EQuIP Rubric for Lessons &
Units: Science
Reviewer Name or ID: This review represents a synthesis of multiple reviews
Grade: Middle School
Science Lesson/Unit Title: Carbon Sink
Note: For the purposes of the rubric a lesson is a lesson is defined as: a coherent set of instructional activities and assessments aligned to the NGSS that may
extend over a few to several class periods. As this is a longer lesson by this definition, the additional criteria for longer lessons or units were considered.
I. Alignment to the NGSS
The lesson or unit aligns with the conceptual shifts of the NGSS:
Criteria
Specific evidence from materials and reviewers’ reasoning
Version 2 – published September 2014
View Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/.
Educators may use or adapt. If modified, please attribute EQuIP and re-title. .
Suggestions for improvement
EQuIP Rubric for Lessons & Units: Science
A. Grade-appropriate elements of the science and
engineering practice(s), disciplinary core idea(s),
and crosscutting concept(s), work together to
support students in three-dimensional learning to
make sense of phenomena and/or to design
solutions to problems.
i. Provides opportunities to develop and use
specific elements of the practice(s) to make
sense of phenomena and/or to design solutions
to problems.
ii. Provides opportunities to develop and use
specific elements of the disciplinary core idea(s)
to make sense of phenomena and/or to design
solutions to problems.
iii. Provides opportunities to develop and use
specific elements of the crosscutting concept(s)
to make sense of phenomena and/or to design
solutions to problems.
iv. The three dimensions work together to support
students to make sense of phenomena and/or to
design solutions to problems.
i.
Evidence of opportunities for students to develop and use the practices
include:
 Students are analyzing data when they use their graphical display of the
data to figure out that a tree’s species and size affect its ability to store
carbon and as diameter increases, carbon capacity increases.
 Students are analyzing and interpreting data when they make statements
based on their data in the “What I See / What it Means” handout. The
“What I See” and “What it Means” chart helps students as they learn to
analyze data. It is especially helpful to note that not every observation
made needs to be paired with a “what it means” statement.
 Students are asked to think of questions about connections between plants
and carbon dioxide levels based on the data they collected and analyzed.
 Students are asked to create an argument when they are asked to use their
results to write and support a claim about why the solution in the cup with
the plant returned back to the original blue color.
 Students evaluate information in reading the texts to obtain scientific
information about deforestation to describe patterns in forest losses.
ii. Evidence of opportunities for students to develop and use the DCIs include:
 Students are building toward a necessary component of ESS3.D by
collecting evidence that the presence of a plant indicates a decrease in
carbon dioxide levels leading them to understand plants absorb carbon
dioxide.
 Students use their observations of the solution’s color change to construct
meaning of the role plants play in ecosystems.
 Students develop an argument for in the final task.
iii. Evidence of opportunities for students to develop and use the CCCs include:
 Students use the crosscutting concept of patterns to make connections
between local forest loss/gain data to Costa Rican data.
 Students implicitly utilize the CCC of stability and change when evaluating
the impact of deforestation in Costa Rica to construct knowledge of how
the system changes over time with regards to specific factors eliciting the
change.
 Students use the crosscutting concept of cause and effect in the writing
performance task making connections between carbon dioxide levels and
the removal of trees in the local community and elsewhere.
 While the CCC are present they may still be unnoticed and unhelpful to
students.
iv. Reasoning about whether the three dimensions work together here.
 In Investigation 1, students collect and analyze data of local trees and
observe patterns in the data to identify the relationship between tree
species/size and its ability to store carbon. However, it is not explicitly used
to construct knowledge of ESS3.D regarding the connection to Earth’s rise
in mean surface temperature.
 At the end of Investigation 2, students generate claims of patterns they
observed in Costa Rican forest loss and its impact on carbon dioxide levels
Version 2 – published September 2014
View Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/.
Educators may use or adapt. If modified, please attribute EQuIP and re-title.
