Water Systems Rubric – Grade 8
Analyze the impact of
natural and humaninduced changes to
the characteristics
and distribution of
water in local,
regional, and national
ecosystems
Examine and describe
the ways wind, water
and ice have shaped
and continue to shape
the Canadian
landscape
Name __________________
Fully meeting expectations,
with enriched understanding
(EU)
You demonstrate an in depth
understanding of many of the
personal, societal, economic
and environmental impacts
of a variety of natural and
human-induced changes on
the characteristics and
distribution of water in many
ecosystems. Your analysis is
insightful and your evidence
is detailed and highly
relevant.
Fully meeting grade level
expectations (FM)
Mostly meeting grade level
expectations (MM)
Not yet meeting grade level
expectations (NY)
On your own, you can
clearly describe a number
of the personal, societal,
economic and
environmental impacts of
natural and humaninduced changes on
characteristics and
distribution of water in
various ecosystems. You
can provide reasonable
and clear evidence of
your analysis.
With help, you can describe some
of the impacts of natural and
human-induced changes on
characteristics and distribution of
water in some ecosystems. You
can provide some evidence of
your analysis but you need to
develop your evidence so it fully
supports your thoughts. Think of
all the ways changes can impact
water distribution in ecosystems.
You have a deep
understanding of how wind,
water and ice have shaped
and will continue to shape the
Canadian landscape. You are
able to compare and contrast
the effects in various places
and can provide details and
examples relevant to your
descriptions.
On your own, you can
examine and accurately
describe many of the
ways wind, water, and ice
have shaped and will
continue to shape the
Canadian landscape. Your
descriptions and
predictions are based on
evidence.
With help, you can examine and
describe some of the ways wind,
water, and ice have shaped the
Canadian landscape. What are
some of the less obvious ways
these elements impact the
landscape? How will this continue
into the future and what factors
allow you to make this
prediction?
You are having trouble
describing the impacts of
changes on characteristics and
distribution of water in
ecosystems. What kinds of
changes can happen in
ecosystems? What are the
characteristics of water in
ecosystems? How is water
distributed in ecosystems?
How does this vary around the
world? How can you support
your understanding of these
questions?
You are having trouble
describing the various ways
wind, water, and ice have
shaped the Canadian
landscape. What does wind do
to land? What does water and
ice do? How do you know? Can
you look around you to find
evidence of this impact?
Analyze natural
factors that affect
productivity and
species distribution in
marine and fresh
water environments
Analyze human
practices that affect
productivity and
species distribution in
marine and fresh
water environments
You can confidently and
insightfully analyze natural
factors that affect
productivity and species
distribution in marine and
fresh water environments and
can justify your strong
analysis with rich and
comprehensive details and
examples.
You can confidently and
insightfully analyze human
practices that affect
productivity and species
distribution in marine and
fresh water environments and
can justify your strong
analysis with rich and
comprehensive details and
examples.
Feedback:
On your own, you can
analyze natural factors
that affect productivity
and species distribution in
marine and fresh water
environments. You can
support your analysis
with relevant details and
examples.
With help, you can analyze some
of the natural factors that affect
productivity and species
distribution in water
environments. You can support
your analysis with simple details
and examples. Spend some time
considering additional natural
factors that may affect marine
and fresh water life. Look at
several examples in order to
more strongly support your
analysis.
On your own, you can
With help, you can analyze some
analyze human practices
of the human practices that affect
that affect productivity
productivity and species
and species distribution in distribution in water
marine and fresh water
environments. You can support
environments. You can
your analysis with simple details
support your analysis
and examples. Spend some time
with relevant details and
considering additional human
examples.
practices that may affect marine
and fresh water life. Look at
several examples in order to
more strongly support your
analysis.
You are having trouble
analyzing natural factors that
affect productivity and species
distribution in marine and fresh
water environments. What are
natural factors that affect
environments? How is a fresh
water environment different
from marine? What does
species distribution refer to?
What does productivity refer
to?
You are having trouble
analyzing human practices that
affect productivity and species
distribution in marine and fresh
water environments. What are
human practices that affect
environments? How is a fresh
water environment different
from marine? What does
species distribution refer to?
What does productivity refer
to?