This Project Lead the Way (PLTW) Human Body Systems (HBS) End-of-Course (EOC) assessment
evaluates student understanding across six major units that explore how human body systems
interact to maintain identity, communication, power, movement, protection, and homeostasis. The
assessment uses a scale score from 100 to 600, which serves as a criterion-referenced measure of
a student's grasp of the curriculum standards.
The HBS Course Outline details the following key themes:
Unit 1: Identity
Focuses on what makes humans unique through the study of forensic anthropology and DNA
analysis.
Key topics: Directional/regional terms (e.g., anterior, proximal), skeletal landmarks (axial vs.
appendicular), and tissue types (epithelial, connective, muscle, nervous).
Unit 2: Communication
Investigates the nervous and endocrine systems.
Key topics: Brain structure (lobes, brainstem, cerebellum), neuron signaling, neurotransmitters, and
hormone regulation (e.g., insulin/glucagon for blood sugar).
Unit 3: Power
Explores how the body takes in and processes energy through the digestive, respiratory, and urinary
systems.
Key topics: Enzyme action (metabolism), lung volumes (tidal, vital capacity), and kidney filtration.
Unit 4: Movement
Examines the interaction between the skeletal and muscular systems, along with blood flow.
Key topics: Joint types (hinge, ball and socket), muscle contraction rules, and cardiac output.
1
, Unit 5: Protection
Focuses on how the body defends against injury and disease.
Key topics: The lymphatic and immune systems, skin (integumentary), blood typing
(antigens/antibodies), and gram staining.
Unit 6: Homeostasis
The final capstone unit that synthesizes how all systems work together to maintain a stable internal
environment despite external stressors.
Assessment Format
As outlined in the PLTW Assessment Administration Manual, the EOC generally consists of:
Item Blocks: Scenarios followed by 4–7 questions that require varying levels of recall and synthesis.
Scoring: Performance is reported as a scale score. For instance, a score of 600 is considered perfect
and typically places a student in the top 2% nationally.
Quiz_________________?
A basin-shaped structure in the skeleton of many vertebrates that is formed by the pelvic
girdle together with the sacrum and often various coccygeal and caudal vertebrae and that in
humans is composed of the two hip bones bounding it on each side and in front while the
sacrum and coccyx complete it behind -
ANSWER✅
Pelvis
Quiz_________________?
A bending movement around a joint in a limb (as the knee or elbow) that decreases the
angle between the bones of the limb at the joint -
ANSWER✅
Flexion
Quiz_________________?
2
, A bodily structure (as the mitral valve) that closes temporarily a passage or orifice or
permits movement of fluid in one direction only. -
ANSWER✅
Valve
Quiz_________________?
A burn marked by pain, blistering, and superficial destruction of dermis with edema and
hyperemia of the tissues beneath the burn. -
ANSWER✅
Second-degree burn
Quiz_________________?
A cardiovascular disease in which growths called plaques develop on the inner walls of the
arteries, narrowing their inner diameters. -
ANSWER✅
Atherosclerosis
Quiz_________________?
A cell, group of cells, or organ of endothelial origin that selectively removes materials from
the blood, concentrates or alters them, and secretes them for further use in the body or for
elimination from the body -
ANSWER✅
Gland
Quiz_________________?
3
, A chamber of the heart that receives blood from the veins and forces it into a ventricle or
ventricles. -
ANSWER✅
Atrium
Quiz_________________?
A chamber of the heart which receives blood from a corresponding atrium and from which
blood is forced into the arteries. -
ANSWER✅
Ventricle
Quiz_________________?
A chronic disease characterized by abnormal thickening and hardening of the arterial walls
with resulting loss of elasticity -
ANSWER✅
Arteriosclerosis
Quiz_________________?
A compound of creatine and phosphoric acid that is found especially in vertebrate muscle
where it is an energy source for muscle contraction -
ANSWER✅
Creatine phosphate
Quiz_________________?
4
evaluates student understanding across six major units that explore how human body systems
interact to maintain identity, communication, power, movement, protection, and homeostasis. The
assessment uses a scale score from 100 to 600, which serves as a criterion-referenced measure of
a student's grasp of the curriculum standards.
The HBS Course Outline details the following key themes:
Unit 1: Identity
Focuses on what makes humans unique through the study of forensic anthropology and DNA
analysis.
Key topics: Directional/regional terms (e.g., anterior, proximal), skeletal landmarks (axial vs.
appendicular), and tissue types (epithelial, connective, muscle, nervous).
Unit 2: Communication
Investigates the nervous and endocrine systems.
Key topics: Brain structure (lobes, brainstem, cerebellum), neuron signaling, neurotransmitters, and
hormone regulation (e.g., insulin/glucagon for blood sugar).
Unit 3: Power
Explores how the body takes in and processes energy through the digestive, respiratory, and urinary
systems.
Key topics: Enzyme action (metabolism), lung volumes (tidal, vital capacity), and kidney filtration.
Unit 4: Movement
Examines the interaction between the skeletal and muscular systems, along with blood flow.
Key topics: Joint types (hinge, ball and socket), muscle contraction rules, and cardiac output.
1
, Unit 5: Protection
Focuses on how the body defends against injury and disease.
Key topics: The lymphatic and immune systems, skin (integumentary), blood typing
(antigens/antibodies), and gram staining.
Unit 6: Homeostasis
The final capstone unit that synthesizes how all systems work together to maintain a stable internal
environment despite external stressors.
Assessment Format
As outlined in the PLTW Assessment Administration Manual, the EOC generally consists of:
Item Blocks: Scenarios followed by 4–7 questions that require varying levels of recall and synthesis.
Scoring: Performance is reported as a scale score. For instance, a score of 600 is considered perfect
and typically places a student in the top 2% nationally.
Quiz_________________?
A basin-shaped structure in the skeleton of many vertebrates that is formed by the pelvic
girdle together with the sacrum and often various coccygeal and caudal vertebrae and that in
humans is composed of the two hip bones bounding it on each side and in front while the
sacrum and coccyx complete it behind -
ANSWER✅
Pelvis
Quiz_________________?
A bending movement around a joint in a limb (as the knee or elbow) that decreases the
angle between the bones of the limb at the joint -
ANSWER✅
Flexion
Quiz_________________?
2
, A bodily structure (as the mitral valve) that closes temporarily a passage or orifice or
permits movement of fluid in one direction only. -
ANSWER✅
Valve
Quiz_________________?
A burn marked by pain, blistering, and superficial destruction of dermis with edema and
hyperemia of the tissues beneath the burn. -
ANSWER✅
Second-degree burn
Quiz_________________?
A cardiovascular disease in which growths called plaques develop on the inner walls of the
arteries, narrowing their inner diameters. -
ANSWER✅
Atherosclerosis
Quiz_________________?
A cell, group of cells, or organ of endothelial origin that selectively removes materials from
the blood, concentrates or alters them, and secretes them for further use in the body or for
elimination from the body -
ANSWER✅
Gland
Quiz_________________?
3
, A chamber of the heart that receives blood from the veins and forces it into a ventricle or
ventricles. -
ANSWER✅
Atrium
Quiz_________________?
A chamber of the heart which receives blood from a corresponding atrium and from which
blood is forced into the arteries. -
ANSWER✅
Ventricle
Quiz_________________?
A chronic disease characterized by abnormal thickening and hardening of the arterial walls
with resulting loss of elasticity -
ANSWER✅
Arteriosclerosis
Quiz_________________?
A compound of creatine and phosphoric acid that is found especially in vertebrate muscle
where it is an energy source for muscle contraction -
ANSWER✅
Creatine phosphate
Quiz_________________?
4
