Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Geometry
Performance Tasks
Roanoke County Public Schools does not discriminate with regard to race, color, age, national origin, gender, or handicapping condition in an
educational and/or employment policy or practice. Questions and/or complaints should be addressed to the Deputy Superintendent/Title IX
Coordinator at (540) 562-3900 ext. 10121 or the Director of Pupil Personnel Services/504 Coordinator at (540) 562-3900 ext. 10181.
Acknowledgements
The following people have made tremendous contributions to the creation of these performance tasks and all are appreciated.
Dr. Lorraine Lange Dr. Ken Nicely Dr. Rebecca Eastwood Linda Bowden
Superintendent Director of Secondary Instruction Director of Elementary Instruction Mathematics Coordinator
Preface
This document will assist the mathematics teacher in preparing students for the challenges of the twenty-first century. As established by the National Council of
Teachers of Mathematics Principles and Standards for School Mathematics,2000, educational goals for students are changing. The Learning Principle from this
book states, When challenged with appropriately chosen tasks, students become confident in their ability to tackle difficult problems, eager to figure things out
on their own, flexible in exploring mathematical ideas and trying alternative solution paths, and willing to persevere. Students should have many and varied
experiences in their mathematical training to help them learn to value mathematics, become confident in their ability to do mathematics, become problem
solvers, and learn to communicate and reason mathematically.
Math Performance Tasks 2013
Table of Contents
Introduction/General Comments ............................................................................................................................................. i
Introduction/General Comments
VDOE Mathematics Performance Task Definitions are
An assessment that requires students to synthesize SOL content in a problem-solving setting that
encourages communication, reasoning, critical thinking, connections, and use of varied
representations.
A rich, rigorous, multi-level task (problem) that emphasizes process and context as well as content. It
should be relevant, rigorous, and accessible to all students.
If our standards define what students need to know and be able to do, then a performance task is how
students can demonstrate their understanding of those concepts through actual work products, not just
multiple-choice assessments.
The performance tasks created in this document are arranged per each nine weeks pacing in the RCPS
curriculum guides. Teachers can use these as part of their lesson plans to give rigor and relevance to
their students learning.
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Math Performance Tasks 2013
G.7,G.8,G.13, G.14
Day at the Beach! 0.5-1 block
(Chapter 11)
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Math Performance Tasks 2013
1. You are at McDonalds and your friend is at the Hotel Roanoke and you wish to meet each other at the exact halfway point
between the two locations.
a. What are the coordinates of this location? Would you still recommend meeting here?
2. Of the four given locations (McDonalds, Hotel Roanoke, Taubman Museum and Roanoke Civic Center), which two are closest to
one another? Explain your reasoning.
3. Your friend calls from her house and asks to meet for lunch. You tell her that you are at the Taubman Museum, and she suggests
you meet at the Hotel Roanoke because it is exactly halfway between your location and her house. On what street does she live?
4. A special committee on transportation and tourism has decided to explore the installation of a cable-car system to transport
passengers between locations throughout the city. Cable cars can provide a safe mode of transportation while offering a 360-
degree view of the Roanoke Valley. The committee has allotted $2,352,000 for the project. The cable car (gondola) costs
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Math Performance Tasks 2013
2
Y Title:
McDonalds
The Roanoke Adventure!
X
3
Hotel
Roanoke
Y
2. Of the four given locations (McDonalds, Hotel Roanoke, Taubman Museum and Roanoke Civic Center), which two are closest
to one another? Explain your reasoning.
The Hotel Roanoke and the Taubman Museum of Art are the closest. Here are the distances students should logically compare:
Hotel Roanoke to Taubman Museum 7.07 units or 707 ft.
Civic Center Fountain to McDonalds 7.38 units or 738 ft.
3. Your friend calls from her house and asks to meet for lunch. You tell her that you are at the Taubman Museum, and she suggests
you meet at the Hotel Roanoke because it is exactly halfway between your location and her house. On what street does she live?
