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.
| Source | Task |
|---|---|
|
Source Subject Grade Level |
Are Enzymes Specific for Their Substrates? In this task, students will collect their own data to analyze about enzyme activity. This task includes: |
|
Source Subject Grade Level |
Are Fruits and Vegetables Really Made of Cells? In this task, students will design and conduct an experiment to determine whether or not fruits and vegetables are made of cells. This task includes: |
|
Source Subject Grade Level |
Arithmetic and Polynomials and Rational Expressions In this task, students will answer four short questions about polynomials and rational expressions. This task includes: |
|
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. |
|
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: |
|
Source Subject Grade Level |
Best Buy Tickets In this task, students must illustrate the best possible choices for printing, in terms of cost efficiency, for ticket printing. This task includes: |
|
Source Subject Grade Level |
Best Size Cans In this task, students must find the can dimensions that will provide the smallest surface area while still being able to hold the predetermined volume of soda. This task includes: |
|
Source Subject Grade Level |
Bird's Nest In this task, students will examine a graph to determine a relationship between the length and width of bird's eggs. This task includes: |
|
Source Subject Grade Level |
Boat Building In this task, students will test which of their tin foil boats holds up best with different solutions and weighted balls. This task includes: |
|
Source Subject Grade Level |
Breadlines in the 1930's 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, after analyzing a photograph of a long ‘breadline’ of unemployed Americans, that the Works Progress Administration was established as a federal response to the problem of American unemployment. Students will also explain that the Wall Street Crash of 1929 precipitated the high unemployment rates in the 1930's, increasing the number of patrons at breadlines and soup kitchens. Resources available for this task include downloadable PDF versions of both the assessment with source materials, as well as the Rubric containing 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.
© Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305