Task Annotation Project in Science - Elementary (3-5)

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Each task includes a carefully annotated version as well as a document that summarizes reviewers' takeaways from the task evaluation. When possible, task summaries include links to the source site so educators may access the most recent publicly available versions as tasks are revised based on feedback. Click the links below to access each task.

  • Oil Spills (PS)
    • In this task, students are asked to consider how magnets could be helpful in cleaning up oil spills. Throughout the task, students use their understanding of magnetic forces, experimental design, and asking questions to probe the research questions and ideas being posed. This task is intended to be used as a classroom-embedded performance assessment, independent of any particular curriculum or instructional materials. The publicly available task was developed as part of the Stanford NGSS Assessment Project (SNAP) and can be found here.
  • Movement of Matter (LS)
    • In this task, students are asked to engage in a three-part process: first, develop a model that helps them describe the relationships between parts of an ecosystem in Australia (part 1), then consider what happens when rabbits are introduced to this ecosystem (part 2), and finally consider the role of decomposers in the system. The task scaffolds students through showing their understanding of ecosystem dynamics, providing them with opportunities to practice and demonstrate aspects of the three dimensions. The publicly available task was developed as part of the Stanford NGSS Assessment Project (SNAP) and can be found here.  
  • Waterwise (ESS, instructionally embedded)
    • In this instructionally-embedded performance assessment, students work in groups and individually to make recommendations about how to reduce water usage in a fictional city (California City, California). Throughout the task, students consider information about different stakeholders’ water use to engage in argument about which stakeholders can impact the water use in the city most heavily, and how they might do so. The publicly available task was developed as part of the Stanford NGSS Assessment Project (SNAP) and can be found here