2024 Georgia Institute:

Teaching Students to Evaluate Sources and Claims

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Screenshot from Google Street View of Forsyth County Board of Education Professional Development Center

Provenance: Carla McAuliffe, IGES
Reuse: This item is offered under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ You may reuse this item for non-commercial purposes as long as you provide attribution and offer any derivative works under a similar license.

Day 1

Logistics

Icebreaker & Introductions

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• Icebreaker (Acrobat (PDF) 814kB Jun3 24)

Science in the News

How often do you see claims made in the news that seem to be backed by scientific evidence? How can you tell what is real and what is not? Analyze two sources to identify claims or models and the evidence that supports them.

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• Activity 2: Science in the News (Acrobat (PDF) 380kB Jun3 24)
• Activity 2 Handout: What can we learn from these sources? (Acrobat (PDF) 45kB Jun4 23)
• Source#1: What to Know About the Study Linking a Popular Artificial Sweetener to Cardiovascular Disease
• Source #2: Debunking The Erythritol Study

Break

Break

• ....a little time for yourself

Disciplinary Venn Diagram

Consider how Science, Social Studies, and Language Arts practices overlap in each content area.

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• Activity 3: Venn Diagram (Acrobat (PDF) 615kB Jun3 24)
• Disciplinary Venn Diagram (Acrobat (PDF) 77kB Jun5 23)

Lunch

Lunch!

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LR Activity: Conserving Attention with Lateral Reading

While students are able to quickly access vast amounts of information today, they often need help deciding what deserves their attention..

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• Activity 4: Conserving Attention with Lateral Reading (Acrobat (PDF) 1.8MB Jun3 24)

LR Activity: Introduction to Credibility

What does it mean for a source to be credible? How do you decide whether to believe someone?

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• Activity 5: Intro to Credibility (Acrobat (PDF) 1.1MB Jun3 24)
• Intro to Credibility Graphic Organizer (Acrobat (PDF) 89kB Jun3 24)
• Lateral Reading Lesson Materials

Break

Break

• ....a little time for yourself

MEL Activity: Wetlands pcMEL

Use a pre-constructed MEL (pcMEL) diagram to investigate two explanations about how wetlands affect humans and the environment.

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• Activity 6: Wetlands PC MEL (Acrobat (PDF) 2MB Jun3 24)
• Wetlands pcMEL Teaching Resources

Connections between LR and MEL Activities

Revisit your Disciplinary Venn Diagram posters. What connections exist between an LR lesson and a MEL lesson? What further connections can we make?

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• Activity 7: Connections (Acrobat (PDF) 456kB Jun3 24)

Wrap Up

Feedback on two questions: 1) How do you feel after today? and 2) What questions do you have after today?

• 1) How do you feel after today?
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  Word Cloud Day 1

  Provenance: Carla McAuliffe, IGES
  Reuse: This item is offered under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ You may reuse this item for non-commercial purposes as long as you provide attribution and offer any derivative works under a similar license.

• 2) What questions do you have after today?

How do MEL's work with ELA?

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LR-MEL 2024 Georgia Workshop: Teaching Students to Evaluate Sources and Claims. Teachers trying out the Food Security baMEL.

Provenance: Carla McAuliffe, IGES
Reuse: This item is offered under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ You may reuse this item for non-commercial purposes as long as you provide attribution and offer any derivative works under a similar license.

Day 2

LR Activity: Extreme Weather

Use lateral reading to evaluate the credibility of two sources related to extreme weather.

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• Activity 1: Introducing Lateral Reading (Acrobat (PDF) 755kB Jun26 24)
• LR Guiding Questions (Acrobat (PDF) 28kB Jun8 23)
• Source #1: The 2015 Wildfire Season Set an Ominous Record
• Source #2: Climate at a Glance: U.S. Wildfires

Break

Break

• ....a little time for yourself

MEL Activity: Soil & Food Security baMEL

Build a MEL (baMEL) diagram to investigate the role of soil in providing food for the world's growing global population. Choose from three models and eight lines of evidence.

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• MEL Activity: Soil and Food Security (Acrobat (PDF) 7.1MB Jul25 24)
• Plausibility Ranking Task (Acrobat (PDF) 76kB May6 24)
• Food Security baMEL Model Plausibility Ratings (Acrobat (PDF) 78kB Jun30 24)
• Food Security baMEL Model Cards (Acrobat (PDF) 92kB Jun30 24)
• Food Security baMEL Large Model Cards (Acrobat (PDF) 137kB Jun30 24)
• Food Security baMEL Evidence Cards (Acrobat (PDF) 29kB Jun30 24)
• Food Security baMEL Large Evidence Cards (Acrobat (PDF) 28kB Jun30 24)
• Food Security baMEL - Evidence Texts Color (Acrobat (PDF) 4MB Jun30 24)
• baMEL Diagram (Acrobat (PDF) 38kB Jun30 24)
• Explanation Task (Acrobat (PDF) 52kB May6 24)
• Food Security References (Acrobat (PDF) 80kB Aug1 23)

MEL Activity: Compare and Contrast pcMELs and baMELs

What are the instructional differences for students and teachers between pcMELs and baMELs?

