Georgia Milestones Grade 8 EOG Assessment Guide | English Language Arts (ELA) Example Item 3 DOK Level: 4 English Language Arts (ELA) Grade 8 Content Domain: Writing and Language Standard: ELACC8W2. Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content. In this section, you will read about the ongoing debate over the use of genetically modified (GM) food. What are the benefits and dangers of producing and consuming foods that have been genetically modified? You will write an argumentative essay in your own words supporting either side of the debate in which you argue for or against the use of GM food. Before you begin planning and writing, read the two texts: 1. “GM Food Saves Lives” 2. “What We Don’t Know About GM Food Can Kill Us” As you read the texts, think about what details from the texts you might use in your argumentative essay. GM Food Saves Lives by Rebecca Wilson Genetically modified (GM) food was introduced to the citizens of the United States in 1994. Since then, the use of genetics on produce and animals has become so widespread that each person in the United States is most likely eating GM food daily. A primary reason for its popularity is how beneficial it is to people and businesses. What is genetic modification? Plants and animals naturally go through a process of selection for survival. Features that make the plant or animal more likely to live are passed along, and features that are not advantageous are weeded out. These genetic mutations occur over generations, though, making improvement a slowmoving process. Scientists discovered that they could improve specific characteristics quickly by introducing foreign genes into an organism, such as those from plants, animals, and even viruses. For example, exposing a plant to a certain virus can make it more resistant to disease. Transferring genes from cows to pigs can help the pigs create more milk for larger litters of piglets. The targeting of genes allows scientists to bring out the specific traits of a product that will make it more successful. Uses of GM foods There are three main reasons for genetically modifying food: to produce more food at lower cost, to increase the health value of the food, and to make the food more desirable. When crops are modified to withstand disease and drought, it takes fewer resources to produce them, and fewer crops are lost. But altering food goes much further than this. Scientists are also able to make food more nutritious. For example, Golden Rice is infused with vitamin A in the hopes of saving the lives of children suffering from vitamin A deficiencies. However, the earliest uses of GM food are still the most Georgia Department of Education November 2014 l Page 16 of 101 All rights reserved. Georgia Milestones Grade 8 EOG Assessment Guide | English Language Arts (ELA) popular. Genetic modification makes food look and taste better. Tomatoes stay ripe longer. Apples have fewer bruises. Strawberries grow larger. Safety Opponents of GM food say that changing an organism’s genetic code is dangerous. They say that changes to a plant’s durability can create superweeds that kill crops and that altering nutrition values could cause health problems for the people who eat the food. Yet thousands of research studies have shown no evidence that GM food causes harm, either to the environment or to people. It’s safe, effective, and needed in a time when food shortages are skyrocketing. What We Don’t Know About GM Food Can Kill Us by Daniel McLeod Humans have a history of moving forward with great ideas—until they realize that those ideas weren’t so great. Back in the 1940s, people around the world started using a miracle insecticide called DDT ("dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane"). It killed every annoying insect out there! It was helping to eliminate malaria-carrying mosquitoes and life-threatening spiders. DDT was the best insecticide ever—until people realized the severe damage it was doing to the environment. It took over thirty years of using the chemical agent for scientists to verify the problems and for countries to ban DDT’s use. Only now, seventy years since it became popular, are some of the species negatively affected by it finally regaining a foothold on life. Genetically modified (GM) food is our generation’s DDT. Just as before, people have jumped headlong into the process of making food better, stronger, and different through changes to an organism’s genetic code. Scientists are altering plants and animals at their most fundamental levels with no regard to the effects we might see in twenty, thirty, or even seventy years from now. True, this process is producing food at a lower cost and higher rate, something this world desperately needs, but at what cost? There have been documented cases of genetically altered crops affecting the durability of weeds that compete for the crops’ resources. It’s believed the genetic mutation of the crops spread to the weeds. These weeds, called superweeds, are aggressive and resistant to the chemicals used to kill them and now threaten the crops’ growth. Another current problem is the reduction in insects such as butterflies and bees, which pollinate flowers. Crops designed to produce natural insecticides are killing off these important creatures. The ecosystem is thrown off balance without them. Those problems are nothing compared to the ones we don’t know about yet. How will these modifications affect the humans who consume this food over a lifetime? How will unforeseen mutations affect the food? These questions can’t be answered right now since we won’t see the effects for decades. The biogenetics companies that produce GM food say the food has been tested by thousands of studies. What they don’t say, however, is that they are the ones who funded the studies. Their financial