Short Performance Assessment: MS-ESS1-4
Grade Level: Middle School
Adapted from SNAP1
Title
Grand Canyon Mystery
Designed by
Cornelia Harris & Christina Prokopienko
Course(s)
M.S Earth Science
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Performance
Expectation
MS-ESS1-4: Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence from rock strata for how the geologic
time scale is used to organize Earth's 4.6-billion-year-old history.
Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on how analyses of rock formations and the fossils they contain are used to establish
relative ages of major events in Earth’s history. Examples of Earth’s major events could range from being very recent (such as the
last Ice Age or the earliest fossils of homo sapiens) to very old (such as the formation of Earth or the earliest evidence of life).
Examples can include the formation of mountain chains and ocean basins, the evolution or extinction of particular living
organisms, or significant volcanic eruptions.
Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include recalling the names of specific periods or epochs and events within them.
1
Science and
Engineering
Practice
Constructing Explanations
• Construct a scientific explanation based on valid and reliable evidence obtained from sources
(including the students’ own experiments) and the assumption that theories and laws that describe the
natural world operate today as they did in the past and will continue to do so in the future.
Disciplinary
Core Ideas
ESS1.C: The History of Planet Earth
• The geologic time scale interpreted from rock strata provides a way to organize Earth’s history.
Analyses of rock strata and the fossil record provide only relative dates, not an absolute scale
Crosscutting
Concept
Scale, Proportion, and Quantity
• Time, space, and energy phenomena can be observed at various scales using models to study
systems that are too large or too small.
Student
Performance
1. Articulating the explanation of phenomena
2. Evidence
3. Reasoning
The Short Performance Assessment (SPA) and the Assessment Rubric adapted from the Stanford NGSS Assessment Project http://snapgse.stanford.edu/
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Name________________________________
The Grand Canyon is an ancient land form, over 1.2 billion years old. We can see the layers of the rock as we
travel down into the canyon, and there is one big question that has baffled scientists for years. At the bottom of
the layers of rock, there is a 1.2 billion year gap in the rock record, that has been called the “Great
Unconformity”. The rock that should be there is simply missing, and scientists have been working on
understanding the missing pieces of “time” in Earth’s geologic record.
(https://www.forbes.com/sites/trevornace/2016/08/10/grand-canyons-1-2-billion-year-old-secret/#1b3bdf1267d7)
Tonto Group
Unconformity
Vishnu Schist
You can see the unconformity between two rock groups: the Vishnu schist and the Tonto formation. Read more
about these rock groups below.
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Great unconformity
The Vishnu Schist
This rock group is metamorphic and is the oldest rock group in the Grand Canyon. It includes the remains of an
ancient mountain chain that eroded away starting 1.8 billion years ago.
(https://utahgeology.com/the-vishnu-schist-of-the-grand-canyon/)
Mineral crystals found in the Vishnu Schist, that have been dated to the PreCambrian era. (https://www.researchgate.net/figure/A-Staurolite-crystals-near-river-mile-94-in-the-Vishnu-Schist-large-blackgrains_fig2_296058495)
Tonto Group
This rock group are layers of various sedimentary rocks that were deposited during the Cambrian Period, 500-520
million years ago.
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(http://www.grandcanyonnaturalhistory.com/pages_nature/geology/tontogroup.html)
These fossils were found in the Tonto Group at the Grand Canyon.
(http://archive.fossweb.com/resources/pictures/199374584.html)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/paleo_bear/7991988514
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------1.
How does the great unconformity provide evidence of the history of the earth?
Claim:
Evidence:
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Reasoning:
2. You have heard that the Great Unconformity can also be seen at Siccar Point in Scotland. What evidence
would you need to gather in order to prove this?
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Assessment Rubric* - Question 1
Emerging
Developing
Approaching
Proficiency
Excelling
Description of
performance
Sample student
responses
Assessment Rubric* - Question 2
Emerging
Developing
Approaching
Proficiency
Excelling
Description of
performance
Sample student
responses
Insert additional Assessment Rubrics (if needed) here.
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