 When students are asked to construct an
argument, additional supports would be helpful to
students. (More suggestions in II.E)
 When there are twenty free minutes while
students are waiting to make observations,
students could be engaging in learning. Perhaps
this would be a good time for them to obtain
information or begin asking questions.
 Students should discuss the readings once they
are done in order to give them an opportunity to
“determine the central ideas and scientific
information.” Students could also research local
information and then compare local information
to that of Costa Rica.
 While students are analyzing data, this practice
could be made to be more robust at this gradelevel through more specific and rigorous
questions.
 When students share their thoughts and ideas on
page 3, they could also be asking their questions.
 The note that this lesson does not fully address
ESS3.D is helpful, but it should also note that this
lesson focuses specifically on carbon dioxide levels
and does not make the connection to the rise in
Earth’s mean surface temperature.
 The crosscutting concepts, especially cause and
effect, should be more robust and explicit. There
are many opportunities and places where it is
implicit that could be reworked.
EQuIP Rubric for Lessons & Units: Science
to construct meaning of the relationship between forest losses and gains
and its impact on carbon dioxide levels (used to build toward ESS3.D).
A unit or longer lesson will also:
Criteria:
Specific evidence from materials and reviewers’ reasoning
Suggestions for improvement
B. Lessons fit together coherently targeting a set of
performance expectations.
i. Each lesson links to previous lessons and
provides a need to engage in the current lesson.
ii. The lessons help students develop proficiency on
a targeted set of performance expectations.
i.
Bundling this PE with others would make for a richer
learning experience (for example, MS-PS1-1 and MSPS1-4).
Connections to the beginning of Investigation 1 are explicit where the use of
the Carbon Sink Calculator makes reference to the Bromothymol blue
investigation using an indicator to make scientific observations.
Each investigation in the lesson is explicit about connections and coherence
to previous lessons. “Students figured out _______ in Investigation 1” and it
is utilized to engage students in practices that construct ideas to explain the
phenomena in subsequence lessons.
ii. Students formulate connections between deforestation and carbon dioxide
levels but do not make explicit connections to MS-ESS3-5 with regards to
global temperature.
Perhaps students should know the difference
between climate and temperature. If so this should
either be included (in which case the DCI and PE
associated with this should be included as well) or it
should be noted as required perquisite knowledge.
Students may also benefit from knowing about simple
molecules and that matter can exist as solids, liquids
and gases.
Students need to know that CO2 is exhaled when we
breathe (respiration). If respiration is a prerequisite,
that should also be noted (the same is true if
photosynthesis is a prerequisite) or it should be
included.
C. Where appropriate, disciplinary core ideas from
different disciplines are used together to explain
phenomena.
Students make connections to PS3.D by investigating the production of carbon
dioxide through the process of cellular respiration.
As noted above, the lesson could connect to physical
science by bringing in simple molecules and that
matter can exist as solids, liquids and gases.
Stronger connections should be made to PS3.D with
regards to the process of photosynthesis.
D. Where appropriate, crosscutting concepts are used
in the explanation of phenomena from a variety of
disciplines.
E. Provides grade-appropriate connection(s) to the
Common Core State Standards in Mathematics
and/or English Language Arts & Literacy in
History/Social Studies, Science and Technical
Subjects.
There is no evidence of using the crosscutting concepts to explain phenomena
from a variety of science disciplines.
Explicit connections to Literacy are evident when students explore Costa Rican
and local data through engaging in National Geographic and WWF articles
supported with guided questions that support varying levels of learners.
Students use web resources to explore tree coverage changes in specific
geographic areas.
If the lesson or unit is not closely aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards, it may not be appropriate to move on to the second and third categories. Professional
judgment should be used when weighing the individual criterion. For example, a lesson without crosscutting concepts explicitly called out may be easier to revise than one without
appropriate disciplinary core ideas; such a difference may determine whether reviewers believe the lesson merits continued evaluation or not.
Version 2 – published September 2014
View Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/.
