OpenSciEd Unit 7.4 · Lesson 08 · 8.B
Individual Midpoint Assessment
Assessment guide
How to read student work on this assessment — standards alignment, what strong understanding looks like, and common gaps.
Learning progression
Target understanding
8.B Argue from evidence that carbon dioxide is an input for plants and oxygen is an output.
Standards alignment
8.B Argue from evidence that carbon dioxide is an input for plants and oxygen is an output.
What understanding looks like
Strong
- See Individual Midpoint Assessment for sample student responses. Look for students to identify that the plants give off oxygen for the scientist to breathe in and glucose for the scientist to eat, which provides calories. The scientist is breathing out carbon dioxide, which would accumulate to high levels but the plants take in the carbon dioxide and water that the scientist breathes out.
From Teacher Edition
View assessment opportunity →Facilitation guidance from the lesson plan — what to notice in student thinking and how to respond while teaching.
Building towards
8.B Argue from evidence that carbon dioxide is an input for plants and oxygen is an output.
What to look / listen for
See Individual Midpoint Assessment for sample student responses. Look for students to identify that the plants give off oxygen for the scientist to breathe in and glucose for the scientist to eat, which provides calories. The scientist is breathing out carbon dioxide, which would accumulate to high levels but the plants take in the carbon dioxide and water that the scientist breathes out.
What to do
If students struggle to argue for how the scientist can survive, ask them to look back at the inputs and outputs for the plant in their Progress Trackers.
Additional Lesson 8 Teacher Guidance
SUPPORTING STUDENTS IN MAKING CONNECTIONS IN ELA
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.6-8.1 Write arguments focused on discipline-specific content.
In this lesson, students construct a written scientific argument in Individual Midpoint Assessment. Students must introduce and support a claim about why the scientist was able to survive in the sealed box. Students are provided a scaffold with the components of a strong written scientific argument to ensure that they include each element outlined in parts A-E of this standard.
Universal Design for Learning
Some students may benefit from using other modalities, such as a drawing to express their thinking for any or all of the questions on this assessment. You may consider allowing some students to present their answers verbally with you and having a student scribe their thinking on paper. This might allow students to also use gestures to help express their understanding about how the cycle of matter and flow of energy is in the system as they explain their thinking. Encouraging students to use other modalities to show their thinking creates an equitable pathway for all students to demonstrate proficiency.
Materials
Last updated from official OpenSciEd on 7/1/2026
Student handout
7.4 Lesson 8 Assessment Individual Midpoint Assessment.docx
Google Form
Digitized — add an editable copy to your Google Forms
Teacher guide
7.4 Lesson 8 Teacher Edition.docx
Answer key (recommended)
7.4 Lesson 8 Answer Key Individual Midpoint Assessment.docx