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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Tobacco Times In Tobacco Times students will identify short-term effects of smoking and smokeless tobacco, determine smoking myths from smoking facts, and identify issues relating to peer pressure. This task includes:
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Touring the Systems In Touring the Systems students will compare components of circulatory, respiratory, digestive, nervous, muscular, skeletal, reproductive and/or endocrine systems to everyday objects. This task includes:
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Toy Story In this task, students will roleplay as engineers, advertising executives, and authors at a small toy campany. After researching the toy market, students will conduct field studies to help them in creating and marketing a new line of toys. This project will culminate in an exhibition presentation in which the the 8th grade classrooms are converted into toy factories. This task includes: |
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Traders in the West This task assesses whether students can source and contextualize a document. Students must first examine an account of the interactions between American traders and Native Americans, then determine which facts can help them evaluate the account's reliability. Strong students will be able to explain how Farnham's vested interest in the event (Fact 2) and in gaining territory for the American flag (Fact 3) may have shaped his telling of the incident. 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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Travel West Virginia In this task, students will research attractions and tourist spots in West Virginia that can be visited. This task includes: |
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True Media Message In True Media Message students will identify false messages in advertisements and explain how they negatively affect a person's social, emotional or physical well-being. This task includes:
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Tupac Amaru II This task assesses students' knowledge of the time period of native resistance to Spanish exploration (1700’s)—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 time period will explain that Túpac Amaru II led a rebellion against the Spanish, who conquered the Inca Empire under the direction of Francisco Pizarro. A strong response to the second question may explain that Amaru’s rebellion destabilized Spanish control over Peru, partially leading to Spain's defeat in the Peruvian War of Independence. Alternatively, students may identify the call for independence enunciated by Amaru during the rebellion as the inspiration and precursor to the Peruvian War of Independence. 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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Unions in Paterson, New Jersey This task gauges students' ability to source and contextualize a document. Students first listen to an excerpt from an interview with Marianna Costa, a union leader from Paterson, New Jersey. Students then analyze four historical facts and determine which ones can help discern whether Costa’s account of union accomplishments is historically reliable. 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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Unknown Liquids In this task, students will design and carry out an experiment to decide which of the two given solutions is more dense. This task includes: |
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Upside Down, All Around, You Turn Me In this task, students will design a roller coaster using the concept of gravity and Newton's Laws. This task includes: |
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