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8th Grade Performance Task
Contributed by: New York State Education Department (NYSED)
NYS Alternative Assessment in Science Project (1996)
Description:
Students will determine the amount of agitation necessary
to dissolve various sized sugar particles.
This task assesses students' abilities to collect,
organize, and interpret data, create appropriate graphs, predict
future events based on collected data, and infer relationships.
This task is designed to take students approximately
15 minutes to complete.
Overall Task Content Area:
- Physical Science
Specific Knowledge Areas:
- Properties and changes of properties in matter
Performance Expectations:
- conducting investigations
- gathering, organizing, and representing data
- formulating conclusions from investigational data
- applying scientific principles to develop explanations and solve
new problems
National Science Education Standards:
8 A SI 1: Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry:
Grades 5-8
1.4 Develop descriptions, explanations, predictions, and
models using evidence. Students should base their explanation on
what they observed, and as they develop cognitive skills, they should
be able to differentiate explanation from description ÷ providing
causes for effects and establishing relationships based on evidence
and logical argument. This standards requires a subject knowledge
base so the students can effectively conduct investigations, because
developing explanations establishes connections between the content
of science and the contexts within which students develop new knowledge.
8 B PS 1: Properties and changes of properties in matter:
Grades 5-8
1.1 A substance has characteristic properties, such as density,
a boiling point, and solubility, all of which are independent of
the amount of the sample. A mixture of substances often can be separated
into the original substances using one or more of the characteristic
properties.
(Use the "hot" link on the PALS home page
to check the full text of related National Science Education Standards,
if desired.)
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics:
AL1: Understand patterns, relations and functions:
Grades 6-8 f. represent, analyze, and generalize a variety
of patterns with tables, graphs, words, and, when possible, symbolic
rules
DAP3: Develop and evaluate
inferences and predictions that are based on data:
Grades 6-8 e. use conjectures to formulate
new questions and plan new studies to answer them
MEAS2: Apply appropriate
techniques, tools, and formulas to determine measurements:
Grades 6-8 o. solve simple problems involving
rates and derived measurements for such attributes as velocity
and density
DAP1: Formulate questions
that can be addressed with data and collect, organize, and display
relevant data to answer them:
Grades 6-8 i. select, create, and use
appropriate graphical representations of data including histograms,
box plots, and scatter plots
PS2: Solve problems that arise in mathematics
and in other contexts:
Grades 6-8
REP1: Create and use representations to
organize, record, and communicate mathematical ideas:
Grades 6-8
General Instructions to the Teacher:
This task is designed to take approximately 15 minutes to complete.
Students will be working individually during this exercise.
Students should be ready to work as soon as the period begins.
The materials should be set out at each lab station, if possible.
A central supply area, if needed, should be easily accessible. All
supplies should be clearly labeled.
Materials for "Rate of Solution":
At each station students should have:
- 1 sugar cube
- granulated sugar in a sealed container
- waste container (cups or small buckets)
- teaspoon
- graduated cylinder
- 2 bottles with screw on caps, labeled A and B
- super fine sugar sample
- water (500ml)
- safety goggles
- hand lens
Advance Preparation:
- Mark the sealed container of granulated sugar "granulated
sugar - Do Not Open"
- Bottle size and water temperature must be consistent
at every student station.
Safety:
- Safety goggles must be worn for this activity.
- See MSDS - materials etc. for further safety precautions.
- Proper laboratory safety procedures are required.
- Be careful.
- Teachers and students should always exercise appropriate safety
precautions and utilize appropriate laboratory safety procedures
and equipment when working on science performance tasks.
Extensions/Modifications:
- Different types of sugar may be substituted in the shaking process
- granulated and super fine - extrapolate cube
- granulated and cube - extrapolate super fine
- correlate particle size with surface area
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