School Improvement in Maryland

Using the State Curriculum: Science, Grade 5

Skills and Processes | Earth/Space | Life | Chemistry | Physics | Environmental

Public Release Items: Public release items have appeared on MSA forms and then are released for public viewing and use. Releasing items is one step to ensuring that schools, districts, and other stakeholders understand how the content standards are assessed on the MSA.

Standard 3.0 Life Science

Topic B. Cells

Indicator 2. Investigate and provide evidence that living things are made mostly of cells that can be seen and studied only through a microscope.

Objective b. Use microscopes and pictures to investigate, describe with drawings, and compare the cells in a variety of multicellular organisms, such as cells in elodea and onions; muscle cells, nerve cells, skin cells, etc in animals.

Selected Response Item

Most organisms are made of many different types of cells. Each type of cell has a special role within the organism.

Question Image

Which of these organisms would most likely contain cells shaped like a rectangle?

  1. a cat
  2. a clam
  3. a fish
  4. a tree
/toolkit/vsc/assessment_items/msa_science_5_033.xml

Correct Answer:
D

Selected Response Item

Several different types of cells are shown below.

Question Image

Which two types of cells are most similar in shape?

  1. skin cells and bone cells
  2. nerve cells and skin cells
  3. bone cells and nerve cells
  4. muscle cells and skin cells
/toolkit/vsc/assessment_items/msa_science_5_139.xml

Correct Answer:
A