PARCC Research Simulation Task Grade 8 Reading Lesson 1: Introducing the EBSR and TECR

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1 Rationale PARCC Research Simulation Task Grade 8 Reading Lesson 1: Introducing the EBSR and TECR The format of the test items for PARCC s Research Simulation Task (RST) is a significant change from previous standardized tests. This lesson will present students with an overview of the selected response and constructed response items of the assessment. Goal To familiarize students with the format of PARCC s RST evidence-based selected response (EBSR) and technology-enhanced constructed response (TECR) questions. Task Foci CCSS RI.8.1: Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. CCSS RI.8.2: Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including its relationship to supporting ideas; provide an objective summary of the text. CCSS RI.8.3: Analyze how a text makes connections among and distinctions between individuals, ideas, or events (e.g., through comparisons, analogies, or categories). CCSS RI.8.4: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including analogies or allusions to other texts. Objectives Materials Students will know what to expect from the evidence-based selected response and technology-enhanced constructed response items. Informational Text EBSR/TECR questions Procedures Tell students that today they will explore the types of questions they will encounter on PARCC s assessments. Distribute the text. Read it as a class or have students read it independently. Distribute the sample EBSR. Explain to students, There are two formats that the questions on PARCC s assessments take. One is the evidence-based selected response. This type is similar to the multiple-choice questions you re used to seeing on tests. However, the difference is that these are two-part questions. The first part resembles the traditional RST Reading Lesson 1: Introducing the Research Simulation Task Page Standards Solution Holding, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

2 multiple-choice question. The second part will often ask you to select the best evidence to support your answer to the first part. Direct students to look at the EBSR question. Discuss Part A. Ask students what is similar and what is different between Part A and traditional multiple-choice questions. Discuss Part B. Distribute the sample TECR. Introduce the technology-enhanced constructed responses: These questions are probably very different from what you are used to seeing on a test. The layout for these questions will vary. Some may ask you to drag and drop quotations from the text, rearrange plot points into a summary list, identify causes and effects... Discuss the TECR question with the class. Make sure students understand what the question is asking them and what they need to do. Work through the sample TECR as a class. RST Reading Lesson 1: Introducing the Research Simulation Task Page Standards Solution Holding, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

3 Hitchhiker's Guide to the Deep Courtesy: National Science Foundation 1. Deep ocean pressure poses challenges for divers and sea bottom explorers. But one organism found a way to hitch a ride to the surface without any apparent physiological challenge. 2. Janet Voight, a biologist at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, and other scientists studying deep-ocean hydrothermal vents discovered that some life-forms can survive the extreme pressure change from ocean floor to sea surface. 3. On a recent dive in the deep-ocean research submersible Alvin, some unexpected companions--38 of them, to be exact--found their way topside. 4. Lepetodrilus gordensis, the invader is named. It's a type of marine snail called a limpet, wellknown for its ability to stick like glue to surfaces. 5. "No one thought that included the gear of a submersible, however," says Voight. 6. The fauna at deep-sea hydrothermal vents is among the most isolated and inaccessible on Earth. Life at vents is based on a process called chemosynthesis, which, unlike photosynthesis, doesn't depend on sunlight. Rather, it survives on chemicals spewed from the vents themselves. 7. "Hydrothermal vents can only be visited by subsea vehicles, which can and do move freely among them," wrote Voight and colleagues in a paper published recently in the journal Conservation Biology. "Researchers assumed that individual animals in the vent fauna, if brought to the surface, would be killed by the change in water pressure. Clearly it's not so." 8. After one Alvin dive, Voight found the 38 vent limpets in samples taken from an undersea locale where there are no hydrothermal vents--and therefore no vent limpets. 9. The scientists had collected samples from a non-limpet habitat along the Juan de Fuca Ridge, deep under the surface of the northeastern Pacific Ocean. But when Voight looked at the treasure trove, it contained limpets. 10. "What's wrong with this picture?" she asked. "Well, that limpet species was known only from the vents of the Gorda Ridge, 635 kilometers south of Juan de Fuca." 11. The question became: How did the limpets get more than 600 kilometers from their habitat? "The only answer was that they must have been transported by the sub." 12. Which just goes to show, says Chuck Lydeard, a program director in the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Division of Environmental Biology, which funded the research, "that humans cannot assume anything about the dispersal capabilities of other organisms, including those thought to be restricted to the most extreme environments on the planet." 13. The inadvertent introduction of a new species to an ecosystem is a major challenge to conservation efforts. How a species will react to new surroundings, and the effect it has if it begins to reproduce and take over, is unpredictable. 14. "Deep-sea drilling and submersible activity can increase the probability of such introductions," says Voight, "but until now hydrothermal vents were considered too isolated to be a source of invaders." 15. In coastal areas, one of the biggest threats from invasive species is the introduction of diseases. Newly introduced pathogens can cause mass mortality in native species. Diseases that may exist in extreme environments such as hydrothermal vents have not been well-studied, says Voight.