Educators may use or adapt. If modified, please attribute EQuIP and re-title.
EQuIP Rubric for Lessons & Units: Science
II. Instructional Supports
The lesson or unit supports instruction and learning for all students:
Criteria
A. Engages students in authentic and meaningful scenarios that
reflect the practice of science and engineering as experienced
in the real world and that provide students with a purpose
(e.g., making sense of phenomena and/or designing solutions
to problems).
i. The context, including phenomena, questions, or problems,
motivates students to engage in three-dimensional learning.
ii. Provides students with relevant phenomena (either firsthand
experiences or through representations) to make sense of
and/or relevant problems to solve.
iii. Engages students in multiple practices that work together
with disciplinary core ideas and crosscutting concepts to
support students in making sense of phenomena and/or
designing solutions to problems.
iv. Provides opportunities for students to connect their
explanation of a phenomenon and/or their design solution to
a problem to their own experience.
v. When engineering performance expectations are included,
they are used along with disciplinary core ideas from
physical, life, or earth and space sciences.
B. Develops deeper understanding of the practices, disciplinary
core ideas, and crosscutting concepts by identifying and
building on students’ prior knowledge.
Specific evidence from materials and reviewers’ reasoning
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.
The phenomena of the solution turning from blue to yellow is utilized
to engage students in asking questions regarding why it happened.
Costa Rican forest loss data proposes a problem to solve, but it lacks
relevancy for students living in North America.
Students engage in collecting and analyzing data, asking questions,
and creating an argument to identify patterns in forest loss/gain data
constructing knowledge of the relationship between both tree
species/size and forest density to store carbon.
In Investigation 1, students discuss how trees are different based on
their own experiences observing them in nature.
Engineering performance expectations are not used.
Student prior knowledge is accessed by asking students to identify
differences among trees in their local community. That is used with data
collection and analysis along with patterns to make sense of the
relationship between tree species/size and its ability to store carbon.
C. Uses scientifically accurate and grade-appropriate scientific
information, phenomena, and representations to support
students’ three-dimensional learning.
Science concepts and phenomena are grade-appropriate and scientifically
accurate.
D. Provides opportunities for students to express, clarify, justify,
interpret, and represent their ideas and respond to peer and
teacher feedback orally and/or in written form as appropriate
to support student’s three-dimensional learning.
Teacher and peer feedback are implied throughout discussions, but not
explicit in the materials.
E. Provides guidance for teachers to support differentiated
instruction in the classroom so that every student’s needs are
addressed by including:
i. Suggestions for how to connect instruction to the
students' home, neighborhood, community and/or culture
as appropriate.
ii. Appropriate reading, writing, listening, and/or speaking
i. Students are asked to share differences they could identify in local
trees from personal experiences. The final task asks students to think
about their local community.
ii. The literacy suggestions, while not an alternative, will support students
as they go through the readings.
iii. Guiding questions for struggling students accompany literacy
suggestions. The “What I See” and “What it Means” chart helps
Version 2 – published September 2014
View Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/.
Educators may use or adapt. If modified, please attribute EQuIP and re-title.
Suggestions for improvement
Makes the driving question more related to
the students’ lives. For instance, ask: “When
trees are removed from our local community,
what happens to the carbon dioxide levels in
the atmosphere?” As the lesson goes on there
are more connections to students lives, but it
may be beneficial to start the lesson in this
way.
Consider restructuring the anchoring
phenomena by blowing air from an air pump
into one jar (observing it doesn’t change color)
and blowing into the other (observing it does
change color). That frames the question
“What is one jar that is not in the other?”
“Where did it come from?” “How?”
Consider having the student do this again after
being exposed to the carbon sink calculator to
make predictions about how local trees may
vary in their ability to store carbon.
