Learning Performance 1: Students will construct a scientific explanation about the processes of
rock formation and rock cycling. (SEP, DCI)
Learning Performance 2: Students will construct a scientific explanation for how sedimentary
rock leads to the formation of fossils. (SEP, DCI)
Learning Performance 3: Students will use a model of rock strata to explain the relationship
between the position of the fossil and its relative age. (SEP, DCI, CCC)
Pre-Assessment Tasks
Learning Performance 1: Students will construct a scientific explanation about the processes of
rock formation and rock cycling.
1. Alvin and the chipmunks are studying rocks and minerals in school. They all have different
ideas about where rocks come from. Which of the chipmunks do you agree with? ___________
Explain your answer: ___________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
Learning Performance 2: Students will construct a scientific explanation for how sedimentary
rock leads to the formation of fossils.
3. What do fossils tell us? _______________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
4. Rate the following terms using the vocabulary rating scale
Sediment: ________
Rock Layers: ________
Tectonic Plates: ________
Erosion: ________
Petrified Fossils: ________
Molds: ________
Casts: ________
Carbon Films: ________
Trace Fossils: ________
Preserved Remains: ________
Learning Performance 3: Students will use a model of rock strata to explain the relationship
between the position of the fossil and its relative age.
!
4. Which layer is the oldest:
a) green
b) red
c) yellow
5. Explain your answer: _________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
Assessment Tasks
Name: ____________________________
Unit 5 Assessment - History of Life on Earth
Learning Performance 1: Students will construct a scientific explanation about the processes of
rock formation and rock cycling.
!
1. Claim: I think that Theodore / Alvin / Simon (circle one) is correct.
2. Evidence: He said ______________________________________________________.
3. Reasoning: The evidence proves my claim because ____________________________
______________________________________________________________________.
4.
Choose another chipmunk and explain why his statement is incorrect. ______________
_____________________________________________________________________.
!
Word Bank
Melting
Heat and Pressure
Cooling
5. Examine the diagram above, and use the word bank to label the arrows with the correct
process.
A: ___________________________
B: ___________________________
C: ___________________________
D: ___________________________
E: ___________________________
Learning Performance 2: Students will construct a scientific explanation for how sedimentary
rock leads to the formation of fossils.
!
6. A nest of 15 juvenile dinosaurs (protoceratops) was recently discovered in Mongolia. The
following steps sequence the events from a living organism to a fossil.
Step 1: Give a realistic major geologic event that could have killed these dinosaurs
(and all of the plants in the surrounding area at the same time).
____________________________________________________________________________
Step 2: What happened after these dinosaurs died that caused them to become fossils?
Be detailed and include several steps.
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
Learning Performance 3: Students will use a model of rock strata to explain the relationship
between the position of the fossil and its relative age.