Brown Bear Hibernation

15.B Construct an explanation by applying scientific ideas and evidence to show how bears obtain energy to survive for several months without eating during hibernation.

15.B Construct an explanation by applying scientific ideas and evidence to show how bears obtain energy to survive for several months without eating during hibernation.

See detailed sample responses and scoring guidance in Key for Brown Bear Hibernation Task and Bears Assessment Modeling Rubric.

This lesson includes a transfer task to give students an opportunity to use the three dimensions to make sense of a different phenomenon. This is meant to be a summative assessment task for the unit and gives you a grading opportunity. The task includes a scoring guide, as well as a modeling rubric for scoring the modeling question. Scoring guides are meant to highlight important ideas that students should be including in their responses to the prompts. They are listed as bullet points, so you can decide how to score them appropriately to the norms in your classroom. If students share these ideas elsewhere in the assessment, it is up to you to decide if that understanding is sufficiently demonstrated.

If your students are struggling or you think they will need support in creating the model, there is a modified student assessment Version 2: Brown Bear Hibernation Task that gives students the components and interactions they will need in their models. Reviewing what the class has figured out through answering the questions on the Driving Question Board is one way to help students to prepare for the summative assessment. Reviewing these questions is also a good formative assessment to see if there are any pieces that need to be revisited.