OpenSciEd Unit 8.5 · Lesson 17 · 17.B
Redwoods 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
17.B Construct an explanation about how environmental and genetic factors influence the growth of organisms and how organisms reproduce, either sexually or asexually, and transfer their genetic information to their offspring.
Standards alignment
17.B Construct an explanation about how environmental and genetic factors influence the growth of organisms and how organisms reproduce, either sexually or asexually, and transfer their genetic information to their offspring.
What understanding looks like
Strong
- See detailed responses in Key for Redwoods Assessment and scoring guidance in Rubric for Redwoods Assessment.
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
17.B Construct an explanation about how environmental and genetic factors influence the growth of organisms and how organisms reproduce, either sexually or asexually, and transfer their genetic information to their offspring.
What to look / listen for
and listen for
See detailed responses in Key for Redwoods Assessment and scoring guidance in Rubric for Redwoods Assessment.
What to do
If students need extra support you can choose to allow them to use their science notebook or classroom consensus models to help them on this task. Since the phenomenon of height variation and reproduction in redwood trees is new, they will not find exact answers to the assessment in their notes. You can also help students refer to the information the class discussed in this lesson’s slides, which is summarized for students at the beginning of the assessment.
Materials
Last updated from official OpenSciEd on 8/17/2026
Student handout
8.5 Lesson 17 Assessment Redwoods Assessment.docx
Google Form
Digitized — add an editable copy to your Google Forms
Teacher guide
8.5 Lesson 17 Teacher Edition.docx
Answer key (recommended)
8.5 Lesson 17 Answer Key Key for Redwoods.docx
Rubric (recommended)
Not applicable for this assessment