Fahrenheit 451: Five Contextual Research Tasks

Ray Bradbury’s seminal novel is a perennial favourite for middle schoolers. These research tasks round out students’ knowledge of some of the important symbols and references in the novel:

The Atomic Bomb
Memory
Phoenix
Railroads
Rivers
The tasks can be given completed during the reading, as extension work for Gifted and Talented students, or as closure to a unit of study.

Each task comprises four sections, following Bloom’s taxonomy, and requires students to complete: a piece of contextual research, a close reading of a nominated passage, a free-form writing at length, and a creative piece.