Task Library

Why Can Cattle Live on Grass, but Humans Cannot?

In this multi-day science task, students will investigate a biological phenomenon: why cattle and other ruminants can survive on grass while humans cannot. Students will explore how digestive structure, microbial fermentation, and energy transformation allow ruminant animals to access chemical energy stored in cellulose-rich plant material. 

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Can Houseplants Impact Indoor Air Quality?

In this task, students analyze and compare multiple data sets and visual sources to identify and interpret patterns in how plants remove indoor air pollutants. They use these patterns as evidence to construct explanations of how specialized plant structures, such as stomata and guard cells, regulate gas exchange and contribute to pollutant uptake.

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Soil Your Undies for Healthy Soil

In this middle school task, students explore how soil health is maintained by understanding the complex interactions between living and nonliving factors in a soil ecosystem.

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More Cheese, Please – Middle School

In this middle school task, students use models and data to explain why lactose intolerant people experience lots of gas, bloating and diarrhea when they eat certain dairy products. 

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More Cheese, Please – High School

In this high school task, students use models and data to explain why lactose intolerant people experience lots of gas, bloating and diarrhea when they eat certain dairy products. 

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Food Fermentation

In this task, students will develop an explanation for how one organism’s population growth in an ecosystem may cause the population growth of other organisms in the same ecosystem to decrease.

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Frog Fungus

In this high school task, students evaluate a series of mathematical models to determine how a mysterious fungus impacts various populations in a pond ecosystem. 

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Are All Bacteria Harmful?

In this high school task, students explore the food ecosystems of two samples of yogurt with different bacteria to figure out which types are harmful and then explore the environmental conditions that allow harmful and less harmful bacteria to thrive. 

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Genetics Task

This task is intended to be used as a formative assessment to identify student strengths and weaknesses with the ideas of genetics and heredity and evaluation of possible solutions considering sustainable practices. The use of this task will help to identify students’ strengths and needs to provide feedback to students. This will support shifts in instructional practice during a mid-unit assessment. 

In this middle school task, students will write an argument that justifies the selection of a particular bull to be mated with a group of cattle to meet the criteria set forth by the producer.