OpenSciEd Unit 7.4 · Lesson 15 · 15.C
Whale Fall Task
Assessment guide
How to read student work on this assessment — standards alignment, what strong understanding looks like, and common gaps.
Learning progression
Target understanding
15.C Obtain information from multiple sources to describe that synthetic materials come from the matter and energy in natural resources and impact society.
Standards alignment
15.C Obtain information from multiple sources to describe that synthetic materials come from the matter and energy in natural resources and impact society.
What understanding looks like
Strong
- Whale Fall Task (End of Unit Assessment) for sample student responses.
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
15.C Obtain information from multiple sources to describe that synthetic materials come from the matter and energy in natural resources and impact society.
What to look / listen for
See Key
Whale Fall Task (End of Unit Assessment) for sample student responses.
What to do
If students struggle to obtain information from the infographic and text about where the matter came from to make these synthetic materials, remind them to mark up the text by circling key words and underlining main ideas.
Universal Design for Learning
This assessment encourages students to demonstrate their understanding of key skills and concepts from the unit so far through multiple different modalities, including writing to explain and drawing models. Some students may benefit from using multiple modalities to show 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 or another student acting as a scribe to record their thinking on paper. Other students may benefit from using gestures rather than images to describe parts of their models. Some students might also benefit from using manipulatives to represent parts of the model and to support a written or verbal explanation of what’s happening in each part of the model. In each case, encouraging students to use multiple representations to show their thinking creates a clear, accessible, equitable pathway for all students to demonstrate proficiency.
Materials
Last updated from official OpenSciEd on 7/1/2026
Student handout
7.4 Lesson 15 Assessment Whale Fall Task.docx
Google Form
Digitized — add an editable copy to your Google Forms
Teacher guide
7.4 Lesson 15 Teacher Edition.docx
Answer key (recommended)
7.4 Lesson 15 Answer Key Key Whale Fall.docx