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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Growth of Yeast In this task, students will examine how yeast grows in a sugar solution and determine carbon monoxide presence. This task includes: |
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Half-Ball In this task, students will be examining how a ball and half-ball relate to Newton's Laws of Motion and the Law of Conservation of Energy. This task includes: |
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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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Heat Retention This task (in PALM and in PALS) focuses on the knowledge of Heat Transfer. Students must test, measure, and graph their findings to determine which of four substances would be the best as a heat mass. This task includes: |
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Heating Crystals In this task, students will experiment with and observe the effects of heating various crystals. This task includes: |
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Hilbre Island In this task, students must calculate the most favorable time to visit the island. 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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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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