Authentic Performance Activities facilitate a student’s understanding of a lesson’s usefulness in real life. They are also an Understanding by Design (UbD) assessment tool. Focus questions act as pre- and post-assessment indicators of the activity’s effectiveness.
Focus Questions:
1. Why do we learn about heredity and pollination?
2. Can you think of any other jobs where knowing about heredity or pollination would be helpful?
3. Can you think of any ways where knowing about heredity and pollination could protect you or your home?
Authentic Performance
As a flower grower, you need to grow the most colorful flowers to sell to shops and restaurants, but the blooms also have to last several days. The stems have to be thick and hardy to stand up in a vase and survive being driven around in trucks to market. You have some beautiful flowers but their stems are too delicate and they wilt in a day after picking. You have some more sturdy flowers with rather plain blossoms that stay fresh for a week after being cut. Knowing what you do about pollination and heredity, how can you try to grow a beautiful flower with a sturdier stem and longer cut life span?
