Science Task Prescreen

Task Title: Ice-Albedo Feedback Loop Task

Grade: High School

Date: [Current Date]

SEP: Developing and Using Models

DCI: ESS2.A: Earth Materials and Systems, ESS2.D: Weather and Climate

CCC: Stability and Change

Task Purpose: Evaluate the alignment and quality of the Ice-Albedo Feedback Loop task.

Instructions

Before you begin: Complete the task as a student would. Then, consider any support materials provided to teachers or students, such as contextual information about the task and answer keys/rubrics.
Prescreen: Answer the following high-level questions to identify any major red flags (🚩) in your task. If you find one or more red flags, consider the purpose of the task and the evidence gathered to determine whether the task warrants a deeper dive.

Prescreen Questionnaire

Question	Yes	No
1. Is there a phenomenon or problem driving the task?	[x]	[ ] 🚩
2. Can the majority of the task be answered without using information provided by the task scenario?	[ ] 🚩	[x]
3. Can significant portions of the task be answered successfully by using rote knowledge (e.g., definitions, prescriptive or memorized procedure)?	[ ] 🚩	[x]
4. Does the majority of the task require students to use reasoning to successfully complete the task?	[x]	[ ] 🚩
5. Does the task require students to use some understanding of disciplinary core ideas to successfully complete the task?	[x]	[ ] 🚩
6. Do students have to use at least one science and engineering practice to successfully complete the task?	[x]	[ ] 🚩
7. Are the dimensions assessed separately in the majority of the task?	[ ] 🚩	[x]
8. Is the task coherent and comprehensible from the student perspective?	[x]	[ ] 🚩

Recommendation

Based on your assessment needs and the task purpose recorded above, make a recommendation about this task moving forward (choose one):

Warrants further review.
Should not be used.

Summary

Summarize your evidence and reasoning:

The task uses a highly visual simulation of the Earth’s polar regions to model the relationship between temperature, ice coverage, and albedo. It specifically targets a positive feedback loop (Stability and Change). Since it avoids rote memorization and firmly requires reasoning with the 3 dimensions, no red flags were encountered.