This packet is everything a parent or guide needs to assess Unit 03 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 measuring pulse and blood pressure, interpreting them, and tracing a drop of blood through the heart aloud.
By the end of the Cardiovascular System unit, a student should be able to:
Six criteria, each judged Not yet / Approaching / Mastered (Page 3).
Vital signs measured and interpreted — observed live.
The student traces a drop of blood aloud (Page 4).
Readings, interpretation, and normal ranges 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 take the reading at the bench and justify the anatomy behind it. A student carries three tokens per term; one token buys a re-do of one criterion on another day, so a single bad afternoon 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 heart | ||
| Atrium | receiving chamber | The top chambers that receive blood; right from the body, left from the lungs |
| Ventricle | pumping chamber | The bottom chambers that pump blood out; the left is the thicker, stronger pump |
| Heart valve | AV & semilunar valves | One-way doors that make the “lub-dub” and stop backflow |
| The circuit & blood | ||
| Artery | (none) | Carries blood away from the heart; thick, muscular wall for high pressure |
| Vein | (none) | Returns blood to the heart; thinner wall, valves against backflow |
| Capillary | (none) | One-cell-thick vessel where gases and nutrients exchange |
| Pulmonary vs. systemic circuit | (none) | Pulmonary = heart ↔ lungs; systemic = heart ↔ body |
| Blood pressure | systolic / diastolic | Pressure a beat (systolic) and the rest between beats (diastolic) put on the artery wall |
| Criterion | Not yet | Approaching | Mastered |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heart chambers & valves | Cannot name the four chambers or the valves between them. | Names the four chambers but cannot say which valve guards each or which side pumps where. | Names the four chambers and the valves on a model or specimen, and explains which side pumps to the lungs and which to the body. |
| The cardiac cycle & heart sounds | Cannot describe what happens in a single heartbeat. | Describes the heart filling and emptying but cannot link the “lub-dub” to the valves closing. | Walks through the cardiac cycle — fill, contract, eject — and ties the two heart sounds to the valves snapping shut. |
| Systemic & pulmonary circulation & blood vessels | Cannot tell the two circuits apart or name the three vessel types. | Names arteries, veins, and capillaries but cannot trace blood through the pulmonary and systemic loops. | Distinguishes arteries, veins, and capillaries by structure and traces a drop of blood through both the pulmonary and systemic circuits. |
| Blood pressure, pulse & blood composition | Cannot say what blood pressure or pulse measures, or what blood is made of. | Reads a pulse or a blood-pressure number but cannot explain what systolic and diastolic mean, or lists blood parts without their jobs. | Explains what pulse and the two blood-pressure numbers measure and names the parts of blood with what each one does. |
| Lab technique (BP, pulse & heart sounds) | Cannot take a pulse or place the stethoscope and cuff correctly. | Takes a pulse or a blood-pressure reading but cannot interpret the result or hear the heart sounds. | Measures pulse, blood pressure, and heart sounds with correct technique and interprets the readings against normal ranges. |
| 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 reading plus meaning: not just producing a number, but saying what it means. Ask “is that normal, and how do you know?”
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 | Heart chambers & valves | NY / Appr / Mast | |
| 2 | The cardiac cycle & heart sounds | NY / Appr / Mast | |
| 3 | Systemic & pulmonary circulation & blood vessels | NY / Appr / Mast | |
| 4 | Blood pressure, pulse & blood composition | NY / Appr / Mast | |
| 5 | Lab technique (BP, pulse & heart sounds) | 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.