Odell Education
Building Evidence-Based Arguments: “Doping can be that last 2 percent.”
Even the most thrilling sports career can end in an asterisk if the player uses performance-enhancing drugs. Focused on the topic of doping in sports, a seventh grade unit breaks down the arguments for and against steroids in five...
EngageNY
End of Unit Assessment Parts 1 and 2: Evaluating Arguments and Claims
Which came first: the chicken or the egg? As part of the end-of-unit assessment for The Omnivore’s Dilemma, scholars watch a video about organic eggs versus conventional farm eggs. They use graphic organizers to collect evidence as they...
EngageNY
Evaluating an Argument: The Joy of Hunting
After listening to "Interview with an Organic Farmer," class members identify the claim the farmer makes in his interview. They use lined paper to create a four-square organizer for relevant evidence, sufficient evidence, irrelevant...
K20 LEARN
Arguing With Evidence: Deconstructing Arguments Part 1
In the first lesson in a two-part series, high schoolers pick a social issue important to them and examine an article about the topic, the arguments and evidence used to support the writer's stance, and craft two counter-arguments to the...
NASA
The Big Climate Change Experiment Lesson 3: Climate Change Lines of Evidence
Consider the preponderance of evidence when making a verdict. The third of five lessons in Unit 1: The Big Climate Change Experiment focuses on the evidence for climate change. Learners study graphs, diagrams, and pictures regarding...
K20 LEARN
Writing Is Elementary, My Dear Watson: Writing Paragraphs With Evidence And Reasoning
Did Smitty do it, or is he a victim? Sleuths apply their observation and reasoning skills to build a case for an argumentative paragraph. Class members closely observe a cartoon, make a claim, cite evidence from the image, and support...
K20 LEARN
Street Cred: Evaluating Sources
A lesson on evaluating sources of information teaches scholars to "think twice" before using a source. Researchers examine a resource's home page, author, and sponsor, as well as the date published and the documentation provided.
EngageNY
Paraphrasing and Evaluating Sources: “Gaming Can Make a Better World”
Explore how gaming might make the world a better place. To dissect the statement, scholars watch video clips about the benefits of video games. While listening, pupils make notes in their researcher's notebooks, attempting to discern the...
EngageNY
Mid-Unit Assessment, Part 1: Tracing and Evaluating Arguments
It's test time! As part one of the mid-unit assessment, scholars complete a Tracing an Argument note-catcher for both a text and a video about the Internet's effect on the brain. Pupils demonstrate learning by evaluating the argument and...
EngageNY
Evaluating Sources, Continued: The ONLINE EDUCA Debate 2009 (Part 2 of 10)
Watching videos and playing online games can be educational, but too much screen time has its drawbacks. Pupils watch a video about the topic and write down the claim, reasons, and evidence in support of reduced screen time for children....
Curated OER
Is That a Fact?
Investigate popular scientific claims and gather evidence to defend or argue against an author's stance. Writers synthesize information and compose their own "Really?" columns modeled after those found in the weekly "Science Times"...
Curated OER
Is That Legal? A Case of Acid Rain
Develop an environmental case study! Elementary learners discover how a case study is used as an analysis tool. The goal of this activity is to show pupils how techniques of persuasion (including background, supporting evidence,...
EngageNY
Mid-Unit 2 Assessment: Inferring About the Silversmith Trade in Colonial Times
The seventh lesson plan in this unit on colonial trade assesses fourth graders' ability to use details from an informational text to make inferences and create a piece of informative writing. The included assessment begins with learners...
Curated OER
The Achievements and Challenges of Zimbabwe
Here is an excellent set of five short lessons and activities intended to help learners not only gain an understand of current issues in Africa, but build critical thinking, synthesis, analysis, expository writing, research, and...
National WWII Museum
The Red Ball Express: Statistics as Historical Evidence
Historians use all kinds of information to make conclusions ... including statistics. Young scholars examine how two historians evaluate The Red Ball Express—a supply line staffed primarily by African Americans—using numbers. The...
Curated OER
Evaluating Accuracy and Adequacy
Evaluate non-fiction works with your English class. While practicing a variety of strategies detailed in the plan, readers compare and contrast the information in three non-fiction passages about the same topic. They then discuss the...
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 4, Unit 1, Lesson 13
Class members conclude their reading of the supplemental text, “Bangladesh Factory Collapse: Who Really Pays for our Cheap Clothes?” and use the provided Evaluating Argument and Evidence Tool to analyze the evidence Anna McMullen uses to...
Curated OER
"The Story of an Hour" Lesson 5: Teacher's Guide and Notes
Learning how to craft a compelling argument supported by evidence and logical reasoning is an essential skill. The fifth lesson in "The Story of An Hour" unit asks young scholars to formulate an argument in response to the question, 'Is...
National Woman's History Museum
Creating a Historical Thesis Statement
A strong thesis statement not only identifies the subject of an essay but also presents a claim that must be supported with evidence. After researching how nursing has evolved in the United States since the Colonial era, young writers...
Curated OER
Kumeyaay Indians
Useful for literary analysis, citing textual evidence, or summary skills, this lesson about the Kumeyaay Indians would be a good addition to your language arts class. Middle schoolers read novels and summarize the literature in their own...
Curated OER
Evaluating the Strength of Scientific Evidence: The Rediscovery of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker
A happy discovery occurred in Arkansas in 2004: a woodpecker, believed to be extinct since the 1940s, reappeared! Or did it? Middle to high school ecologists examine scientific evidence and use critical-thinking skills to determine...
Google
Beginner 4: Searching for Evidence for Research Tasks
Having a strong searching skill set can make a research project much easier and much for successful for pupils. Tackle finding evidence with the ideas included here. The ultimate goal is for class members to learn the stepping stones...
K12 Reader
Evaluating Text: Helen Keller's "My Life"
Readers are asked to evaluate Helen Keller's claim, and the evidence she uses to support her argument, that it is more difficult for hearing impaired children to learn to talk with others.
Curated OER
Plate Tectonics Day 3 Sea Floor Spreading: Evidence for Continental Drift
Young scholars are introduced to Sea Floor Spreading and how it provides evidence for Hess's and Deitz's theory of Continental Drift. They use paleomagnetic data to calculate the rate of Sea Floor Spreading.