(-5, -3) Gilmer Ave
4. A special committee on transportation and tourism has decided to explore the installation of a cable-car system to transport
passengers between locations throughout the city. Cable cars can provide a safe mode of transportation while offering a 360-degree view
of the Roanoke Valley. The committee has allotted $2,352,000 for the project. The cable car (gondola) costs approximately $648,000.
If the track costs $568 per foot to construct, develop a plan that connects as many points of interest as possible while keeping within
the committees budget. Explain the reasoning behind your decisions.
Answers will vary, but the suggested solution would be to connect the Civic Center Fountain to the Hotel Roanoke = 2,219 feet,
and The Hotel Roanoke to the Taubman Museum of Art = 707 feet. This would bring the total cost of the suggested project to
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Math Performance Tasks 2013
5
Math Performance Tasks 2013
- I used precise mathematical - I communicated process and - I provided a partial - I showed little or no
language to clearly thinking in an organized and communication of process or communication of process or
Communication communicate process and clear manner thinking thinking
thinking
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Math Performance Tasks 2013
To start visit the official United States Naval Observatory website by copying and pasting the link below directly into your internet browsers window:
http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/AltAz.php.
Then, choose Compute Table to view a listing of times and angles of elevation of the sun.
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Math Performance Tasks 2013
2. Next go outside and find your schools flagpole (or some other object to measure). Using nothing but a meter stick, the measurements from the
USNO, and your calculator, use trigonometry to determine the height of the object youve chosen.
Without using trigonometry how else could you determine the height of the pole?
3. While the USNO seems like a reliable source, it would be helpful to verify their data. Choose at least two other objects for which you know the
height (you may consider using yourself). Use these two objects, and your knowledge of trigonometry to verify the altitudes of the sun youve recorded
in your table.
4. Our math class has been charged with cutting down a tree on campus to use for paper to help with our paper shortage. In order to safely cut down
the tree we must clear an area around the base of the tree so that no property is damaged. Use the USNO site and your meter stick to determine the
diameter and the area of the circle that needs to be cleared to safely cut a tree of your choice from your schools grounds.
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Math Performance Tasks 2013
Use the table below to record at least three different times of the day that you will take your measurements and the altitudes of the sun.
Measurements below serve as examples or values you could use on a rainy day.
2. Next go outside and find your schools flagpole (or some other object to measure). Using nothing but a meter stick, the measurements from the
USNO, and your calculator, use trigonometry to determine the height of the object youve chosen.
*Instruct students to measure the shadow of the flagpole first. For example: Shadow of flagpole = 435 cm would give 1066 cm for the height of the
flagpole.
Without using trigonometry how else could you determine the height of the pole? Use similar triangles and set up proportions.
x 179
= where 179cm is the height of a student and 73cm is the length of the shadow for a student.
435 73
3. While the USNO seems like a reliable source, it would be helpful to verify their data. Choose at least two other objects for which you know the
height (you may consider using yourself). Use these two objects, and your knowledge of trigonometry to verify the altitudes of the sun youve recorded
in your table.
Given a pole 100 cm tall with a shadow of 41 cm find the angle.
Tan-1(100/41) = 67.7o. Answers may vary when done outside.
4. Our math class has been charged with cutting down a tree on campus to use for paper to help with our paper shortage. In order to safely cut down
the tree we must clear an area around the base of the tree so that no property is damaged. Use the USNO site and your meter stick to determine the
diameter and the area of the circle that needs to be cleared to safely cut a tree of your choice from your schools grounds.
Measure the shadow of tree = 1224 cm. Angle = 67.8 from above. Height = 3000 cm.
Area: 9,000,000 p cm2.
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Math Performance Tasks 2013
Problem Solving
and Reasoning
- I used an extended - I used satisfactory - I used partially correct - I used an incorrect or
representation to explain my representations to explain representations to explain minimal representation or
work and I made connections my work and I made my work or to make made incorrect connections.
Representations between my work, the connections between my connections.
and Connections problem, and my work, the problem, and my
representation. representation.
