Stimuli 1

1. FIFTH GRADE: CHANGING CORAL STANDARDS: This task is intended to assess components of NCCRS-S DCI elements…  ESS2.A: Earth Materials and Systems Earth’s major systems are the geosphere (solid and molten rock, soil, and sediments), the hydrosphere (water and ice), the atmosphere (air), and the biosphere (living things, including humans). These systems interact in multiple ways to affect Earth’s surface materials and processes. The ocean supports a variety of ecosystems and organisms ESS3.C: Human Impacts on Earth Systems Human activities in agriculture, industry, and everyday life have had major effects on the land, vegetation, streams, ocean, air, and even outer space. But individuals and communities are doing things to help protect Earth’s resources and environments.LS2.A: Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems Organisms are related in food webs in which some animals eat plants for food and other animals eat the animals that eat plants. Some organisms, such as fungi and bacteria, break down dead organisms (both plants or plants parts and animals) and therefore operate as “decomposers.” A healthy ecosystem is one in which multiple species of different types are each able to meet their needs in a relatively stable web of life. ANNOTATION KEY DCIs Opportunities to demonstrate understanding of disciplinary core ideas. SENSE-MAKING Opportunities for reasoning about phenomena and problems. ASSESSMENT PURPOSE Highlights how the task features connect to intended assessment use. SCENARIOS Information provided to elicit performances. SEPs Opportunities to demonstrate science and engineering practices. EQUITY Supporting a wide range of diverse students. CCCs Opportunities to demonstrate understanding of crosscutting concepts. This is a general observation, and is not set up to be puzzling or intriguing to students. While this is a phenomenon, insufficient information is provided to make this compelling to students, to motivate sense-making, or to cue students toward what ideas they should be using to address the phenomenon. It might be helpful if instead of “these changes”, the task focused on a single/small subset of specific changes. This would make the phenomenon more specific, intriguing, and connected to sense-making. • Stimuli 1 • Scientists have been investigating coral reef ecosystems over time. They have observed many changes. In some areas, corals reefs have disappeared. The scientists are wondering what is causing these changes.   • Information about Coral Reefs • Coral reefs are made from animals that live in the same place their entire lives. • Corals need shallow, clear, warm water to survive. • Most corals live with algae, which are tiny, plant-like organisms that need sunlight to grow.    • While this is a clear attempt to make the uncertainty associated with the phenomenon clear, there is insufficient information provided to make this problematization effective. • Providing students with this information helps ensure that students are being asked to use the DCI, not specific isolated facts about coral reefs that all students may not know. This is a nice example of scaffolding unfamiliar terms and language. SCENARIOS EQUITY SCENARIOS SCENARIOS DCIs EQUITY SENSE-MAKING

2. FIFTH GRADE:CHANGING CORAL • Prompt 1 • Some scientists claim that there is a land-based cause for this ocean problem. Which evidence would support their claim?   • A) The ocean today is warmer than it was in 1980. • B) The ocean today has more algae than it did in 1980. • C) There is more oxygen in the ocean today than there was in 1980. • D) There is more soil and sediment in the ocean today than there was in 1980. • Key – D This is a confusing question—it is unclear what “land-based means.” Moreover, the question does not require students to use the scenario—all students need to know if that “there is more sediment” connects to “land-based.” EQUITY If modified, this question could provide a useful scaffold for students to progress further into the task. This question requires general reasoning to interpret the answer choices relative to the provided claim; if modified, this could connect with the 3-5 SEP #6 element “identify evidence that supports a claim.” This question does not require CCC or DCI understanding as written. EQUITY This is a confusing question: asking which claim “compares the health of coral reef A to coral reef B” suggests students are looking for which response is a comparison, not selecting a claim about the relative health. DCIs SEPs EQUITY • Prompt 2 • This question has two parts. Answer Part A, and then answer Part B. • Scientists have determined that soil and sediment entering the ocean are negatively affecting coral reefs. • Part A • Which claim compares the health of coral reef A to coral reef B?   • A) Coral reef A is most likely healthier than coral reef B. • B) Coral reef B is most likely healthier than coral reef A. • C) The health of each coral reef is most likely the same. • Key – B • Successfully answering this question requires knowing that farming can affect soil and sediment. This: • does not assess a DCI; • assesses a simple understanding of the 3-5 SEP#4 element “analyze and interpret data to make sense of phenomena using logical reasoning…”. This connects to SEP #4 rather than 6 or 7 because students are interpreting observations with logical reasoning to serve as evidence, rather than constructing an explanation with evidence and scientific reasoning. • assesses part of the 3-5 patterns element “similarities and differences in patterns can be used to sort, classify…for natural phenomena…”. DCIs CCCs SEPs

