Botany Curriculum Overview / 2016-2017 /
Botany Curriculum Overview / 2016-2017



Standards-Referenced Grading Basics

Evidence shows the student can... / Topic Score
Demonstrate all learning targets from Level 2, Level 3, and Level 4 / 4.0
Demonstrate all learning targets from Level 2 and Level 3 with partial success at Level 4 / 3.5
Demonstrate all learning targets from Level 2 and Level 3 / 3.0
Demonstrate all Level 2 learning targets and some of the Level 3 learning targets / 2.5
Demonstrate all learning targets from Level 2 but none of the learning targets from Level 3 / 2.0
Demonstrate some of the Level 2 learning targets and none of the Level 3 learning targets / 1.5
Demonstrate none of the learning targets from Level 2 or Level 3 / 1.0
Produce no evidence appropriate to the learning targets at any level / 0
*Students who demonstrate success at Level 3 learning targets but not Level 2 learning targets are the students for whom additional investigation and multiple opportunities are most vital.

The teacher designs instructional activities and assessments that grow and measure a student’s skills in the elements identified on our topic scales. Each scale features many such skills and knowledges, also called learning targets. These are noted on the scale below with letters (A, B, C) and occur at Levels 2 and 3 of the scale. In the grade book, a specific learning activity could be marked as being 3A, meaning that the task measured the A item at Level 3.

When the time comes to identify the Topic Score for a topic, the teacher looks at all of the pieces of the Body of Evidence for that topic. The table to the right describes what Topic Score a student receives based on what the Body of Evidence shows. The scores listed on this table are the only valid scores that may be entered into the Topic Score assignment in a grade book.

DMPS Grading Resources: grading.dmschools.org

Transitioning to the new Iowa Science Standards:

In order to ensure our current K-12 students are scientifically-literate, global citizens who are prepared for college and career success, We are in the process of transitioning to new science standards that reflect what students in grades K-12 should know and be able to do as a result of instruction. Recognizing science is not just a body of knowledge that reflects current understanding of the world; it is also a set of practices used to establish, extend, and refine that knowledge, Iowa’s Science Standards are written as a modified version of the Next Generation Science Standards and are designed to address six major conceptual shifts.

  1. The NGSS reflect how science is done in the real world by intertwining three dimensions - Scientific and Engineering Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Disciplinary Core Ideas. Scroll to the bottom of each hyperlink to see the K-12 matrix for each practice and concept.
  2. The NGSS are student performance expectations.
  3. The NGSS build coherently from grades K through 12.
  4. The NGSS focus on deeper understanding of content and applications of content.
  5. The NGSS integrate science, technology, and engineering throughout grades K–12.
  6. The NGSS correlate to the Common Core State Standards in English language arts (ELA) and mathematics.

Teacher responsibilities for the 2016-17 school year.

Working within your current curriculum, engage in the following activities over the course of next year. This is your time to intentionally focus on the crosscutting concepts and science and engineering practices before we completely switch to the new standards.

  • Focus on deliberate, guided integration of science and engineering practicesinto lessons/units. It may be helpful to record which science and engineering practices are being used by students and modeled by teachers. Explicitly address all eight practices at some point throughout the year
  • Use prompts that encourage students to identify and use appropriate crosscutting concepts. It may be helpful to post the crosscutting concepts in the room to help focus conversations and connections. Explicitly address all seven crosscutting concepts throughout the year.
  • Field test lessons/unit and classroom assessments that are intentionally focused on building students’ learning toward each of the dimensions (SEPs, CCCs, and DCIs) of the new standards.
  • Begin to intentionally teach content that was not previously taught and begin to pare down content that is no longer included or no longer emphasized in the standards.
  • Begin evaluating instructional resources and begin modifying existing materials to more completely align with the standards.

Please contact Adam Puderbaugh at if you are interested in professional development opportunities around the new standards.

