Reading a Task Page

Task pages are the heart of ATLAS. They are designed to give you all the key information you need to quickly and easily decide if a task is right for your students and classroom. To help you find the information you need quickly, we've broken each task page down into four main sections. This guide will walk you through each one.

Section 1: At-a-Glance Task Details

The top section gives you the 'who, what, and when' of the task. It's your first stop for key descriptive and logistical information.

Key elements in this section:

1. Quick Navigation: At the top of the page is a navigation bar that allows you to quickly jump between sections of the page.
2. Key Info: Who created the task and what it's called, grade, estimated duration, instructional model, and curriculum alignment.
3. Summary: Includes the type(s) of phenomenon students will investigate and a brief description, a concise overview of what students will learn and do during the task, and what and science domain(s) are included.
4. Activities and Materials Sidebar: A list of the main student activities and, if available, any key materials needed beyond of the task documents and typical classroom supplies.
5. Teacher Insights: Displays an average of teacher ratings of the task across three categories. If a task has not yet been rated by any teachers this section will not be displayed.
6. Share/Add Button: Allows you to quickly share a task via email or to add a task to a personal collection in ATLAS.

Section 2: What Will This Task Address?

This section details the specific NGSS standards the task is designed to assess, so you can make sure the task is aligned to your learning goals. It also shares key Task Features helps you understand how the task will function in a diverse classroom. These ratings and tags are determined through a detailed review of each task by a panel of researchers and educators.

Key elements in this section:

7. NGSS Standards: The three dimensions (Science and Engineering Practices, Disciplinary Core Ideas, Crosscutting Concepts) and Performance Expectations addressed.
8. Included Elements: Don't miss these links! Click here to see the specific elements of the standards being addressed in the task, providing a much more granular view of the assessment target.
9. Attributes: These indicate how accessible a task is, how much learner agency and choice a task allows, to what extent a task requires learners to engage in verbal or multimedia communication, and whether a task encourages reflection and metacognition from learners.
10. Highlights: Tags that call out key task features, such as "Environment Literacy" or "Culturally relevant."

Learn more about Task Features here.

Section 3: Task Documents

You've reviewed the task and you think this might be the one! Time to take a look at the task materials themselves. This final section lets you review and download the full task materials from the task developer.

Key elements in this section:

11. Preview Window: This pane shows a partial view of the student task. Clicking the "preview" button will open a pdf preview of the full task document, or the student-facing task document if the task is divided into multiple files.
12. View in Google Drive Links: Direct links to view individual task files in Google Drive.
13. Copy Task Button: This button is a huge time-saver! Click it to copy the task document or the entire folder of task materials directly to your Google Drive. The first time you use the copy folder feature you will have to authorize the copy tool to access your Drive.

Section 4: Educator Feedback

Here, you can share your experience teaching this task to help other educators learn from your experience, or you can read the reviews of your peers. You must have an ATLAS account to add reviews. Please do not comment on tasks you haven't directly taught!

Key elements in this section:

14. Teacher Insights: This is where you can rate tasks you've taught to help other teachers understand how much additional prep work is needed and how students received the tasks. These ratings are displayed to other teachers in the first section of the task details page.
15. Reviews and Comments: Here you can write and read comments about tasks you have taught. This section is not just for static reviews, it also allows you to ask questions and discuss with peers who have left comments.