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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I Am an Artist In this task, students will explore self expression by creating a double sided painting, with each side representing their inner and outer selves. This task includes: |
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Ice Melting This task (in PALM and in PALS) focuses on the knowledge of the Transfer of Energy. Students must design a way to investigate whether various materials can prevent heat gain in frozen water. This task includes: |
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Identifying Elements In this task, students will use diffraction glasses to observe differences in light. This task includes: |
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Immigration This task assesses students’ ability to contextualize two historical documents and place them in the correct chronological order.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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Impacts on Soldiers and Civilians In this task, students will explore the War of 1812 from various viewpoints to better understand how soldier's lives were effected. This task includes: |
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In Bartering for Bananas In Bartering for Bananas, students are asked to find how many bananas Byron can get with his five fish. This task includes:
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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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Incline Planes In this task, students will explore the relationship between angles and the force necessary to move an object up an incline. This task includes: |
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International Intercultural Mural Exchange In this task, students will interact with an international partner school through online forums in order to create a mural. This task includes: |
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International Intercultural Mural Exchange (IIME) In the International Intercultural Mural Exchange (IIME) task, students of two schools of distant countries learn interactively by using ICT and create one big mural by drawing halves of a canvas to express their collaborative learning in a visual way. This task includes several possible classroom activities. |
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