Content Topics / Estimated Schedule
  • Classification
/ 5 weeks
  • Cells and Tissues
/ 4 weeks
  • Roots, Stems, and Leaves
/ 5 weeks
  • Flowers Fruits, and Seeds
/ 5 weeks
Topic: Classification of Plants
Level 4 / Level 3 / Level 2 / Level 1
In addition to score 3.0 performance, the student demonstrates in-depth inferences and applications that go beyond what was taught. / Students will:
  1. Differentiate features of plants that distinguish them from other living and non-living things.
  2. Distinguish among the six kingdoms and three domains and give representative organisms for each.
  3. Interpret features that distinguish bryophytes from other plants
  4. Compare features of seeds with those of spores
  5. Summarize the features that distinguish gymnosperms from seedless vascular plants
  6. Summarize features that distinguish angiosperms from other plants
  7. Distinguish between monocots and eudicots and list specific examples
  8. Summarize the scientific process and explain how science differs from other human endeavors.
  9. Observe and begin to identify common houseplants, garden plants, or landscape plants that I may see in my everyday life.
/ Students will:
Recognize or recall specific vocabulary such as:
  1. Nonvascular, vascular, bryophyte, tissue, seed, angiosperm, gymnosperm, dicot, monocot, mosses, liverworts, hornworts, algae
Students will:
  1. Describe the field of botany andsome disciplines associated with it.
  2. Name and describe common bryophyte examples
  3. Describe common examples of seedless vascular plants
  4. Name and briefly describe common phyla of gymnosperms
  5. Describe the ecological significance of gymnosperms
  6. Describe the economic and ecological significance of angiosperms
  7. Briefly describe characteristics of common flowering plant families
/ Student’s performance reflects insufficient progress towards foundational skills and knowledge.
Topic: Cells and Tissues
Level 4 / Level 3 / Level 2 / Level 1
In addition to score 3.0 performance, the student demonstrates in-depth inferences and applications that go beyond what was taught. / Students will:
  1. Conclude what is meant by growth in plants and how it differs from growth in animals.
  2. Discuss the plant body including the root system and the shoot system
  3. Summarize the similarities and differences between plant cells and animal cells
  4. Plan and conduct an experiment to determine the effect of different types of water on plants. (vary concentrations of salt)
  5. Compare and contrast the role of photosynthesis and cellular respiration in plants.
  6. Identify patterns present in plant tissues that led to their classification as a specific tissue
/ Students will:
Recognize or recall specific vocabulary such as:
  1. Cell wall, chloroplast, pigments, central vacuole, ground tissue, dermal/epidermal, vascular tissue, meristematic tissue, photosynthesis, cellular respiration
Basic knowledge such as:
  1. Describe a plant cells commonorganelles and their function
  2. Describe the ground, vascular, anddermal tissue system of plants
  3. Describe the major types of plant cells
  4. Identify the major types of plant tissues
  5. Distinguish among the functions of plant cells and tissues
/ Student’s performance reflects insufficient progress towards foundational skills and knowledge.
Topic: Roots, Stems, and Leaves
Level 4 / Level 3 / Level 2 / Level 1
In addition to score 3.0 performance, the student demonstrates in-depth inferences and applications that go beyond what was taught. / Students will:
  1. Compare and contrast the structures in eudicot stems verses monocot stems.
  2. Describe and distinguish between the structures of stems and roots.
  3. Compare and contrast leaf structures in eudicots and monocots.
  1. Create and explanation based on evidence for how roots have impacted human populations.
  2. Illustrate transpiration and describe its effects on the plant.
  1. Describe some modified leaves and interpret their respective functions.
  2. Plan and conduct an investigation to explore the effect of specific stimuli on plant tropism. (Types of stimuli: chemicals, gravity, sun, water, light, temperature, touch, etc.)
/ Students will:
Recognize or recall specific vocabulary such as:
  1. Roots, stems, leaves, venation, petiole, blade, margin, dicot, monocot, woody, herbaceous, tropism, eudicot, stomata
Basic knowledge such as:
  1. Describe the functions of roots andhow they are different from shoots. (anddifferences in eudicot and monocot roots)
  2. Identify various types of roots andtheir various modifications.
  3. Describe functions of stems. (As seenin herbaceous stems and woody stems)
  4. Identify the various stems that arespecialized for asexual reproduction.
  5. Describe the major tissues of a leaf.
  6. Describe the function of the stomata.
/ Student’s performance reflects insufficient progress towards foundational skills and knowledge.
Topic: Flowers, Fruits, and Seeds
Level 4 / Level 3 / Level 2 / Level 1
In addition to score 3.0 performance, the student demonstrates in-depth inferences and applications that go beyond what was taught. / Students will:
  1. Interpret the difference between pollination and fertilization.
  2. Summarize the growth patterns seen in early germination and recognize environmental factors that influence seed germination
  3. Illustrate the difference between monocot and dicot seeds
  4. Plan and conduct an investigation to identify the environmental factors necessary for specific seed germination

  5. Use materials to design a solution to a human problem by mimicking how plants use their external parts to help them survive, grow, and meet their needs
/ Students will:
Recognize or recall specific vocabulary such as:
  1. Anther, pistil, petal, stigma, style, ovary, sepal, peduncle, stamen, epicotyl, cotyledon, radicle, seed coat, hypocotyl, berry, drupe, pome, legume, nut, aggregate, multiple
Basic knowledge such as:
  1. Label the parts of a flower anddescribe the functions of each part.
  2. Compare different methods of pollination
  3. List and define main parts of a seed
  4. Distinguish among different types of fruitand cite methods of seed and fruitdispersal.
/ Student’s performance reflects insufficient progress towards foundational skills and knowledge.
Skill / Skill Standards / Content Topics / Sample Tasks
Reading in Science
Throughout Year / Follow precisely a complex multistep procedure when carrying out experiments, taking measurements, or performing technical tasks, attending to special cases or exceptions defined in the text.
Determine the meaning of symbols, key terms, and other domain-specific words and phrases as they are used in a specific scientific or technical context relevant to grades 9–10 texts and topics.
Translate quantitative or technical information expressed in words in a text into visual form (e.g., a table or chart) and translate information expressed visually or mathematically (e.g., in an equation) into words.
By the end of grade 10, read and comprehend science/technical texts in the grades 9–10 text complexity band independently and proficiently. /
  • Following Textual Procedures

Skill / Skill Standards / Content Topics / Sample Tasks
Writing in Science
Throughout Year / Write informative/explanatory texts, including the narration of historical events, scientific procedures/ experiments, or technical processes.
Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a specific purpose and audience.
Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products, taking advantage of technology’s capacity to link to other information and to display information flexibly and dynamically. /
  • Technical Writing
/
  • Lab Reports
  • Writing procedures
  • Explanation and justification of mathematical solutions with words

Skill / Skill Standards
Science Inquiry
Throughout Year / Identify questions and concepts that guide scientific investigations.
Design and conduct a scientific investigation.
Uses technology and mathematics to improve investigations and communications.
Formulates and revises scientific explanations and models using logic and evidence.
Think critically and logically to make the relationships between evidence and explanations.
Use mathematics in all aspects of scientific inquiry.
Communicate and defend scientific procedures and explanations.
Recognize and analyze alternative explanations and predictions.
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