Balanced Science Biology Quarter 1 Cycle 1

Day 1: NECAP Practice

Day 2: Scientific Method Practice: Writing a Hypothesis  Write a prediction for the following problem: For an experiment, you collect some green material from the inside wall of your science classroom fish tank and put it in an airtight container. You notice after 5 days the material turns from a green to brown color. Create a hypothesis addressing whether this material is living or non-living.  This will be assessed on a 5-0 scale using the Introduction section of the Chariho Lab Report Rubric.

Day 3: Scientific Method Practice: Feedback on Hypothesis  On this day you will pass back the work from day 2 and provide some form of feedback on this writing. This can be accomplished in a variety of ways. Here are two examples: 1) You can grade them and give them time to make corrections based on what the rubric says. 2) You can have them peer assess using the rubric and grade each others.

Day 4: Scientific Method Practice: Creating or Interpreting graphs  Analyze the graph below and write a brief summary of your analysis.  This will be assessed using the Data and Analysis section of the Chariho Lab Report Rubric.

Day 5: Scientific Method Practice: Data and Analysis Feedback  On this day you will pass back the work from day 4 and provide some form of feedback on this writing or graph. This can be accomplished in a variety of ways. Here are two examples: 1) You can grade them and give them time to make corrections based on what the rubric says. 2) You can have them peer assess using the rubric and grade each others.

Day 6: Scientific Writing – Critical Thinking  Using information from the nitrogen cycle, explain the niche of nitrogen-fixing soil bacteria. Why are they important for life?  This writing will be assessed using the Scientific Explanation Rubric / Constructed Response Rubric.

Day 7: Scientific Writing – Critical Thinking Feedback  On this day you will pass back the work from day 6 and provide some form of feedback on this writing or graph. This can be accomplished in a variety of ways. Here are two examples: 1) You can grade them and give them time to make corrections based on what the rubric says. 2) You can have them peer assess using the rubric and grade each others.

Assessment of Balanced Science:  This 7 day cycle will result in 3 on-demand pieces of work. At least 1 of these pieces per cycle, should be put into the class work category of your grade book and it should be a piece that is graded by the teacher not a peer graded piece. This gives you the option to pick and choose where you use peer vs. teacher feedback, but I would encourage you to switch it up periodically.  You will need to create two of these 7 day cycles per quarter. This will give time for completing labs and also a week off for MCA testing weeks.