interest in studies showing that GM food is safe compromises the believability of the studies. How might their corporate dollars have affected the results the scientists are reporting? Georgia Department of Education November 2014 l Page 17 of 101 All rights reserved. Georgia Milestones Grade 8 EOG Assessment Guide | English Language Arts (ELA) The plain truth is that we don’t know how GM food will affect humans, plants, and animals in the future. We shouldn’t be risking our lives by eating altered food without knowing whether or not genetic modification is another DDT. Now that you have read “GM Food Saves Lives” and “What We Don’t Know About GM Food Can Kill Us,” create a plan for your argumentative essay. Think about ideas, facts, definitions, details, and other information and examples you want to use. Think about how you will introduce your topic and what the main topic will be for each paragraph. Be sure to identify the sources by title or number when using details or facts directly from the sources. Write an argumentative essay in your own words supporting either side of the debate in which you argue for or against the use of GM food. Be sure to use information from both texts. Now write your argumentative essay. Be sure to: · Introduce your claim. · Support your claim with logical reasoning and relevant evidence from the texts. · Acknowledge and address alternate or opposing claims. · Organize the reasons and evidence logically. · Use words, phrases, and clauses to connect your ideas and to clarify the relationships among claims, counterclaims, reasons, and evidence. · Establish and maintain a formal style. · Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented. · Check your work for correct usage, grammar, spelling, and capitalization. Georgia Department of Education November 2014 l Page 18 of 101 All rights reserved. Criteria Distinguished Idea 80 points Development, Organization, The student’s and Coherence response is a welldeveloped essay that effectively relates and supports claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence. Proficient 60 points The student’s response is a complete argument that relates and supports claims with some evidence. Developing 40 points Beginning 20 points The student’s response is an incomplete or oversimplified argument that partially supports claims with loosely related evidence. The student’s response is a weak attempt to write an argument and does not support claims with adequate evidence. -Clearly -Effectively introduces a introduces a claim claim -Attempts to establish a claim -May not introduce an opinion or claim, or the opinion or claim must be inferred -Uses specific and well-chosen facts, details, definitions, examples, and/or other information from sources to develop claims fully -Uses specific facts, details, definitions, examples, and/or other information from sources to develop claims -Develops, sometimes unevenly, reasons and/or evidence to support opinion or claim -Has minimal support for opinion or claim -Acknowledges and counters opposing claims, as appropriate -Attempts to acknowledge and/or counter opposing claims, as appropriate -Makes little, if any, attempt to acknowledge or counter opposing claims -Makes no attempt to acknowledge or counter opposing claims -Uses an organizational strategy to present reasons and relevant evidence -Uses an organizational strategy to present some reasons and evidence -May be too brief to -Attempts to use an demonstrate an organizational organizational structure, which structure, or no may be formulaic structure is evident -Uses words, phrases, and/or clauses that -Uses words effectively connect and/or phrases and show to connect ideas relationships among ideas -Uses limited clear language and vocabulary to manage the topic -Uses vague, ambiguous, or repetitive language Language Usage and Conventions -Uses and maintains a formal style that is appropriate for the task, purpose, and audience -Uses a formal style fairly consistently for task, purpose, and audience -Uses few words or -Uses no words or phrases to connect phrases to connect ideas ideas -Provides a strong concluding statement or section that logically follows from the argument presented -Provides a concluding statement or section that follows from the argument presented -Uses formal style inconsistently or an informal style that does not fit task, purpose, or audience -Uses a very informal style that is not appropriate for task, purpose, or audience -Provides a weak concluding statement or section -Provides a minimal or no concluding statement or section 20 points 15 points 10 points The student’s response demonstrates partial command of language usage and conventions. The student’s response demonstrates weak command of language usage and conventions. -The student's response has many errors that affect the overall meaning, or -Uses verbs in passive and active -Uses verbs in passive and voice, the active voice conditional and subjunctive mood -Uses incorrect verbs in passive and active voice -The response is too brief to determine a score, or -Uses clear and complete sentence structure, with appropriate verb voice and mood -The student copies -Has fragments, runso much text from the ons, and/or other passages that there is sentence structure not sufficient original errors work to be scored. The student’s response demonstrates full command of language usage and conventions. -Uses clear and complete sentence structure 5 points -Has no errors in usage and conventions that interfere with meaning Overall Score Level 4 93 or more -Has minor errors in usage and conventions with no significant effect on meaning -Has frequent errors in usage and conventions that interfere with meaning Level 3 80 or more Level 2 70 or more Level 1 0 or more
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