Nathan Balasubramanian's Item Analysis for the Filter Project

THE
KNOWLEDGE
DIMENSION

LEVELS OF THINKING

THE COGNITIVE PROCESS DIMENSION

1.
REMEMBER

2.
UNDERSTAND

3.
APPLY

4.
ANALYZE

5.
EVALUATE

6.
CREATE

T
Y
P
E
S

O
F

K
N
O
W
I
N
G

A.
FACTUAL
KNOWLEDGE

Terminology

Specific details
and elements

– Commonly transported hazardous materials are (WT/DL#27)

– What are the three reservoirs that supply water to the 300,000 residents of Aurora? (WT/DL#8)

– Coke has a pH of (WT/DL#15)

– In a water treatment plant, the chlorine is used to kill (WT/DL#3)

– Earth is made up of approximately (HT/DL#5)

– What is the primary focus of water treatment? (WT/DL#17)

– An average human hair is how many microns (micrometers)? (WT/DL#15)

– The process of water vapor becoming liquid water is called (HT/DL#15)

– A common method to desalinate water is (HT/DL#5)

– Desalination is a process that removes (HT/DL#16)

– A common method to desalinate water is (HT/DL#17)

– PPB stands for what? (WT/DL#4)

– PPM stands for what? (WT/DL#4)

– What is the flow rate of the Aurora water treatment plant in winter? (WT/DL#37)

– What is the flow rate of the Aurora water treatment plant in summer? (WT/DL#41)

– In a water treatment plant, the three typical materials used are (WT/DL#38)

– Of the 70% water on Earth, the available fresh water is (HT/DL#9)

– The movement of water from the oceans to the atmosphere is called (HT/DL#3)

– The movement of water from plants to the atmosphere is called (HT/DL#9)

– The movement of water from the atmosphere to the Earth is called (HT/DL#13)

B.
PROCEDURAL
KNOWLEDGE

Subject-specific skills and algorithms

Subject-specific techniques and methods

– In a water treatment plant, where does the dirty water enter the filter? (WT/DL#1)

– Pure water has a pH of (WT/DL#4)

– In a water treatment plant, giardia is removed using (WT/DL#36)

– Household cleaning products typically have a pH of (WT/DL#17)

– The property of carbon that makes it useful for designing your test-filter is its (WT/DL#8)

– How do you remove chlorine from tap water easily? (WT/DL#26)

– In a water treatment plant, the largest dose of chlorine is used in the (WT/DL#33)

– Does a water treatment plant facility reuse the anthracite (carbon)? (WT/DL#34)

– Conductivity measures which of the following? (WT/DL#14)

– Turbidity is a measure of water's (WT/DL#21)

– During what time of year would backup storage supply water for four days (Total storage capacity is 13 MG)? (WT/DL#28)

– Flow rate refers to (WT/DL#39)

– In the event of a contamination in the water reservoir, a good plan of action would be to call (HT/DL#7)

– In water treatment plants, filters commonly used are (WT/DL#8)

– How do you know if a water source, a reservoir for example, is contaminated? (WT/DL#11)

– When the flow rate in a water treatment plant decreases below 10% of the designed flow rate, what does the water treatment plant operator do? (WT/DL# 24)

– When the water supply is contaminated, what is the water treatment plant operator's priority? (WT/DL#28)

– Prewrite/Thinkwrite - Hypothetical Scenario: A reservoir supplying water to the water treatment plant in Lafayette is contaminated when an 18- wheeler semi truck transporting hazardous material crashes into it.

Question: As a member of the city’s environmental science and engineering team, what are your recommendations to the Operators at the Lafayette Water Treatment Plant? (See sample student pre-writes)

C.
CONCEPTUAL
KNOWLEDGE

Classifications and categories

Principles and generalizations

Theories, models, and structures

Specific details
and elements

– The driver of the hydrologic (water) cycle is (HT/DL#11)

– A major drawback with water desalination is (HT/DL#12)

– High density cotton (HDC) cotton filters are (WT/DL#21)

– When water evaporates, it (HT/DL#2)

– Evaporation rates increase with (HT/DL#4)

– Condensation rates increase with (HT/DL#8)

– Evaporation rates increase with (HT/DL#14)

– Evaporation rates increase with (HT/DL#18)

– In a water treatment plant, water is filtered through (WT/DL#17)

– What, if any, separates the different layers in a water treatment plant filter? (WT/DL#30)

– For designing your test-filters, a dixie cup of carbon will cost $100.00 but a dixie cup of sand will cost only $10.00. The concept that helps you purchase appropriate quantities is (WT/DL#24)

– What (give reason), if any, separates the different layers in a water treatment plant filter? (WT/DL#31)

– If the allowable amount of lead in drinking water is 15 PPB, what does this mean? (WT/DL#42)

– At school, the flow rate of your test-filters is calculated in (WT/DL#12)

– In a water treatment plant in the United States, flow rate is calculated in (WT/DL#17)

– PPM and PPB are used to describe what? (WT/DL#31)

– In a water treatment plant in the United Kingdom, flow rate is calculated in (WT/DL#40)

– In water treatment plants, six layer filters using anthracite, sand and gravel are used because they are (WT/DL#12)

– The property of cotton that makes it useful for designing your test-filter is its (WT/DL#23)

– The property of sand that makes it useful for designing your test-filter is its (WT/DL#34)

– Post-write/Thinkwrite - Hypothetical Scenario: There was a mudslide upstream in the water plant and a water plant operator noticed high turbidity and colored water coming into the water treatment plant.

Question: He calls you because you are a member of the city’s environmental science and engineering team. What would be your recommendations for the Operator at the Lafayette Water Treatment Plant? (See sample student post-writes)

– Based on your experiments and modifications with test-filters in your class, what QUESTION(S) or further INVESTIGATIONS are of interest to you? (See sample student questions)

D.
META-
COGNITIVE
KNOWLEDGE

Strategic knowledge

Cognitive tasks, including appropriate contextual and conditional knowledge

Self-knowledge

– The per capita water usage is highest in (HT/DL#1)

– Any design can be improved by testing and using (WT/DL#2)

– A simple system has (WT/DL#7)

In a paragraph, describe what you learned from the filter (dirty water) project. (See sample student reflections)

– Based on the results obtained with your test-filters, can you generate a list of questions for further investigations ? (See sample questions)

– Design and perform an experiment to demonstrate which is denser: wet, dry or compressed cotton (See sample student work)