ATLAST developed assessments in specific content areas in middle school science that were both meaningful and small enough to assess thoroughly with a relatively short assessment (i.e., requiring 45 minutes or less to administer). For each assessment, there is an accompanying “content clarification.” Clarifying (or specifying) the content domain can be thought of as defining the boundaries for an assessment, or specifying what content is “fair game” and what is not.
Targeted Benchmarks
For each content area, a subset of middle grades science benchmark(s) from the Benchmarks for Science Literacy by AAAS (1993) was adapted to bound the content domain. The benchmarks for each area are listed below.
Flow of Matter & Energy in Living Systems (adapted from Project 2061 benchmark 5E/M1)
Food provides molecules that serve as fuel and building materials for all organisms. Plants use the energy in light to make sugars out of carbon dioxide and water. This food [sugars] can be used immediately for fuel or materials, or it may be stored for later use. Organisms that eat plants break down the plant structures to produce the materials and energy they need to survive. Then they are consumed by other organisms.
Force & Motion (adapted from Project 2061 benchmark 4F/M3)
An unbalanced force acting on an object changes its speed or direction of motion, or both.
Plate Tectonics (adapted from Project 2061 benchmarks 4C/M11, 4C/M12, 4C/M13)
The outer portion of Earth—including both the continents and the seafloor beneath the oceans—consists of huge plates of solid rock. The plates move very slowly (a few centimeters per year). Plate movement causes abutting plates to interact with one another. Interactions between plates result in events and features that are observable on Earth’s surface (e.g., earthquakes, volcanoes and mountain ranges); these typically occur along boundaries between plates.
To further specify the domain, the benchmarks were “unpacked” into sub-ideas, which can be thought of as the smallest assessable piece of information about the ideas. Sub-ideas were identified by content experts in each discipline and then reviewed by a three-person panel of content experts. The sub-ideas included ideas for students, as well as ideas for teachers. These sub-ideas fully specify the content domain for all instruments developed in each content area.
To see the complete content clarification for each content area, visit Content Clarification Documents.