- I used precise mathematical - I communicated process and - I provided a partial - I showed little or no
language to clearly thinking in an organized and communication of process or communication of process or
Communication communicate process and clear manner thinking thinking
thinking
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Math Performance Tasks 2013
G.9 The student will verify characteristics of quadrilaterals and use properties of quadrilaterals to solve real-world problems.
SOLs:
G.14 The student will use similar geometric objects in two- or three-dimensions to
a) compare ratios between side lengths, perimeters, areas, and volumes;
d) solve real-world problems about similar geometric objects.
TASK
A PLETHORA OF PLATS!
You are looking to buy property on the prestigious Paulus Avenue and have the
following plat drawing showing the dimensions and the angles of the property
lines. Using area formulas of these polygons which piece
of property has the best value for the money? Which has the worst? How did
you come to this determination? What about the price per square foot?
Or was something else more important?
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Math Performance Tasks 2013
- I used precise mathematical - I communicated process and - I provided a partial - I showed little or no
language to clearly thinking in an organized and communication of process or communication of process or
Communication communicate process and clear manner thinking thinking
thinking
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Math Performance Tasks 2013
SOLs: G.11 The student will use angles, arcs, chords, tangents, and secants to
a) investigate, verify, and apply properties of circles;
b) solve real-world problems involving properties of circles; and
c) find arc lengths and areas of sectors in circles.
TASK
Water Works!
You are designing a sprinkler system for the White House South lawn pictured below.
You must design and make a proposal bid for the job.
Remember that the lowest cost project wins the contract.
-The crew has taken several measurements for the South Lawn (see diagram below).
-The maximum radius for a Toro 690 sprinkler that you plan to install is 200ft. These sprinklers
can rotate between 0 and 360 degrees.
1. Knowing that you must water the entire South Lawn (pictured below) how many sprinklers do you need to use?
Use your compass to draw the center and area each sprinkler covers on the map below to help show your layout.
2. Using your knowledge of each sprinkler, calculate the total area that is watered by the sprinklers. Show your method.
3. Compare the watered area to the actual area of the South Lawn (assume the lawn is roughly two rectangles and a semicircle combined). What
do you think accounts for the difference?
4. Finally, if each sprinkler costs $89 calculate the cost of the project. What could you change about the design to reduce the overall cost?
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Math Performance Tasks 2013
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Math Performance Tasks 2013
- I used precise mathematical - I communicated process and - I provided a partial - I showed little or no
language to clearly thinking in an organized and communication of process or communication of process or
Communication communicate process and clear manner thinking thinking
thinking
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Math Performance Tasks 2013
PART 1: Cell phone towers cover a range defined by a circle. The map below is formed such that the city of Washington has coordinates (0,0) and
each unit on the map represents 1 mile.
a. The equation x2 + y2 = 16 models the position and range of the tower located in Washington. Draw this on the map.
b. Draw the tower and circle for Springfield is defined by the equation (x + 4)2 + (y + 6)2 = 9.
c. Draw the circle and write the equation for the tower located at the point at Great Falls with a radius of 3.5 miles.
d. Write the equation for the tower located in Fairfax.
e. Does Barcroft Park lie within the range of the cell phone tower in Springfield?
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Math Performance Tasks 2013
PART 2
a. A major cell phone company is building towers to the east of Washington. They need coverage in the areas of Lanham, Crofton, Suitland-
Silver Hill, Clinton, and Greater Upper Marlboro but only can afford to build two towers. The first tower has a range with a radius of 5 miles
and the second has a range with a diameter of 12 miles. What would be the best location for these towers to provide complete coverage for
these towns? Write the equations for these two towers and draw them on the map.
b. Suppose instead that the areas of Lanham, Crofton, Suitland-Silver Hill, Clinton, and Greater Upper Marlboro can all jointly fund the
construction of a single, more powerful cell phone tower. Write the equation that describes the location of a tower with the minimum radius
required to cover all of these areas.
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Math Performance Tasks 2013
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Math Performance Tasks 2013
TASK
For each question, include correct units of measurement and round your answer to nearest thousandth or in terms of .
