Guidelines for Developing a 21st Century Inquiry/Performance Task for Your Classroom

Identify the enduring knowledge to be addressed by the task. This could be a NECAP target or Grade Expectation.

E very good performance task assesses at least one construct from each of the four broad areas : Formulating Questions & Hypothesizing, Planning and Critiquing of Investigations, Conducting Investigations, Developing and Evaluating Explanations.

An inquiry CONSTRUCT answers the question: What is it about the broad area of Inquiry that we want students to know and be able to do? ?

What does GDIT stand for? Guidelines for the Development of Science Inquiry Tasks

What are the Benefits of GDITs? Prep for NECAP Can be used at common assessment Good classroom inquiry and content assessment 21st century skills that may include: –Formulate scientific questions about an issue and define experimental procedures for finding answers. –Plan and conduct practical tests to solve problems or answer a question, collect and analyze data using appropriate instruments and techniques safely and accurately. –Develop models and explanations to fit evidence obtained from investigations (ICT Literacy Map Science handout, pg. 4)

Lets get busy with GDITs From the GDITs document I dentify the constructs from each of the four broad areas and select those that are a good match to the enduring knowledge.

Formulating Questions & Hypothesizing 1. ________________________ 2. ________________________ 3. ________________________

Planning and Critiquing of Investigations 1. ________________________ 2. ________________________ 3. ________________________

Conducting Investigations 1. ________________________ 2. ________________________ 3. ________________________

Developing and Evaluating Explanations 1. ________________________ 2. ________________________ 3. ________________________

D evelop a draft scenario aligned to the major idea of the task that could generate testable questions. The scenario topic should be something that students can relate to, avoiding cultural bias (universal design). Look for opportunities that incorporate technology to collect data or perform measurements.

Identify an authentic Data Set that applies to the TARGET and relates to the SCENARIO

OR Provide opportunity for Collection of Data (ideally data will be collected using a student designed - not teacher designed procedure) that applies to the TARGET and relates to the SCENARIO

G enerate questions to address the constructs identified in step two, such as: hypothesis development, data interpretation and analysis, citing of evidence in support of conclusion etc. This will depend on which constructs you identified.