Skip to:

Search for open-sourced performance tasks

Source Task

Source
The Historical Thinking Project (Canada)

Subject
History/Social Studies

Grade Level
K, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

Historical Significance of General Brock, Part 2

In this task, students will research General Sir Isaac Brock and why he is historically significant. They will then debate whether or not they think he deserves to be based on their findings. 

This task includes:
1. Task Description
2. Additional Resources: Learning goals, web resources, detailed lesson plan, worksheets

Source
Stanford Beyond the Bubble

Subject
History/Social Studies

Grade Level
6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

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This task assesses students’ ability to contextualize two historical documents and place them in the correct chronological order.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.

Source
The Historical Thinking Project (Canada)

Subject
History/Social Studies

Grade Level
K, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

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:
1. Task Description
2. Additional Resources: Learning goals, detailed lesson plan, organizer, appendices A-C

Source
Stanford Beyond the Bubble

Subject
History/Social Studies

Grade Level
6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

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.

Source
iEARN Collaboration Centre

Subject
History/Social Studies, Art, World Languages and Cultures, Interdisciplinary

Grade Level
K, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

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:
1. Task Description
2. Additional Resources: Classroom activities, web resources, learning tools, curriculum model, handouts

Source
iEARN Collaboration Centre

Subject
History/Social Studies

Grade Level
K, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

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.

Source
Stanford Beyond the Bubble

Subject
History/Social Studies

Grade Level
6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

Italian Atrocities

This task requires students to consider the relative strengths and weaknesses of a document as historical evidence.  Students with a sophisticated understanding of how to source a document will be able to explain how a news article from the time period provides a useful contemporary account of Italian actions against the Ottomon Empire. They will also observe, however, that an international news report by a local American newspaper may contain biases and second-hand information which make it less useful as evidence of what really happened--and exemplifying American Imperialism.

Resources provided include a rubric and scoring guide, a downloadable PDF of the assessment with excerpted primary sources, as well as links to the original sources via the Library of Congress.

Source
Stanford Beyond the Bubble

Subject
History/Social Studies

Grade Level
6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

Japanese Internment

This task assesses students’ ability to source and corroborate a document. Drawing on knowledge gained by sourcing an excerpt from a 2003 interview of a Japanese-American WWII Veteran, in which he recalls visiting an Internment camp, students then evaluate in several ways;

Question 1 asks students to evaluate whether the excerpt provides enough evidence to draw conclusions about the conditions facing Japanese Americans interned during WWII. 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.

Source
Stanford Beyond the Bubble

Subject
History/Social Studies

Grade Level
6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

John Brown

This task measures students’ ability to source a document. 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. The question asks students to agree or disagree with a claim regarding the usefulness of a painting for understanding the circumstances of John Brown's execution in 1859, then support their answer with reasons and evidence.

Students who understand the importance of when a document was produced will see that the painting is of little use to historians who wish to understand the immediate circumstances of John Brown's execution in 1859 because it was produced over 10 years later.  

The task includes a range of supplementary materials, all accessible and available for download with the creation of a free account through the site:

Source
Stanford Beyond the Bubble

Subject
History/Social Studies

Grade Level
6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

John Brown's Legacy

This task gauges students' ability to source and contextualize a document. Students must first source a playbill, determining when it was created and by whom. Students then select facts that might provide the most relevant historical context in order to determine the authors' motivation, and explain how the facts might shed light on why the authors wrote the play.

The task includes a range of supplementary materials, all accessible and available for download with the creation of a free account through the site:

Pages

If you would like to recommend additional open-sourced performance task banks to be included in the database, or if you would like to report a broken link, please email Pai-rou Chen.