Examining Curriculum Materials: Food For Plants

Examining Curriculum Materials: IA - Unit Purpose

Learning Goal: Benchmark 5E6-8 #1: Food provides the fuel and the building material for all organisms. Plants use the energy from light to make sugars from carbon dioxide and water. This food can be used immediately or stored for later use.

Name of material: Food for Plants by Kathy Roth

Major Criterion	Indicators - What must a material do to meet the criterion?	Yes or No	Justification and Citation How does the material meet this indicator? OR Why does this material fail to meet this indicator? Be sure to give specific examples
Criterion A: Conveying unit purpose Does the material convey an overall sense of purpose and direction that is understandable and motivating to students?	1. A problem, question, representation (or otherwise identified purpose) is presented to students.	Yes	The material provides 5 activities that present the problem to the students, including brainstorming activities, and a pre-test. The Pine Seed & the Log and the Defining Food activities provide specific questions.
	2. The problem, question, representation (or otherwise identified purpose) is likely to be comprehensible to students.	Yes	The problem is likely to be comprehensible. The Pine Seed and the Log and the Defining Food activities make the problems concrete.
	3. The problem, question, representation (or otherwise identified purpose) is likely to be interesting and/or motivating to students.	Yes	The problem How do plants get food? and the related problem: What is food? are connected to humans need for food and makes the questions interesting and motivating to students.
	4. Students are given an opportunity to think about and discuss the problem, question, representation (or otherwise identified purpose).	Yes	Most activities provide opportunities for students to think about and discuss the problems in the hypothesis/predicting sections and then again in the reflecting and connecting sections.
	5. Most lessons are consistent with the stated purpose and those that are not are explicitly labeled as digressions.	Yes	All lessons are consistent with the purpose.
	6. The material returns to the stated purpose at the end of the unit.	Yes	The unit provides many application activities that return to the purpose of what is food for plants. Examples include the Creating Models activity that has students create skits or pictures to explain how plants get their food.