Science Task Prescreen
Task Title: Design Challenge: Lighting the Main Stage
Grade: High School
Date: 2024-04-25
SEP: Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions
DCI: PS3.A: Definitions of Energy, PS3.D: Energy in Chemical Processes, ETS1.A: Defining and Delimiting an Engineering Problem
CCC: Energy and Matter
Task Purpose: Evaluate students’ ability to design, evaluate, and refine an energy conversion system while meeting engineering constraints.
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):
- [x] Warrants further review.
- [ ] Should not be used.
Summary
Summarize your evidence and reasoning:
The task presents a clear, engaging engineering problem: designing a stage lighting array that maximizes brightness without exceeding a 20.0 A constraint, using the provided simulation. The task cannot be solved without exploring the simulation data to see the effects of series vs. parallel circuits. It requires the integration of understanding energy transformation (DCIs) and system limitations, applying that knowledge to justify a design (SEP), and analyzing the flow of energy in the system (CCC). The dimensions are integrated throughout the problem-solving process. Thus, no red flags are present and the task warrants further review.