The Gases Task:
an example of an assessment task and supporting materials
Assessment items
The Gases Task is a set of assessment items to administer to students. Some items test students’ understanding of structure of matter content content while others test their facility in handling claims, evidence, and reasoning.
Uses: You could use a task like this before teaching on structure of matter to get a better idea of students’ baseline, or afterwards to assess progress. Or you could pick one or two questions to use at the start of each class period as a warm up.
Answer Key
The answer key indicates correct answers for the assessment items. The key also tells you the target level for each question: the level within either the Structure of Matter or Argumentation learning progression that a correct answer indicates.
Learning progressions
There are descriptions of both the Structure of Matter and the Argumentation learning progressions. Each progression is broken down into levels 0 through 3 (least to most sophisticated). By using the assessment items and answer key to locate a student on the construct map, you can better understand the student’s level of conceptual mastery.
Of course, students don’t always climb through a progression steadily and without any backsliding. Though the general trend is upward, learning is often a two-steps-forward, one-step-back proposition, as students grapple with new tasks and information. Still, this formative assessment can help you optimize instruction. Rather than belabor what is obvious to a student, or talk over the student’s head, you can challenge the student to take their next viable conceptual leap.