Science Task Prescreen
Task Title: The Great Erasure: Uncovering Earth’s Battered Past
Grade: High School (9-12)
Date: April 17, 2026
SEP: Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions
DCI: ESS1.C: The History of Planet Earth
CCC: Stability and Change
Task Purpose: The purpose of this task is to assess students’ ability to use comparative evidence from planetary surfaces (the Moon) and radiometric dating “reset” patterns to reconstruct Earth’s bombardment history and explain why the early rock record is scarce on Earth.
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 is centered on the phenomenon of the “Great Erasure”—the discrepancy between Earth’s and the Moon’s cratered surfaces. It fundamentally requires the simulation to observe the impact of geological processes on crater density and radiometric rock ages. Students cannot answer the final reasoning questions (refuting the skeptic) without having analyzed the simulation’s behavior regarding the “Oldest Surface Rock” data and the toggleable processes. The dimensions (SEP: Constructing Explanations, CCC: Stability/Change) are integrated throughout the 5E sequence. No red flags were identified.