Please note that many tasks were constructed prior to Common Core and the task alignments to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) were not identified in the task materials. To search for the performance tasks explicitly aligned to the CCSS, Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), or College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards, please go to CCSS, NGSS, and C3 tabs.
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Debate Over the League of Nations This task measures students’ ability to source and contextualize a document. Students read a 1919 opinion column from The Evening Missourian. Students must then select the two facts that help them determine whether the opinions expressed in the column were typical or atypical of American attitudes about joining the League of Nations at the time. Resources available for this task include downloadable PDF versions of both the assessment as well as the Rubric with benchmark descriptors. |
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Source Subject Grade Level |
Declaration of Independence This task measures students’ ability to source a document. When historians interpret a document, they first look to find out who wrote it and when. This assessment gauges whether students understand an important aspect of sourcing: the time elapsed between when a document was produced and the event that it depicts- and how this might affect its reliability. Students are asked to agree or disagree with a claim regarding the usefulness of a painting for historians who wish to understand the drafting of the Declaration of Independence. Students who understand the importance of when a document was produced will see that this painting is of minimal use for that purpose because it was produced over 50 years after the event. The task includes a range of supplementary materials, all accessible and available for download with the creation of a free account through the site:
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Source Subject Grade Level |
Design It Clean In this task, students will get into groups and design affordable and realistic water filters. This task includes: |
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Source Subject Grade Level |
Do No Harm This unit includes an unit overview and 3 subunit overviews with built-in lessons. Unit description from the source: In this unit, students will learn about the role government plays in setting policy and supporting and regulating various aspects of the healthcare industry, and about the impact these activities have on the lives of ordinary citizens. The unit will focus on three areas in which federal or state governments have influenced biomedical research and healthcare practice: stem cell research (Subunit 1), pharmaceutical advertising (Subunit 2), and vaccination against communicable disease (Subunit 3). |
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Source Subject Grade Level |
Explosion of the USS Maine This task assesses students’ ability to reason how evidence supports a historical argument. Students must explain how a report by the Naval Court of Inquiry and a San Francisco newspaper article both support the conclusion that confusion pervaded US public thought following the sinking of the USS Maine. Resources for this task include downloadable PDF versions of both the assessment as well as the Rubric with benchmark descriptors. |
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Source Subject Grade Level |
Gardner's Civil War Photography This task assesses students’ ability to source, contextualize, and corroborate a primary source from the Civil War era. Students are asked to consider how the content of two photographs by famous Civil War photographer Alexander Gardner could affect their reliability. Then, students must think of other information they would like to know about the circumstances surrounding the photographs in order to further evaluate their reliability. Resources available for this task include downloadable PDF versions of both the assessment as well as the Rubric with benchmark descriptors. |
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Source Subject Grade Level |
Good Eats This unit includes an unit overview and 3 subunit overviews with built-in lessons. Unit description from the source: In this unit, students will learn about the connection between nutrition and health. Through interdisciplinary study in Biology, Health Science, Interpersonal Relations, English Language Arts, Mathematics, and World History, they will explore the questions of why we should care about what we eat and how food is produced. Students will explore concepts ranging from the body’s physical requirements in terms of calories and nutrients to the physiological and psychological outcomes resulting from various levels of nutrition and health. They will be introduced to cellular respiration, recombinant DNA technology, and ethical issues raised by using—or withholding the use of—biotechnology to increase food production. |
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Source Subject Grade Level |
Haymarket Aftermath This task assesses students' ability to evaluate the relevance of contextual information for determining the motivations of an author. Students must select two facts and explain how they shed light on the cartoon's depiction of Illinois Governor Altgeld's pardon in 1893. Students with a strong understanding of contextualization will be able to explain how fears aroused by the Haymarket riot, and increasing tensions during the Depression of 1893, may help explain the cartoonist's work. Resources available for this task include downloadable PDF versions of both the assessment as well as the Rubric with benchmark descriptors. |
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Source Subject Grade Level |
Immigration This task assesses students’ ability to contextualize two historical documents and place them in the correct chronological order. Drawing on students' knowledge about the American immigration boom of the 1800's, students are asked to place two related documents in order--and explain their reasoning, in effect taking their thinking beyond the rote recall of event dates, names and facts. Sources include Document A--part of an editorial from a San Francisco newspaper published in 1916, and Document B--an excerpt from a book titled A Tour in the United States by Archibald Prentice-published in 1848. Students who correctly contextualize the documents will see that Letter B, describing a rather simple immigration process for large numbers of German immigrants, was likely written before Letter A, which calls for legislation similar to the Chinese Exclusion Act in an attempt to exclude Japanese immigrants. |
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Source Subject Grade Level |
Inca Fortification This task requires students to weigh the values and limitations of a document as historical evidence, as it relates to resistance against Spanish rule by the Inca. Students well-versed in sourcing a document will be able to explain that a photograph of a native Inca fort is useful in that it provides some evidence of Inca fortification against Spanish attacks. However, for Question 2, Students will also observe that the photograph was taken centuries after the Spanish conquest of Tawantinsuyu-and explain how that fact limits the its usefulness as evidence of how the Inca resisted Spanish forces. Resources include PDF downloads of the assessment with source materials, and a rubric with benchmark descriptors. |
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