When students are asked to construct an
argument, additional supports would be
helpful to students. Perhaps sentence starts
could be used: such as: My claim is …, My
evidence is… My reason is… This could be
helpful to all students depending on where in
the learning sequence this falls and students’
EQuIP Rubric for Lessons & Units: Science
alternatives (e.g., translations, picture support, graphic
organizers) for students who are English language learners,
have special needs, or read well below the grade level.
iii. Suggested extra support (e.g., phenomena,
representations, tasks) for students who are struggling to
meet the performance expectations.
iv. Extensions for students with high interest or who have
already met the performance expectations to develop
deeper understanding of the practices, disciplinary core
ideas, and crosscutting concepts.
students as they learn to analyze data. It is especially helpful to note
that not every observation made needs to be paired with a “what it
means” statement.
iv. Extensions for high level learners or those with high interest are not
included.
ability with writing arguments. Or this could
be an additional support for a student who
needs it
A unit or longer lesson will also:
Criteria
Specific evidence from materials and reviewers’ reasoning
Suggestions for improvement
Students formulate claims regarding relationships between forest losses and
gains making connections to local data. This builds toward the culminating
writing task.
Consider implementing self-reflection and
peer feedback early on generating claims to
support the culminating writing task.
F. Provides guidance for teachers throughout the unit for how
lessons build on each other to support students developing
deeper understanding of the practices, disciplinary core ideas, and
crosscutting concepts over the course of the unit.
G. Provides supports to help students engage in the practices as
needed and gradually adjusts supports over time so that students
are increasingly responsible for making sense of phenomena
and/or designing solutions to problems.
III. Monitoring Student Progress
The lesson or unit supports monitoring student progress:
Criteria
Specific evidence from materials and reviewers’ reasoning
Suggestions for improvement
A. Elicits direct, observable evidence of threedimensional learning by students using practices with
core ideas and crosscutting concepts to make sense of
phenomena and/or to design solutions.
B. Formative assessments of three-dimensional learning
are embedded throughout the instruction.
Direct, observable evidence is elicited when students produce artifacts
such as the chart and their written argument. There are examples
throughout the lesson, some of which are noted in I.A.
As noted previously, the CCC needs to be more explicit so
that teachers feel confident that they are able to see
evidence of student understanding of this dimensions.
The “What I See / What it Means” protocol is implicitly formative
assessment conditional upon the fact that instruction is guided by
student responses.
Consider building in self and peer assessment strategies as
students reason about the relationship between forest
loss/gain and carbon dioxide levels.
It is implied that students receive feedback from the teacher through
informal assessment and class discussion.
Formative assessment needs to be utilized to guide
instruction. Consider alternative pathways that activity
may take and build that into the lesson.
C. Includes aligned rubrics and scoring guidelines that
provide guidance for interpreting student performance
along the three dimensions to support teachers in (a)
planning instruction and (b) providing ongoing
A rubric does exist that, at least implicitly, addresses the three
dimensions.
Version 2 – published September 2014
View Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/.
Educators may use or adapt. If modified, please attribute EQuIP and re-title.
EQuIP Rubric for Lessons & Units: Science
feedback to students.
D. Assessing student proficiency using methods,
vocabulary, representations, and examples that are
accessible and unbiased for all students.
Assessment methods are unbiased.


A unit or longer lesson will also:
Criteria
Specific evidence from materials and reviewers’ reasoning
Suggestions for improvement
E. Includes pre-, formative, summative, and selfassessment measures that assess threedimensional learning.
Pre-assessment is evident when students share how trees may be
different from one another; formative assessment is evidence in the
“What I See / What it Means” activity; and summative assessment is
evident through the culminating writing task, but no rubric is present.
See II.B.
F. Provides multiple opportunities for students to
demonstrate performance of practices
connected with their understanding of
disciplinary core ideas and crosscutting concepts
and receive feedback.
As noted in I.A, students have multiple opportunities to demonstrate the
performance of analyzing data.
Overall Summary Comments:
Version 2 – published September 2014
View Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/.
Educators may use or adapt. If modified, please attribute EQuIP and re-title.