Primary Source Exemplar: Progress, Conflict, and Outcomes
Learning Objectives
Students will investigate data to make inferences and draw conclusions.
Students will write claims, and supply evidence to support their claims
Students will work in groups and form a consensus regarding their claims
Students will determine the most important information to strengthen their claims, and present their findings via discussion and presentation.
Standards Addressed
RI.9-10.1: Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
RI.9-10.2: Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details.
W.9-10.1: Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient detail.
Instructional Approach/Procedures
Review and Pre-Teach
This lesson will be introduced with a close read of Article 25 of the UDHR. The teacher should provide students with a copy of the following text:
Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family; including food, clothing, housing, medical care, necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.
The teacher should ask students to read this text closely focusing on details of the text that they think are important as well as ambiguous areas of the text. The teacher should guide students as they discuss significant details and ambiguous areas. The teacher might guide students in this discussion with the following questions:
What is an adequate standard of living?
What are “necessary social services”? Who should determine what is necessary?
What does “security” look like when one is unemployed?
What specific events are included during which someone should have social services and security? Are any events left out?
Why do you think section 2 is included? What is the impact of this section?
Who is left out of this article?
What is the impact of the ambiguity on the text?
Next, using the data collected from the students at the end of the previous lesson, the teacher should explain to students the idea of a data set. The teacher should have compiled the results of the survey and should share these results with the class. Then, the teacher should ask the students to make some generalizations/claims about the data. The teacher might model the first one for the students. The teacher might also want to discuss primary sources at this time and explain to students that the UDHR and that the text they are about to look at are both primary source documents.
Instruction/Modeling
Students will go to the computer lab (or use classroom computers) and be put into groups of two or three to investigate the World Health Organization data set regarding Child Malnutrition--http://apps.who.int/gho/data/node.main.1096?lang=en
The instructor will provide guided practice at the beginning of the period in which she demonstrates usage of the data set and the corresponding filters at the top of the page. For example, the instructor may illustrate how to look for a certain trend as in: “So if I want to determine whether Child Malnutrition in Egypt has seen a rise or fall in the past 25 years, here is how I will find that information.”
The instructor will integrate formative checks by modeling the process of inference and asking. “What does this data tell me about children who have experienced stunted growth in Uganda? What inference can I make about this trend as it applies to gender? Can we speculate about the reasons that this may occur?
Student Tasks/Activity
Students will approach this data set in groups of two or three, and navigate the site by making inferences and drawing conclusions about trends in childhood malnourishment. In this case, students should focus on child malnourishment data that is specific to the United States, and be able to make inferences about the some of the most pressing dietary health concerns for American children. To support their work, the teacher should provide them with a graphic organizer or protocol such as the following:
What does the database say? | What inferences can you draw from this data (ie, what is “malnourishment” in the US)? What reasoning supports your inferences? | What is significant about this data and or your inferences? |
Based on your work above, what conclusions can you draw about the most pressing concern for children in the US regarding malnourishment? |
To promote a close reading and analysis of this “text” students will be asked to survey all of the child malnutrition data in the U.S. and then make conclusions about this data. On the overhead or chalkboard, display the directions for the activity:
In your groups, investigate the data surrounding child malnutrition in the United States and identify at least three trends, or conclusions, that you can make based on this information. Complete the graphic organizer based on your ideas.
When groups have completed their graphic organizers, the teacher should provide directions for the next step:
As a group, decide what is the most pressing concern for children in terms of malnourishment, and be able to support your claim with data from the site. Each group should create a well-worded claim and use their graphic organizers to identify and analyze support for their claim. Choose a spokesperson to report your conclusions to the group as a whole.
Students will report their findings to the whole group, including the data to support their claims. During this presentation, the teacher should question students about the meaning of malnourishment based on the claims.
Note: students may draw conclusions that are “a stretch”—i.e. “boys are more obese than girls in America because of _________”, which would be a claim that is not tied to any direct evidence. This lesson is designed to illustrate how we can evaluate claims based on reasoning and evidence, so when students make claims, the instructor may guide them to understand that any claim regarding the cause of these trends would be speculative at best. Students should understand that only very general claims can be derived from this data, i.e. “Overall, obesity is a more pressing concern for American Children than is malnourishment. This will serve to illustrate what makes a strong claim different from a weak one, in preparation for the culminating written assessment of this unit.
If desired, the teacher might close this lesson with a comparison of the two primary source documents studied in the lessons so far. How is the UDHR different than a data set? What information can be gleaned from each? What is the tone of each and what contributes to this tone? How is each organized and for what purpose? What is similar about the documents?
Student Literacy Tasks
Reading task
Students will conduct a “close read” of this “text” by making inferences and drawing conclusions based on evidence.
Vocabulary task
Students will investigate how the word “malnourishment” is used in this context, and how each subcategory in this data set, such as “waste,” “stunted,” and other words are used to indicate specific problems within the larger definition of “malnourishment.”
Sentence syntax task
Students will craft well-written claims and evidentiary statements based upon the Common Core language Standards
Inquiry and analysis task
This lesson promotes a deep analysis of a data set and is based on the inquiry model for learning. Students construct learning by inquiring as to what conclusions/trends can be pointed out by reviewing data, in this case to point out a concern for American Children. In addition, the students might explore the similarities and differences between two primary source documents in terms of purpose, construction, etc.
Writing (or other production)
Students will use their written claims to add complexity to the culminating written assignment at the end of the unit.
Checking for Understanding
Guided Questions and Discussions: The instructor will check for understanding by modeling the process and prompting students thinking with questioning and discussion.
Graphic Organizers: Students will demonstrate understanding of the concepts by using the graphic organizers provided.
Writing-Based Assessment: Students will write evidence-based claims while observing language conventions outlined by the Common Core Language Standards.
Differentiation and Supports
Adaptations: If access to internet is limited, the instructor can model the entire process by involving the students and guiding their learning as she progresses.
Supports: Students having difficulty with the material may draw upon those in their groups to craft claims and arguments, students should be grouped strategically, and placed in groups that represent a diversity of skill levels and background knowledge.