3. FIFTH GRADE:CHANGING CORAL  It is unclear why students would choose A and F. Rivers are not labeled on the map (an adult might assume that the blue line is the Mississippi river, but there is no reason to believe all students would make the same inferencesince other rivers are not indicated. Coral reef B is closer to more farmland, but that is not the answer choice provided; it is not clear that students would know what runoff is or why that would affect the health of the ecosystem; and similar arguments could likely be made for other contributing factors to ecosystem health. • Part B • Which evidence from the map supports the claim in Part A about the health of the coral reefs? Select all the evidence statements that apply to the chosen claim.   • Coral reef B is farther from rivers than coral reef A is. • Coral reef A is farther from forests than coral reef B is. • Coral reef A is farther from urban areas than coral reef B is. • Coral reef B is more damaged by waves than coral reef A is. • Coral reef B is closer to more urban areas than coral reef A is. • Coral reef A is closer to runoff from farmland than coral reef B is. • Key – A, F This could be a productive question if open ended, and the “correct” answer valued student reasoning, but as written, this question does not elicit evidence of student understanding of the three dimensions. CCCs DCIs SEPs EQUITY Prompt 3 Scientists use a Secchi disk to measure how far light reaches in water. A Secchi disk is used by lowering it into the water. At the point the Secchi disk cannot be seen, they record the depth. This depth is how far the sunlight is reaching into the water.   Understanding this idea relies on the fact that students have had sufficient opportunity to learn and apply the 1st and 4th grade elements of PS4.B “Objects can be seen if light is available to illuminate them or if they give off their own light” and “an object can be seen when the light reflected from its surface enters the eye.” DCIs This is a nice support to help ensure all students understand the scenario. It might be helpful if a third picture was included to show the disk not being able to be seen anymore. SCENARIOS EQUITY

4. FIFTH GRADE:CHANGING CORAL • Prompt 3 Contd. • Identify the pattern in the data that describes the relationship between the amount of sunlight and the amount of sediment in the water.   • A) As the sediment increases, the depth the light can reach increases. • B) As the sediment increases, the depth the light can reach decreases. • C) As the sediment decreases, the depth the light can reach decreases. • D) As the Secchi disk depth increases, the amount of sediment increases. • E) As the Secchi disk depth decreases, the amount of sediment increases. • Key – B, E This data table shows a simple pattern—as disk depth increases, the amount of sediment in the water decreases. SCENARIOS CCCs Responding to this question requires that students 1) can understand the scenario, and 2) identify the simple pattern from the provided data. This question is most appropriate as a scaffold, but does elicit part of the 3-5 SEP #4 Analyzing and Interpreting Data element “analyze and interpret data…”. It should be noted that this does not require students to apply an understanding of the DCI. This question provides students with an opportunity to practice parts of the K-2 CCC patterns element “patterns can be observed…”; however, this question only provides information about whether students know what the pattern is; it does not provide evidence that students understand that patterns can be observed and used to describe phenomena. SEPs CCCs EQUITY  Students are not provided enough information to use their understanding of the DCI to address this question. It would be very reasonable (and not incorrect!) for some students to logically work their way through the food web and argue for a different organism being the “most affected”—in fact, if they were able to show their reasoning, this might require a better understanding of DCI involving ecosystem interactions and the CCC system models. • Prompt 4 • Use the information given about the organisms in the ocean ecosystem to predict the organism that will be MOST affected when sediment in the ocean increases.   • A) dolphin • B) triggerfish • C) coral • D) algae • E) bacteria • Key – D DCIs SENSE-MAKING “most affected” is a vague term, and is inconsistent with the answer choice labeled as “correct” EQUITY

5. FIFTH GRADE:CHANGING CORAL Successfully responding to this prompt requires students to recreate the provided information, and know that “matter” is connected to what each animal eats. This does not assess DCIs, SEPs, or CCCs. Prompt 5 Complete the model of the ocean ecosystem to describe how matter moves among these five organisms. Move the names of the organisms into the boxes in the model. Key – L to R, Top to Bottom—Algae, Coral, Triggerfish, Dolphin; Bacteria CCCs DCIs SEPs Successfully responding to this prompt requires that students 1) can interpret the model, and 2) that they can use the model to make the logical inference that if algae decrease, everything upstream would decrease too. This elicits some evidence of skills associated with the 3-5 SEP #2 developing and using models element “use model…to predict…” However, it should be noted that this does not assess 5.LS2.A because students do not need to bring an understanding of foodwebs or ecosystem dynamics to the table—this is a reading comprehension question rather than a multidimensional science question. Prompt 6 Based on this ecosystem model, how will the populations of the organisms be affected if the population of algae greatly decreases? Select the effect on each organism’s population.   Key – All Decrease SEPs DCIs

6. FIFTH GRADE:CHANGING CORAL Prompt 7 Place a statement into each box to explain how changes in land affect populations of organisms. Key – top to bottom “more, decreased, less, decrease” As written, this prompt assesses if students can make a logical statement based on other questions and information provided in the task. It does not require students to understand the DCIs, SEPs, or CCCs. Also, as written, the task should allow for multiple correct answers—“changes” in the way land is used could result in more or less sediment. SENSE-MAKING SEPs DCIs CCCs Prompt 8 Construct an explanation—citing evidence from the text, graph, and models—to describe changes humans could make to land use to increase the health of coral reefs.   Key – any solution that reduces sediment in the rivers   This question could surface 1) students understanding and ability to use SEP #6 in service of sense-making, and 2) possibly a superficial understanding of part of 5-LS2.A—this would be stronger if they were not constrained to “changes humans could make to land use”, as this would allow students to demonstrate more of their understanding of how ecosystems work. It should be noted that it is possible that this prompt could elicit some understanding of systems thinking—again, this would be stronger if students weren’t told which components to discuss, but at the very least this provides students with an opportunity to implicitly practice aspects of the CCC systems and system models and implicitly practice parts of the CCC cause and effect. SENSE-MAKING SEPs SENSE-MAKING CCCs EQUITY DCIs EQUITY