging; balances auxin |
| Abscisic acid (ABA) | stress hormone | Closes stomata and enforces dormancy — a hormone, not an acid you titrate |
| Growth responses & signals | ||
| Ethylene | ripening gas | The one gaseous hormone; ripens fruit and triggers leaf drop |
| Tropism | directional growth response | Mechanism depends on stimulus and tissue; not every response is one auxin rule |
| Abiotic vs. biotic stress | physical vs. living challenge | Water/temperature differ from herbivore/pathogen challenges |
| Jasmonate / salicylic signaling | defense-response examples | Interacting pathways; a visible symptom does not identify one signal |
| Apical dominance | shoot-tip control | Auxin from the tip suppresses side buds; remove the tip and they grow |
| Photoperiodism | night-length sensing | Phytochrome measures night length to time flowering and germination |
Ask which observation supports the interpretation and what additional evidence would identify a signal. Retain plant IDs across dates, account for missing data, and distinguish normal-care observations from a controlled treatment experiment.
| Criterion | Developing | Proficient | Mastery |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plant hormones & their effects | Cannot name the plant hormones or thinks plants have none. | Names a hormone or two but confuses their effects. | Identifies auxins, gibberellins, cytokinins, ethylene, and abscisic acid and explains what each does — from stem elongation to fruit ripening to dormancy. |
| Tropisms (photo-, gravi-, thigmo-) | Cannot distinguish a directional response from growth alone. | Names a response but assumes the same mechanism in every tissue. | Explains light, gravity, and touch responses with appropriate tissue and signaling context, without reducing every response to one auxin rule. |
| Growth regulation, stress & defense | Confuses abiotic stress with infection or herbivory. | Names a signal but ignores interactions and trade-offs. | Explains apical dominance, ABA-related water responses, and jasmonate/salicylic defense examples, distinguishing observed effects from inferred signals. |
| Photoperiodism & germination control | Thinks day length has no effect on flowering. | Mentions photoperiod but cannot connect it to phytochrome or germination. | Explains how phytochrome lets a plant measure night length to time flowering and germination, and predicts a short- vs. long-day response. |
| Longitudinal observation & study design | Omits plant identities, dates, or the approved care plan. | Records growth but treats repeated dates as independent plants. | Follows an approved observation/design task, retains plant-level repeated measurements and missing records, and interprets change without claiming an unmeasured hormone cause. |
| Integration (cross-domain) | Makes no supported connection between the source and the science. | Uses the source but needs help connecting evidence, writing, or limitations to the science. | Independently connects History, Reading, and Writing using a cited source, appropriate evidence, a limitation, and a scientific explanation. |
Read these before you grade. They show what Mastery and Developing actually sound like, plus the edge cases where you should coach rather than decide on the spot.
Student: ______________________________________ Date: _______________ Guide: _________________________
| # | Criterion | Decision | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Plant hormones & their effects | Dev / Prof / Mast | |
| 2 | Tropisms (photo-, gravi-, thigmo-) | Dev / Prof / Mast | |
| 3 | Growth regulation, stress & defense | Dev / Prof / Mast | |
| 4 | Photoperiodism & germination control | Dev / Prof / Mast | |
| 5 | Longitudinal observation & study design | Dev / Prof / Mast | |
| 6 | Integration (cross-domain) | Dev / Prof / Mast |
☐ No ☐ Yes — for criterion: __________
Tokens left this term after this session (choose one): ☐ 3 ☐ 2 ☐ 1 ☐ None left
Dev = Developing · Prof = Proficient · Mast = Mastery · Unsure between two levels? Circle the lower one and note what a re-do would need.