TASK DEFINITION:  You are given a background paragraph that describes one or more causal or physical relationships, such as a relationship in economics, scientific law, or nature. You need to come up with a fictional story that makes use of the concepts or the relationship described in the provided paragraph. Make sure that your story does not repeat the relation in the given paragraph (e.g., by avoiding verbatim copies of the given paragraph). Start by reading the background paragraph, and determine what relationship(s) are in the paragraph. Write a story that involves the relationship(s) that you determined are in the background paragraph. Try to use your own words as much as possible and not repeat the background paragraph. Feel free to make up places and events as long as they tie back to the background paragraph in a way that you can ask a question about.
PROBLEM: Background Paragraph: The particles of soup have greater average kinetic energy than the particles of water in the tub, explaining why the soup has a higher temperature. However, the mass of the water in the tub is much greater than the mass of the soup in the pot. This means that there are many more particles of water than soup. All those moving particles give the water in the tub greater total kinetic energy, even though their average kinetic energy is less. Therefore, the water in the tub has greater thermal energy than the soup. To compare the thermal energy of some other materials, go to the following URL and click on the interactive animation “Temperature and Thermal Energy.”.

SOLUTION: Alexander is conducting reactions in his college chemistry class. In his first reaction, reaction A, he uses a large amount of reactants. In his second reaction, reaction B, he uses a much smaller amount of reactants compared to reaction A. As the reactions are proceeding, he measures that reactants in reaction A have low average kinetic energy. At the same time, reactants in reaction B have high average kinetic energy.

PROBLEM: Background Paragraph: Ocean acidification occurs when excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere causes the oceans to become acidic. Burning fossil fuels has led to an increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This carbon dioxide is then absorbed by the oceans, which lowers the pH of the water. Ocean acidification can kill corals and shellfish. It may also cause marine organisms to reproduce less, which could harm other organisms in the food chain. As a result, there also may be fewer marine organisms for humans to consume.

SOLUTION: Many years ago there was a beach Called Coast Brigs where many coral and other life lived. A refinery that burned coal was built nearby and over time the water nearby became very acidic. The coral and marine life died because of this but a few miles north on another beach named Greendale the same creatures are surviving just fine.

PROBLEM: Background Paragraph: Human beings invented agriculture about 10,000 years ago. This provided a bigger, more dependable food supply. It also allowed people to settle down in villages and cities for the first time. Birth rates went up because there was more food and settled life had other advantages. Death rates also rose because of crowded living conditions and diseases that spread from domestic animals. Because the higher birth rates were matched by higher death rates, the human population continued to grow very slowly.

SOLUTION:
A team of archaeologists studied two human settlements, village Alpha from about 11000 years ago and village Beta, which existed 9000 years ago. Village Beta was bigger, because their inhabitants already knew about and practiced agriculture.