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 08 learning pathway.
The student demonstrates the following:
Five science criteria plus separately reported integration (Page 3).
Use supplied records or approved media/non-intervention observation; no feeding, handling or disturbance.
The student describes behavior without guessing why (Page 4).
Record evidence mode, sampling times, missing data and limits; approval is not performed fieldwork.
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 record what they see and justify the animal biology behind it. 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Behavior | ||
| Innate influence | inherited developmental contribution | Not established from one clip; innate and learned influences can interact |
| Learned behavior | acquired behavior | Shaped by experience (a songbird's local song) |
| Fixed action pattern | FAP | A set behavior run to completion once triggered |
| Sign stimulus | releaser | The signal that triggers a fixed action pattern |
| Ecology | ||
| Ethogram | operational behavior codebook | Define mutually exclusive codes; description is not motive |
| Niche | ecological role | The role and place a species fills in its community |
| Food web | feeding network | Who eats whom; wider than a single food chain |
| Predator-prey pressure | population control | Shapes how populations rise and fall |
| Instantaneous sampling | state at a scheduled instant | Visible-state fractions are not exact durations or event counts |
| Event rate | events per visible minute | Use separately timed visible seconds; report missing observations |
The split between Proficient and Mastery is what before why: the student records the behavior first and reads motive only when the data supports it. Ask “what did the animal actually do, and for how long?”
| Criterion | Developing | Proficient | Mastery |
|---|---|---|---|
| Innate vs. learned behavior | Assigns a developmental cause from appearance alone. | Defines innate/learned influences but overinterprets one clip. | Uses published evidence to distinguish innate and learned influences; explains why one behavioral log cannot establish developmental history. |
| Fixed action patterns & signaling | Invents a motive or treats every repeated act as a fixed action pattern. | Describes a sourced pattern but overstates the causal evidence. | Explains a published pattern or signal, separates observation from causal interpretation and identifies missing evidence without inducing an animal response. |
| Observing & recording behavior | Guesses motives or mixes scans, events and durations. | Uses operational codes but needs help with missing data or denominators. | Builds operational codes; independently calculates visible-denominator state percentages and events per visible minute, reports missing data and separates scans from durations. |
| Ecology (niches, food webs, populations) | Treats pecking as proven food intake or a population trend. | Suggests an ecological link but overgeneralizes one repeated record. | Uses sourced food-web/context evidence, distinguishes individual behavior from population evidence and states why a short log cannot establish ecological cause or adaptive history. |
| Lab technique (safe observation & evidence) | Disturbs animals, invents a log or claims unperformed fieldwork. | Records approved evidence but omits schedule, source or revisions. | Independently codes approved media/non-intervention observation or analyzes a fresh supplied record; retains schedule, visibility and evidence mode, then defends limits and transfer. |
| 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. |
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 | Innate vs. learned behavior | Dev / Prof / Mast | |
| 2 | Fixed action patterns & signaling | Dev / Prof / Mast | |
| 3 | Observing & recording behavior | Dev / Prof / Mast | |
| 4 | Ecology (niches, food webs, populations) | Dev / Prof / Mast | |
| 5 | Lab technique (safe observation & evidence) | 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.