SCALE Scientific Literacy Rubric

This task was originally written as a Grade 7 Science, Technology and Society (STS) performance assessment. The STS Expository Essay task was developed to address current science education standards that encourage teachers to teach students how to use the Internet to locate reliable information...

In this task, students will play the role of a team hired to work for a non-profit environmental company, Invasion Free, to investigate an invasive species introduced locally. Students will learn about different types of invasive species and the distribution of these species in their local...

This NGSS-aligned common analytic rubric assesses students' ability to articulate a science-related issue, make a claim, identify evdience, justify a claim, and evaluate an argument within the discpline of science. 

In this task, students assume the role of a representative of a country responsible for drafting a proposal to bring to the global nuclear power summit. Students will research the current context in their country and decide whether their country will support or oppose a proposal to bring nuclear...

Assuming the role of a potential personal trainer, students write a research paper describing the various aspects of a typical skeletal muscle fiber (cell). In the paper, students include information on the basic anatomy of a muscle fiber, the sliding filament theory, and the roles of both ATP...

As potential future healthcare providers (and healthcare recipients), students should be aware that medical mistakes are fairly common, and can be very costly to both care providers and patients. In this task, students will research three examples of related medical mistakes and write a journal...

For this task, students will work in teams to examine a specific type of renewable energy source. Student groups will research one renewable energy resource (such as solar energy, wind energy, biomass, geothermal energy, hydrogen fuel, nuclear power, and hydroelectric power) and determine the...

In this task, students are asked to construct an argument about the probable cause of death of a fictitious young man who collapsed and died at a local university. Students are given a set of information and will be continuously supplied with new information and the results of lab tests...

In this task, students will:

• Part 1: Gather background research on the 11 body systems
• Part 2: Select a virus and research the effect it has on each of the previously researched human systems
• Part 3: Create a comprehensive Public Service Announcement (PSA) for the
...

In this task, students will explore the ways in which humans seek to restore balance within an ecosystem after a disturbance disrupts the pre-existing balance of a population or populations of species endemic to the habitat.

Students will research a solution that was used/is going to be...

In this task, the students mathematically model changes in the bee colony numbers from the United States and from two individual states, California and South Dakota.

Students then use their constructed mathematical models to describe factors affecting the bee colony populations. The...