Science Task Prescreen
Task Title: Charting the Future: Analyzing Global Climate Impacts
Grade: High School
Date: April 19, 2026
SEP: Analyzing and Interpreting Data
DCI: ESS3.D: Global Climate Change
CCC: Stability and Change
Task Purpose: To assess students’ ability to use a computational climate model to forecast future impacts on the hydrosphere and cryosphere, and to evaluate the trade-offs of technological mitigation strategies.
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 effectively uses the simulation’s comparison between BAU (Business as Usual) and Mitigated forecasts to drive data analysis. The specific question about the “Geoengineering Paradox” requires deep conceptual understanding of the difference between atmospheric temperature and atmospheric composition.