OpenSciEd Unit 7.4 · Lesson 04 · 4.A
Look for: In this assessment, look to see if students c…
From Teacher Edition
Facilitation guidance from the lesson plan — what to notice in student thinking and how to respond while teaching.
Building towards
4.A.1 Engage in argument from evidence by comparing and critiquing claims that plants take in (input) water through their roots and give off (output) water through their leaves.
What to look / listen for
- In this assessment, look to see if students can cite evidence and reasoning for water as both an input and output.
- Students may make connections to the Inside Our Bodies Unit in terms of breathing (cellular respiration). Students may make connections to the Inside Our Bodies Unit and Bath Bombs Unit in terms of chemical reactions as a means of rearranging the components of molecules.
- Students may think that the water does not change in the plant because it is only there to carry in the hydroponic plant food molecules.
- Students may think that molecules cannot be changed so therefore water passes through unchanged.
See Key
Lesson 4 - Student Assessment for detailed sample student responses.
What to do
It is OK if students do not yet understand what is happening inside the plant. The reasoning students use as they try to explain what happens to water inside the plant provides valuable insight into their thinking that can be leveraged in Lessons 6 and 11 where students will be able to associate different inputs and outputs with photosynthesis and cellular respiration.