Resources · Mastery
Mastery rubrics.
One rubric per unit, plus the three demonstration rubrics. Every rubric uses the same three levels — Not yet, Approaching, Mastered — so the bar is identical for every student.
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How the rubrics work
The grading philosophy behind every rubric — decisions not points, a vocabulary published in advance, three tokens that absorb a bad day, and how unit mastery becomes a letter grade.
Unit rubrics
A mastery rubric for each of the eight units. Each one names exactly what a student must be able to do — not how many points they earned — to reach Mastered.
Unit 01
The Ocean Environment
Ocean zones, salinity and seawater properties, how conditions change with depth, and currents.
Unit 02
Plankton & Primary Production
Phytoplankton and zooplankton, photosynthesis at the surface, and the base of the food web.
Unit 03
Marine Plants, Algae & Kelp Forests
Seaweeds and true marine plants, kelp forests and seagrass meadows, and their role in carbon and habitat.
Unit 04
Marine Invertebrates
The invertebrate phyla — sponges, cnidarians, molluscs, arthropods, echinoderms — and their body plans.
Unit 05
Fish & Sharks
Fish anatomy, buoyancy and gills, and cartilaginous versus bony fish.
Unit 06
Marine Reptiles, Birds & Mammals
Air-breathing marine tetrapods, diving and thermoregulation, and why whales are mammals.
Unit 07
Ocean Ecosystems
Coral reefs, the deep sea and hydrothermal vents, food webs, and symbiosis.
Unit 08
Humans & the Ocean
Fisheries and overfishing, pollution, climate change and acidification, and conservation.
Demonstration rubrics
The three live demonstrations a student defends in person. These are the AI-proof assessments — you can't paste your way through any of them.
Demonstration
Specimen-identification defense
Identifying marine specimens, naming their adaptations, and defending the structure-function and classification calls out loud.
Demonstration
Timed oceanographic data reading
Interpreting real ocean data — temperature-salinity profiles, tide tables, plankton counts — against the clock.
Demonstration
Oral lab-notebook defense
Standing behind your recorded methods, data, and reasoning out loud.