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.
The student demonstrates the following:
Five science criteria plus separately reported integration (Page 3).
Mount a live sample; find and track organisms.
The student names each organism on sight (Page 4).
Sample, organisms found, and a labeled sketch 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 hold a moving organism in view and name it while handling the culture safely. 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Making the mount | ||
| Living wet mount | fresh mount | A small drop under a coverslip, kept alive to move and view |
| Approved specimen source | prepared slide / recorded micrograph / reviewed teaching sample | Use instructor-approved or risk-assessed material; do not culture unknown environmental or human samples at home |
| High power (40×) | high-dry objective | Needed to resolve bacteria and small protists |
| Culture hygiene | safe disposal | Handle and dispose of live cultures safely |
| What you find | ||
| Protist | single-celled eukaryote | Amoeba, paramecium, euglena — motile; chase with the stage |
| Algae | green cells / colonies | Recognized by chloroplasts; drift, not swim |
| Bacteria | prokaryotes | Tiny; classified by shape — rod, coccus, spiral |
| Debris | non-living particle | Drifts passively; not an organism — the key discriminator |
| Criterion | Developing | Proficient | Mastery |
|---|---|---|---|
| Approved specimen preparation | Uses unapproved material or cannot follow the selected procedure. | Prepares approved material but loses the field or confuses evidence types. | Follows the instructor-approved preparation and observation method, distinguishing live, prepared, and recorded evidence; practical technique is directly observed. |
| Finding & tracking motile protists | Cannot spot a moving organism or loses it the instant it swims. | Sees something move but cannot follow it with the stage. | Locates and tracks a motile protist — amoeba, paramecium, or euglena — steering the stage to keep it in the field. |
| Recognizing algae | Cannot tell algae from other green material. | Suspects algae but cannot point to the feature that marks it. | Recognizes algae by their chloroplasts and form and separates them from plant debris in the mount. |
| Recognizing bacterial shapes | Names features that the image cannot resolve. | Suggests a shape but ignores preparation, scale, or contrast. | Describes bacterial morphology only where an approved preparation or image resolves it; shape alone does not identify species or pathogenicity. |
| Evidence limits & biological handling | Treats every moving speck as a living organism or ignores source approval. | Uses some distinguishing evidence but overlooks drift or handling limits. | Distinguishes supported organism observations from debris or drift and follows the approved handling/disposal route; no unknown-culture activity is inferred. |
| 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. |
The split between Proficient and Mastery is self-powered motion: an organism swims or crawls against the drift; debris just floats. Ask “is it moving on its own, or being carried?”
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 | Approved specimen preparation | Dev / Prof / Mast | |
| 2 | Finding & tracking motile protists | Dev / Prof / Mast | |
| 3 | Recognizing algae | Dev / Prof / Mast | |
| 4 | Recognizing bacterial shapes | Dev / Prof / Mast | |
| 5 | Evidence limits & biological handling | 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.