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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Source Subject Grade Level |
Alternate Reality In the Alternate Reality task, students create "false memories" by Photoshopping student images into each others' schools. |
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Source Subject Grade Level |
American Imperialism This task asks students to source and corroborate an editorial from a Nebraska newspaper about overseas expansion. Question 1 asks students to evaluate whether the passage provides enough evidence to draw conclusions about American attitudes about overseas expansion at the time. To answer this question, students must source the document to determine whether the editorial can be thought of as conclusive evidence. Question 2 asks students to evaluate whether additional documents or missing perspectives could be used to corroborate the document. Resources include PDF downloads of the assessment with source materials, and a rubric with benchmark descriptors. |
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Source Subject Grade Level |
Anarchism and the Haymarket Affair This task assesses students’ ability to source and corroborate a document. Drawing on knowledge gained by sourcing an excerpt from a 1908 Utah newspaper--which makes claims about the influence that the Haymarket Affair had on the growth of anarchist groups in the United States--students then evaluate it in several ways; Question 1 asks students to evaluate whether the excerpt provides enough evidence to draw conclusions the growth of anarchism in the United States at the end of the nineteenth century and beginning of the twentieth century. To answer this question, students must source the document to determine whether the account can be regarded as conclusive evidence. Question 2 asks students to identify and evaluate whether additional documents or perspectives could be used to corroborate the account. Resources include PDF downloads of the assessment with source materials, and a rubric with benchmark descriptors. |
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Source Subject Grade Level |
Apartheid in South Africa This task assesses students' knowledge of the past—but rather than measure rote recall of decontextualized facts, this assessment requires students to make connections across time and construct an argument about how events are connected. Students with a strong sense of the past will be able to explain that the social conditions of apartheid grew out of racial oppression instituted during European colonial rule of South Africa. Strong students will also explain that social conditions like those depicted in the photograph led the United States Congress to impose economic sanctions against South Africa in an effort to bring an end to the policy of apartheid. Resources available for this task include downloadable PDF versions of both the assessment with source materials, as well as the Rubric containing benchmark descriptors. |
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Source Subject Grade Level |
Appeasement at Munich This task assesses students' knowledge of the past—but rather than measure rote recall of decontextualized facts, this assessment requires students to make connections across time and construct an argument about how events are connected. Students with a strong sense of the past will be able to explain that the Munich Agreement can be seen in part as the result of the sanctions imposed on Germany by the Treaty of Versailles. A strong response to the second question will explain that the Munich Agreement emboldened Hitler, which eventually led to the invasion of Poland. Resources available for this task include downloadable PDF versions of both the assessment with source materials, as well as the Rubric containing benchmark descriptors. |
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Source Subject Grade Level |
As Easy As One, Two, Negative Three In this task, students will create a video that presents a children's narrative on how to add and subtract integers. This task includes: |
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Source Subject Grade Level |
At the Doctor's The At the Doctor's unit includes an introduction, the learning focus, 8 teaching and learning activities, assessment criteria, and resources. Unit description from source: In At the Doctor’s students participate in a role play of a visit to a doctor's surgery in Italy to explore the cultural similarities and differences between Australia and Italy. The students work in groups to create, perform and make a record of their role play. |
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Source Subject Grade Level |
Attack on Fort Sumter This task assesses students' knowledge of the past—but rather than measure rote recall of decontextualized facts, this assessment requires students to make connections across time and construct an argument about how events are connected. Students with a strong sense of the past will be able to explain that the election of Abraham Lincoln contributed to the formation of the Confederacy because of his opposition to slavery in the territories. Students will also explain that the rising price of cotton on the international market due to textile mills in England made slavery even more indispensible to the South. Both of these connections point ultimately to the start of the Civil War. Resources available for this task include downloadable PDF versions of both the assessment with source materials, as well as the Rubric containing benchmark descriptors. |
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Source Subject Grade Level |
Auditions, Everyone! An Exploration of Jazz Improvisation In this tasks, students will explore jazz improvisation through performances and recording auditions. This task includes: |
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Source Subject Grade Level |
Barometer In this task, students will design and create a barometer to repeatedly test the air pressure, applying their gained knowledge to real life atmospheric scenarios. This task includes: |
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