This packet is everything a parent or guide needs to assess Unit 05 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 tracing energy through a transfer setup — a pendulum or a cart on a track — and never losing count of it.
By the end of the Energy & Its Forms unit, a student should be able to:
Six criteria, each judged Not yet / Approaching / Mastered (Page 3).
Height and motion measured live on a pendulum or a cart on a track.
The student traces the energy through the setup aloud (Page 4).
Heights, motion, and the energy story 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 measurement and trace the energy without losing count of 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Forms of energy | ||
| Kinetic energy | energy of motion | Greatest where the object moves fastest — the bottom of a swing |
| Potential energy | stored energy of position | Greatest up high or pulled back — the top of a swing |
| Energy transformation | energy changing form | Potential → kinetic and back; energy is not used up |
| Mechanical energy | kinetic + potential | The total of motion energy and stored energy in the setup |
| Tracking & conserving | ||
| Conservation of energy | energy is never lost | Total energy stays the same; it only changes form |
| Friction | rubbing resistance | Carries a little energy off as heat, so a swing dies down |
| Energy transfer | energy moving between things | Energy passes from one object or form to another |
| Joule (J) | unit of energy | The everyday unit for measuring any form of energy |
| Criterion | Not yet | Approaching | Mastered |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kinetic vs. potential energy | Cannot tell energy of motion from stored energy. | Defines each but cannot spot them in a real setup. | Identifies kinetic and potential energy in a moving system and says where each one is greatest. |
| Energy transformations | Thinks energy is used up and gone for good. | Names a transformation but skips the steps between. | Traces energy as it changes form through a pendulum swing or a roller-coaster drop. |
| Conservation of energy | Believes energy disappears at the bottom of a hill. | States that energy is conserved but cannot account for it. | Shows that total energy stays the same, accounting for the bit carried off as heat by friction. |
| Reading an energy setup | Cannot say where energy is stored or moving. | Reads one point but not the whole path. | Reads a pendulum or track at any point and describes how the energy is split there. |
| Lab technique (energy transfer) | Releases the pendulum carelessly or takes no measurement. | Measures height or motion, but not both. | Measures height and motion in an energy-transfer setup and links the two through conservation. |
| 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 the energy is accounted for: at the bottom of a swing the stored energy has become motion, not vanished. Ask “where did the energy go — and can you still find all of it?”
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 | Kinetic vs. potential energy | NY / Appr / Mast | |
| 2 | Energy transformations | NY / Appr / Mast | |
| 3 | Conservation of energy | NY / Appr / Mast | |
| 4 | Reading an energy setup | NY / Appr / Mast | |
| 5 | Lab technique (energy transfer) | 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.