Science Task Prescreen
Task Title: Bond Energy: The Hidden Energy in Chemical Bonds
Grade: High School
Date: 2024-05-20
SEP: Developing and Using Models
DCI: PS1.A (Structure and Properties of Matter), PS1.B (Chemical Reactions)
CCC: Energy and Matter
Task Purpose: Provide an inquiry-based investigation where students use an interactive bond energy simulation to collect data on bond breaking and formation energies for three chemical reactions, enabling them to develop a model that explains how the net energy change of a reaction depends on the difference between bond energies broken and formed.
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:
This task is anchored in a compelling real-world phenomenon (the energy released when gasoline burns in a car engine) that creates a genuine “need to know” about how chemical bonds store and release energy. Students must actively interact with the simulation to generate their own bond energy data across three distinct chemical reactions, then apply mathematical reasoning (net energy = bonds broken - bonds formed) to determine whether each reaction is exothermic or endothermic. The dimensions are integrated naturally: students collect and analyze data from the simulation (SEP: Developing and Using Models) to trace energy transfer through chemical reactions (CCC: Energy and Matter) while applying understanding of bond breaking requiring energy input and bond formation releasing energy (DCI: PS1.A, PS1.B).