Science Task Prescreen

Task Title: Optimizing the Haber Process: Designing for Maximum Ammonia Yield Grade: 11th Grade (High School) Date: March 2024 SEP: Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions DCI: PS1.B: Chemical Reactions; ETS1.C: Optimizing the Design Solution CCC: Stability and Change Task Purpose: To evaluate students’ ability to apply Le Chatelier’s Principle to optimize a chemical system (the Haber Process) and balance equilibrium concepts with real-world engineering constraints.

Instructions

Before you begin, review the full task description and any accompanying materials. Then complete the prescreen checklist below.

Answer all questions based on the current version of the task, not on how it could be improved.
Focus on whether a typical student would need to make sense of the scenario and use reasoning with core ideas and practices to complete the task.
If you mark any 🚩 (red flag) items “Yes,” briefly describe your concern in the Summary section.
Use the Recommendation section to indicate whether this task should move forward for full review or be set aside.

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

Warrants further review.
Should not be used.

Summary

Summarize your evidence and reasoning: The task is grounded in a real-world problem (industrial fertilizer production via the Haber Process). Students cannot simply recall the definition of Le Chatelier’s Principle; they must actively apply it using data from the simulation (reasoning) to explain shifts in equilibrium (DCI: Chemical Reactions). Furthermore, the final part requires them to refine an engineering solution by balancing theoretical thermodynamic optimal conditions with practical kinetic and economic constraints (SEP: Designing Solutions, DCI: Optimizing the Design Solution). The dimensions are integrated throughout the analysis and recommendation phases. No red flags are present.