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6th-8th Grade Performance Task
Contributed by: The RAND Institute (RAND)
1993-94
Task Directions:
Part 1: Sorting People
The ways in which objects differ are called properties.
Properties can be used to sort objects into groups. Color is one
property you could use to classify cars. You might sort cars into
two groups based on their color: blue and not blue. Another car
property is speed. There could be two speed groups: fast and slow.
You also could classify cars by how many doors they have. One group
has 2 doors, another group has 4 doors, and so on. There are many
different properties you could use to classify things.
- Take the pictures out of the envelope labeled "People".
- Look at pictures A and B. List two ways the people
in A and B are similar to each other.
- List one way A is different from B:
- Gender is one property. Every person is either male or female.
Gender could be used to sort people into two groups; one group
is males and the other is females.
Do A and B belong to the same gender group? (Circle
one answer)
- Another property is body position. You can use this property
to divide people into two groups: sitting and standing.
Do A and B belong to the same body position group?
(Circle one answer)
- A few students started to classify the people in the envelope.
First, they chose two properties. One property
is gender. It has two groups, male and female. They wrote this
property and its groups on top of the table below. The other
property is headwear. Headwear also has two groups, cap and
no cap. The student wrote these labels on the side of the table.
Second, they wrote labels inside each box.
Box 1 is labeled "male-cap" because it is under the
male group and next to the cap group. Box 2 is "female-cap"
because it is under the female group and next to the cap groups.
Box 3 is "male-no cap" and Box 4 is "female-no
cap".
Third, they wrote "A" in Box
1 because picture A is a male and wearing a cap.
They wrote "B" in Box 4 because B is female
and notwearinga cap.
YOUR JOB is to finish the table below.
Write each person's letter in the right box. Be sure to use
all of the letters: C, D, E, F, G, H.
- A second group of students started to sort the people using
different properties but ran out of time.
YOUR JOB is to finish labeling all
of the properties, groups, and boxes. Use the words below to
do this.
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Properties
age
clothing
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Groups
summer clothing
winter clothing
adult
child
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Boxes
child-summer
child-winter
adult-summer
adult-winter
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Hint: Sort the pictures into the boxes on your
placemat so you can see the groups they made. Some of the labels
have been done already. The pictures in Box 4 have two things
in common; they both show a child wearing summer clothing. That
is why it has the "child-summer" label.
When you are finished, please put the figures
back into the "People" envelope.
Part 2: Sorting Materials
- Take the materials out of Envelope 1 and look at them
carefully. Think about the different properties you could use
to sort these materials into groups.
Sort the materials into the four boxes using whatever
properties and groups you want. Make sure to follow
these rules:
- Each box must have at least one material.
- You must use all eight materials.
YOUR JOB is to fill in the table below. Be sure to label
the properties, groups, and boxes. Write the letters of the
materials in the boxes where they belong.
- Take the material out of Envelope 2. Does the material
belong in any of the boxes in the table you just made? In the
space below, describe which box this material should be in and
why. If the material does not belong in any of the boxes, be sure
to explain why.
When you are finished, please put the materials back into the
envelopes.
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