The following 8 Anchor Papers represent a range of score points and are used in conjunction with the rubric to assess student responses.

Score for Anchor Paper #1: Rubric Score 1

Annotation: This response contains evidence of some understanding of the question. The supporting details are minimally effective. The student vaguely recommends comparing the ecological niche of the cloudrunner to other animal niches (maybe they can make connections with other animals) and then suggests comparative anatomy (may resemble a beaver) to determine the evolutionary relationship.

Score for Anchor Paper #2: Rubric Score 1

Annotation: This response contains evidence of some understanding of the question. While the student lists a few types of evidence (physical appearance, habatate, food it eats, DNA, etc.). No information is provided as to how this evidence shows evolutionary relationships. The supporting details are minimally effective.

Score for Anchor Paper #3: Rubric Score 2

Annotation: This response contains evidence of a basic understanding of the question. The supporting details are adequate. The student suggests evidence that is used to establish evolutionary relationships (look at a new animal and see similarities to different animals…they can study the bone and muscle structure and genetic tests involving the new animals DNA). An understanding that comparative biochemistry would be the best technique (DNA will give an exact insight to the animals evolutionary relationship) is also demonstrated.

Score for Anchor Paper #4: Rubric Score 2

Annotation: This response contains evidence of a basic understanding of the question. The student uses adequate supporting details, to make comparisons among the cloudrunner and other animals in the areas of anatomy (compare its skeletal system to that of animals they've previously identified) and biochemistry (they could also compare the DNA). The comparison of "distinct" habits does not provide basis for determining evolutionary relationships.

Score for Anchor Paper #5: Rubric Score 3

Annotation: This response contains evidence of a good understanding of the questions. The supporting details are generally complete, and some synthesis of information is reflected in the description of the two types of evidence and the subsequent discussion of the relationship of each to a common ancestor (when two organisms have similar embryological development, it indicates that the organisms may have evolved from a common ancestor, and homologous structures also show that organisms may have evolved from a common ancestor). Accurate scientific terminology (embryological development and homologous structures) strengthens the response.

Score for Anchor Paper #6: Rubric Score 3

Annotation: This response contains evidence of a good understanding of the question. The student discusses several ways to determine evolutionary relationships (the biologists could study the embryos of cloudrunners to see how closely they resemble other animal embryos, comparison of the cloudrunner DNA to other animals DNA, or comparisons of the physical appearance of the cloudrunner and it's bone structure). The student briefly discusses how DNA testing could demonstrate evolutionary relationships (the more similarities between the DNA strands the closer the relationship). These supporting details are generally complete.

Score for Anchor Paper #7: Rubric Score 4

Annotation: This response contains evidence of a full and complete understanding of the question. The supporting details are pertinent and complete. The student lists three types of evidence (they can look at the embryo of this animal and compare it with the embryo of others; they can use biochemical evidence, this is where scientists look at the animals' gene sequences for similarities; also, scientists can look at homologous structures to see if the cloudrunner has a similar skeletal makeup as other animals). The response shows a complete integration of ideas when the student relates how the presence of homologous structures demonstrate an evolutionary relationship (if the evidence between the two species is similar, then it can be concluded that they evolved from a common ancestor). This response reflects a complete synthesis of information, and the use of accurate scientific terminology (embryological, nitrogen bases, and homologous structures) enhances the response.

Score for Anchor Paper #8: Rubric Score 4

Annotation: This response contains evidence of a full and complete understanding of the question. The student discusses why homologous structures can be used to determine evolutionary relationships and then correctly describes why analogous structures do not determine evolutionary relationships (homologous, same structure…it can be presumed that the two animals have a similar evolutionary line; analogous, same function…the two may have lived in the same type of environment at some time.) The student provides an explanation of how biochemistry can determine evolutionary relationships (if the amino acid sequence of an animal is similar to the cloudrunner's then they are very closely related). Comparative embryology is also included. The supporting details are pertinent and complete, reflecting a synthesis of information. The use of accurate scientific terminology (homologous structures, embryo stage, and amino acid sequence) enhances the response.

Additional Scored Student Responses