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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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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Using the Microscope In this task, students will demonstrate their ability to use a microscope. This task includes: |
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Vitamin C Testing In this task, students will determine which of three beverages contains the most vitamin C. This task includes: |
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Washington Crosses Delaware This task measures students’ ability to source a document. When historians interpret a document, they first look to find out who wrote it and when. This information presents important clues about whether the source provides reliable evidence about the past. 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. Students who understand the importance of when a document was produced will see that the painting shown in this task is of little use to historians who wish to understand the Battle of Trenton, because it was produced 100 years after the event. 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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Water - Holding Capacity In this task, students will determine how much water various materials can hold. This task includes: |
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Water Regulation In this task, students will examine graphs about paramecia behavior under various conditions. This task includes: |
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Welcome to Our School In Welcome to Our School students will identify forms of harassment and describe strategies for dealing with each in addition to sources of help; describe disease prevention strategies related to spread of communicable diseases and how they would be practiced; describe health and fitness goals and how they might help keep students physically fit. This task includes:
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Whose Side is Your God On? In this task, students will explore the relationships between religion and major events throughout history. This task includes: |
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Wig-Wag In this task, students will investigate how different weights effect a wig-wag apparatus. This task includes: |
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Women's Rights This task assesses students' ability to contextualize two historical documents and place them in the correct chronological order. This assessment draws on students' knowledge about changes in women’s rights over time . Document A is excerpted from Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique, published in 1963. Document B is from the trial of Susan B. Anthony, who voted illegally in the election of 1872. More than just the recall of facts and dates, students must show that they have a broad understanding of Students must show that they have a broad understanding of how women’s rights changed over time and demonstrate the ability to use knowledge about the past to place the two documents in context. In this question, students who correctly contextualize the documents will see that Document B (an excerpt from the trial of Susan B. Anthony), which discusses the ban on women’s suffrage, was likely written before Document A (an excerpt from Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique), which describes discontent with post-World War II gender roles. Resources include PDF downloads of the assessment, a link to primary source materials, and a rubric with benchmark descriptors. |
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.
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