1) Draw and label diagrams that represent the soup can and pyramid. Calculate how much sand you can fit into each object.
2) Draw and label a diagram that could represent the pail. Calculate how much sand will fit in the pail.
(*Hint: Similar triangles will help.)
3) You and your friend are going to have a race to see who can fill the pail the fastest. Which object would you choose, the soup can or the plastic
pyramid? Justify your answer and determine how many times you would need to empty your object to fill the pail.
4) If the pail has a hole in the bottom and is losing sand at a rate of 5.3 in 3 per second, how long would it take a full pail to completely empty?
5) Your friends are bored making sand castles and decide to play with a beach ball they found in the car. The package says the beach ball has a
diameter of 20 inches. While playing with the beach ball, the plug comes loose and the beach ball deflates so that one quarter of the air
escapes. How much air is left in the beach ball?
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Math Performance Tasks 2013
Solutions:
1) Volume of the soup can is 37.33 in3. Volume of the plastic pyramid is 26.667 in3.
2) Volume of the large cone is 240 in3, small cone is 30 in3. Volume of the pail is 210 in3. Hint: You may consider drawing the diagram below to
help your students with this calculation.
3) The soup can will fill the pail the fastest. It will take 17.673 or 18 full scoops of sand.
5) The volume of the full beach ball is 1333 1/3 in3. The volume after the ball deflates by one quarter is 1000 in3.
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Mathematics Performance Task Rubric A Day at the Beach!
Process Goals
4 3 2 1
for Students
- I showed a thorough - I showed a satisfactory - I showed a partial - I showed limited or no
understanding of finding understanding of finding understanding of finding the understanding of the
volume a cylinder and volume a cylinder and volume of a cylinder and concepts for finding the
pyramid. pyramid. pyramid. volume of a cylinder and
- I showed a thorough and - I showed a satisfactory - I showed a partial pyramid.
accurate understanding of understanding of the understanding of how to find - I showed limited or no
the concepts and procedures concepts and/or procedures the volume of the cross understanding of the
associated with finding the associated with finding the section of a cone but did not concepts for finding the
Problem Solving
volume of the cross section volume of the cross section find the accurate volume. volume of the cross section
and Reasoning
of a cone. of a cone. - I used partial reasoning and of a cone.
- I used correct reasoning and - I used satisfactory reasoning justification to determine the - I provided minimal reasoning
justification to determine the and justification to best container to use when or justification for
best container to use when determine the best container filling the pail although I did determining the best
filling the pail. to use when filling the pail. not find the correct solution. container to use when filling
- I used correct reasoning and - I used satisfactory reasoning - I used partially correct the pail.
justification to determine the and justification to reasoning and justification to - I used limited reasoning or
amount of time it would take determine the amount of determine to determine the justification to determine the
to empty the pail. time it would take to empty amount of time it would take amount of time it would take
- I showed a thorough and the pail. to empty the pail and to empty the pail.
accurate understanding of - I showed a satisfactorily provided a partially correct - I showed limited or no
the concept and procedure accurate understanding of answer. understanding of the
for determining the the concept and/or - I showed a partial concepts needed for
remaining air in the beach procedure for determining understanding of the determining the remaining
ball. the remaining air in the procedure for determining air in the beach ball.
beach ball. the remaining air in the
beach ball and provided a
partially correct answer.
- I used an extended - I used satisfactory - I used partially correct - I used an incorrect or
representation to explain my representations to explain representations to explain minimal representation or
work and I made connections my work and I made my work or to make made incorrect connections.
Representations between my work, the connections between my connections.
and Connections problem, and my work, the problem, and my
representation. representation.
Mathematics Performance Task Rubric A Day at the Beach!
Process Goals
4 3 2 1
for Students
- I used precise mathematical - I used mathematical - I used some mathematical - I used no mathematical
language and pictures to language and pictures to language and pictures to language to explain my
Communication
clearly and accurately explain accurately explain my explain my thinking. thinking.
my thinking. thinking.