4 16. "It's clearly possible to accidentally introduce a species--and any potential diseases it may carry-- from a deep-sea vent to a new location," she says. "That has implications for the future exploration of hydrothermal vents. It reveals the potential risk of human-driven change to ecosystems, even those ecosystems most of us will never see." 17. The discovery is a valuable lesson to the scientists and vehicle operators who work in the deep sea, says Brian Midson of NSF's Division of Ocean Sciences. 18. "Potential cross-fertilization and contamination of hydrothermal vents and other sites need to be considered during pre and post-dive activities," says Midson. "This new information will result in future discussions between shipboard crew and research scientists about the need for rigorous cleaning and inspection of sampling gear and vehicles, before and after every dive." 19. The limpets Voight found hitched a ride somewhere in the sub's suction sampler, she believes, "perhaps in the corrugated hose, where enough water pooled to keep them alive. 20. "Replacing the corrugated hose with a smooth hose may help prevent inadvertent transplants of biota, but any surface or crevice on the submersible or its gear could provide a refuge." 21. The scientists urge other researchers to assume that "physiologically tough" stowaways are present on deep-sea research instruments and to guard against transport of nonnative species-- from or to The Deep. 22. "Preventing introductions is of paramount importance," says Voight, "in maintaining intact hydrothermal vent ecosystems."

5 1. Part A: What is the meaning of the word inadvertent as it is used in paragraph 13? A. inattentive B. heinous C. man-made D. unintentional Part B: What phase best clarifies the meaning of inadvertent in Part A? A. is unpredictable (paragraph 13) B. hydrothermal vents were considered too isolated (paragraph 14) C. it's clearly possible to accidentally introduce a species (paragraph 16) D. reveals the potential risk of human-driven change (paragraph 16) 2. Part A: What is the central idea of the passage? A. Multiple species of snails that lives more than 600 kilometers deep in the ocean survived a trip to the surface. B. A snail species tolerated an experimental trip to the ocean surface, more than 600 kilometers from its habitat in the ocean. C. Human exploration of oceans is hazardous for people and ocean life. D. Researchers unexpectedly discovered a limpet could survive a voyage from the bottom of the ocean to the surface. Part B: What textual evidence is a key supporting detail to the answer in Part A? A. Replacing the corrugated hose with a smooth hose may help prevent inadvertent transplants of biota, but any surface or crevice on the submersible or its gear could provide a refuge. (paragraph20) B. The inadvertent introduction of a new species to an ecosystem is a major challenge to conservation efforts. (paragraph 13) C. Researchers assumed that individual animals in the vent fauna, if brought to the surface, would be killed by the change in water pressure. Clearly it's not so. (paragraph 7) D. Life at vents is based on a process called chemosynthesis, which, unlike photosynthesis, doesn't depend on sunlight. (paragraph 6)

6 3. What ecosystem risks are posed by deep ocean research? Note that not all answers will be used. A. Shut down of photosynthesis. Risks B. Destruction of native species. C. Lepetodrilus gordensis collapse. D. Eco-system contamination. E. Introduction of pathogens. F. Submersible failure. G. Clogged vents.

7 Answer Key 1A: D 1B: C 2A: D 2B: B 3. Risks B. Destruction of native species. D. Eco-system contamination. E. Introduction of pathogens.