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Creating a Meaningful Task Context What is a meaningful context for engaging students in this task? What real issues, problems, themes, and student interests can help determine this context?

To capture students' attention and to engage them in the learning process, their learning must have meaning beyond the activity or task. Task activities and assessments must be geared around authentic, real-world experiences. Meaningful themes established throughout the task will help students to build a greater understanding of the content and skills developed through the task.

How is a meaningful context established?

Think about the students in your classroom. Think of their interests, goals, experiences, and hobbies. Think of the skills they will need to develop in progression toward the stated outcomes and indicators. Now, connect the two thoughts. A meaningful context helps to bridge students' prior knowledge and interests with essential skills and competencies. For example, students may have an interest in basketball and in socializing with friends at a local park that is targeted for destruction in order to build a new parking lot. Essential skills may include developing a persuasive argument and presenting it in written and oral form. These two ideas can be bridged into a meaningful context where students would develop the skills needed to present an argument for saving the local park.

What are some options in determining a meaningful context?

In addition to consulting your Scope and Sequence and curriculum guides, teachers may want to consider the following examples:

Real Issues/Problems	Themes	Student Interests
crime debt drub abuse illiteracy littering pollution nutrition smoking safety	abundance/ scarcity acceptance/ rejection aging change communities conflict courage fairness interactions invention loyalty power systems	animals/ pets characters from texts and movie outer space literature famous people friends sports jobs/ careers shopping dating computers travel

Excerpted from Designing Performance Assessment Tasks,
Maryland Assessment Consortium, 1995.

 

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