Primary Source Exemplar: Progress, Conflict, and Outcomes

Created Feb. 7, 2024 by Erik Iwersen


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

RH.9-10.3 Analyze in detail a series of events described in a text; determine whether earlier events caused later ones or simply preceded them.

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.

RH.11-12.1: Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, connecting insights gained from specific details to an understanding of the text as a whole.

SL.9-10.1a: Come to discussions prepared, having read and researched material under study; explicitly draw on that preparation by referring to evidence from texts and other research on the topic or issue to stimulate a thoughtful, well-reasoned exchange of ideas.

SL.11-12.2:  Integrate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) in order to make informed decisions and solve problems, evaluating the credibility and accuracy of each source and noting any discrepancies among the data.


Instructional Approach/Procedures

Primary Source Text for this Unit:

The World Food Crisis: An Overview of the Causes and Consequence: Solomon H. Katz:   http://www.aaanet.org/publications/upload/49-7-Solomon-Katz-In-Focus.pdf

Review and Pre-Teach:

In previous lessons, students have begun to explore the competing notions of food deserts and obesity, issues that will help them determine whether or not they believe that the United States is upholding Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In this concluding lesson, students will consider the secondary question, “What are the unintended consequences of progress” (In terms of human rights, and the UDHR in particular). This is an important question because it asks students to measure their working definitions and evaluations of human rights against the possible real-world costs of progress.  The primary source of this lesson makes the claim that ground-breaking advances in public health conditions and food science has inadvertently created a “Food Crisis” of epidemic proportions.  The conclusions made in this text may offer some insight into the question of what unintended consequences may occur when large-scale change is adopted.  Students will also evaluate the strength of the claims made in this text, and use the content to supply evidence for their own written arguments.  

Note: Once again, the claims made in this text are highly contestable, and should not be presented as “absolutes,” but rather, this text should be presented as merely one argument among many in a complex, real-world situation.  This text was chosen primarily because it is well-written, and offers students an opportunity to conduct a close reading of a highly complex, informational text (in accordance with the Common Core).

Instruction/Modeling

Using RI.9-10.3 as a focal point, the instructor will model the process of creating a visual representation of the causes and consequences of The World Food Crisis according to the author of this piece.  Because this piece outlines a highly complex issue, the text itself is highly complex, and as such, offers students an opportunity to “evaluate whether earlier conditions caused certain events or simply preceded them.” (RI.9-10.3)

The instructor will model this process by visually mapping the first section of the text only, entitled: “The Macro Picture.” This section of the text outlines the causes and consequences associated with two major advancements: 1) increase in population  and 2)  improvements in agricultural productivity.  Each of these conditions, according to the author, has influenced the World Food Crisis in different ways, and each is made up of component causes itself, some of which are included in this short section.  The instructor will read this section with the students, several times if necessary, and deconstruct each component of the text, organizing which causes led to which effects. To scaffold student understanding of cause and effect, they teacher will use a mind mapping program called Bubbl.us:  https://bubbl.us/ . This program will allow students to create digital “mind maps” in an interactive way in which students can creatively express their thinking by visually representing their ideas by shape, size, color, and sequence.   An example of what this first mind map may look like is below.  



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