⚛️ Weathering, Erosion & Landforms — printable rubric packet (Geology Unit 07). Print 8.5×11 portrait. Every page is designed for clipboard use while you grade at the bench.
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▲ Page 1 — Unit overview
Bright Minds Geology · Course Pack
Weathering, Erosion & Landforms — Unit Packet
Overview
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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 07 learning pathway.

Unit learning targets

The student demonstrates the following:

How this unit is assessed

Mastery rubric

Five science criteria plus separately reported integration (Page 3).

Weathering & erosion lab

Test a process; connect the result to the landform it would build.

Oral check

The student reads a landscape aloud (Page 4).

Lab notebook

Process test, landform link, and evidence kept distinct.

How to read a Bright Minds rubric

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 name the process from the landform and back it with evidence such as the dilute-acid test. 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.

▲ Page 2 — Key terms
Weathering, Erosion & Landforms · Vocabulary
Key Terms — What Counts as Correct
Vocabulary
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Accept listed synonyms; use the distinction column to resolve near-matches.

Canonical answerAccepted synonymsCommon confusion / discriminator
Weathering
Mechanical weatheringphysical weatheringBreaks rock without changing it — frost wedging, exfoliation
Chemical weatheringdecompositionAlters the rock — dissolution, oxidation, hydrolysis
Carbonate dissolutionchemical weathering of carbonateContributes to karst; one specimen result does not establish a local cave or hazard
Frost wedgingfreeze–thawWater freezes in cracks and pries rock apart (mechanical)
Erosion, deposition & landforms
Erosionwearing away & removalWeathered debris picked up and carried off by an agent
Depositionsediment dropAgent loses energy and drops its load, building landforms
Karstlimestone terrainCaves, sinkholes, and springs from carbonate dissolution
Moraineglacial depositRidge of unsorted debris left by glacial ice
Porosity / conductivitystorage space / flow propertyDifferent quantities; effective connected porosity belongs in the pore-speed model
Hydraulic headelevation and pressure contributionsFlow follows a head gradient, not necessarily the land-surface slope
Darcy flux / pore velocityq = Ki / v = q divided by neDischarge additionally uses cross-sectional area; a model travel time is not a safety forecast
▲ Page 3 — Mastery rubric
Weathering, Erosion & Landforms · Mastery Rubric
Six Criteria — Developing / Proficient / Mastery
Rubric
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CriterionDevelopingProficientMastery
Mechanical vs. chemical weatheringTreats all weathering as the same breakdown.Names both types but cannot tell them apart in the field.Distinguishes mechanical weathering (frost wedging, exfoliation) from chemical weathering (dissolution, oxidation, hydrolysis) with evidence.
Agents of erosion & transportCannot name what moves weathered material.Lists water, wind, or ice but not how each carries its load.Explains how water, wind, and glacial ice erode and transport sediment, and how each sorts what it carries.
Landforms from processSees landforms as random shapes.Names a landform but not the agent that built it.Links an agent of erosion or deposition to the landform it produces — meanders, deltas, dunes, moraines, or karst caves.
Groundwater, dissolution & karstConfuses storage space, flow, and surface slope.Uses head or a carbonate result as a complete site diagnosis.Explains porosity, conductivity, hydraulic head and dissolution; applies assigned flow models without claiming water or sinkhole safety.
Landscape evidence & transport ratesOmits source, scale, area, or time.Records a snapshot but infers an unsupported rate or cause.Uses approved observations or supplied records, integrates assigned transport rates, and distinguishes direct evidence, missing data, and uncertain interpretations.
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.
What “Mastery” requires
The student names the process from the landform and backs it with field evidence — the fizz test, the sediment sorting, the frost-wedged talus — unprompted.
What does not pass
Calling a U-shaped valley “old” without naming the glacier that carved it is Developing on criterion 3 — every landform names its agent.
Grading it at home

The split between Proficient and Mastery is process from landform: a landscape is a record of the agent that shaped it. Ask “which agent built this, and what’s your evidence?” — the fizz on limestone, the sorted sand of a dune, the unsorted till of a moraine.

▲ Page 4 — Anchor exemplars
Weathering, Erosion & Landforms · Calibration
Anchor Exemplars — To Calibrate Your Ear
Anchors
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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.

Reading a landscape

▶ Mastery
“The observations support weathering and transport, but one specimen result does not establish a local cave or hazard. I use hydraulic head for the groundwater model and concentration plus flow over stated intervals for sediment mass, with their limitations.”
▶ Developing
“The rock just wore down over time. Water and wind do it. This valley is U-shaped because it’s old, I guess.”

Integration — landscapes as records

▶ Mastery
“The same weathering and erosion that flattened ancient mountains is still shaping the land I walk on — reading a valley or a cave tells me which agent worked here and roughly how long it took.”
▶ Developing
“Landforms just exist.” (No link to the agents that build them.)

Edge cases — coach, don’t fail

▶ Mechanical vs. chemical
Sees any breakdown as one thing. Coach: frost wedging breaks rock unchanged; dissolution alters it. The fizz test tells them apart. Worth a re-do, not a fail.
▶ Landform without an agent
Names a delta or a dune but not the water or wind that built it. Coach: every landform records its agent — start from the sediment.
▲ Page 5 — Score sheet (clipboard)
Weathering, Erosion & Landforms · Score Sheet
Unit Score Sheet — One per student
Score Sheet
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Student: ______________________________________    Date: _______________    Guide: _________________________

Mastery criteria — circle one per row

#CriterionDecisionNotes
1Mechanical vs. chemical weatheringDev / Prof / Mast
2Agents of erosion & transportDev / Prof / Mast
3Landforms from processDev / Prof / Mast
4Groundwater, dissolution & karstDev / Prof / Mast
5Landscape evidence & transport ratesDev / Prof / Mast
6Integration (cross-domain)Dev / Prof / Mast

Landscape observation & data — evidence check

Used a token this session?

☐ 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.