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• MEL Activity: Compare and Contrast pcMELs and baMELs (Acrobat (PDF) 550kB Jul25 24)

LR Activity: Applying MEL Skills in ELA/SS Classrooms

Consider evidence, explanations, claims and thruthfulness in relation to your subject area.

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• LR Activity: Applying MEL Skills (Acrobat (PDF) 718kB Jun27 24)

Lunch

Lunch!

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MEL Activity: Assessing Student Work

Read an article. Then use a rubric to assess NGSS scientific practices and cross-cutting concepts within samples of student MEL explanation tasks.

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• MEL Activity: Assessing Student Work (Acrobat (PDF) 2.4MB Jun27 24)
• Assessment Article (Acrobat (PDF) 277kB Jun8 23)
• MEL Explanation Task Teacher Guide (Acrobat (PDF) 51kB Jun27 24)
• MEL Explanation Task Rubrics (Acrobat (PDF) 80kB Jun8 23)
• Samples of Student Explanation Tasks (Acrobat (PDF) 474kB Jun8 23)

LR Activity: Modeling Lateral Reading

Plan a modeling lesson for lateral reading. Analyze a transcript of Sarah modeling. Then generate your own script for modeling lateral reading. "Model" that script and reflect on the process with a partner.

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• LR Activity: Modeling Lateral Reading (Acrobat (PDF) 411kB Jul25 24)
• Transcript of Elizabeth Modeling (Acrobat (PDF) 51kB Jul25 24)
• Planning for Modeling (Acrobat (PDF) 27kB Jun13 23)
• Source#1: Does hydraulic fracturing cause earthquakes?
• Source#2: Does Fracking Cause Earthquakes?

Break

Take a break and take a little time for yourself.

MEL Activity: Dead Zones baMEL

A dead zone is an area of water that is low in oxygen. Aquatic life cannot survive in a dead zone. Build a MEL (baMEL) diagram to investigate whether and how aquatic dead zones may be repaired. Choose from three models and eight lines of evidence.

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• MEL Activity: Dead Zones baMEL (Acrobat (PDF) 1.9MB Jul25 24)
• Dead Zones baMEL Teaching Resources Below
• Plausibility Ranking Task (Acrobat (PDF) 76kB May6 24)
• Dead Zones baMEL Model Plausibility Ratings (Acrobat (PDF) 44kB Jun30 24)
• Dead Zones baMEL Model Cards (Acrobat (PDF) 57kB Jun30 24)
• Dead Zones baMEL Large Model Cards (Acrobat (PDF) 130kB Jun30 24)
• Dead Zones baMEL Evidence Cards (Acrobat (PDF) 30kB Jun30 24)
• Dead Zones baMEL Large Evidence Cards (Acrobat (PDF) 41kB Aug1 23)
• Dead Zones baMEL - Evidence Texts Color (Acrobat (PDF) 2MB Jun30 24)
• baMEL Diagram (Acrobat (PDF) 38kB Jun30 24)
• Explanation Task (Acrobat (PDF) 52kB May6 24)

LR Activity: Facilitating Discussions About Lateral Reading

What purpose does discussion serve in a lateral reading lesson? Plan a discussion about a source, rehearse that discussion with your colleagues, and reflect on the process with them.

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• LR Activity: Facilitating Discussions About Lateral Reading (Acrobat (PDF) 415kB Jul25 24)
• Source#1: Does hydraulic fracturing cause earthquakes?
• Source#2: Does Fracking Cause Earthquakes?

Wrap Up

Feedback on two questions: 1) What are two takeaways from today's sessions? and 2) What is one thing you are considering using in your classroom?

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• Day 2 Wrap Up (Acrobat (PDF) 468kB Jul25 24)

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  Day 2 Wrap Up Q1

  Provenance: Carla McAuliffe, IGES
  Reuse: This item is offered under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ You may reuse this item for non-commercial purposes as long as you provide attribution and offer any derivative works under a similar license.





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  Day 2 Wrap Up Q2

  Provenance: Carla McAuliffe, IGES
  Reuse: This item is offered under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ You may reuse this item for non-commercial purposes as long as you provide attribution and offer any derivative works under a similar license.

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LR-MEL 2024 Georgia Workshop: Teaching Students to Evaluate Sources and Claims. Dr. Lorraine Ramirez Villarin helps teachers compare and contrast pcMELs with baMELs.

Provenance: Carla McAuliffe, IGES
Reuse: This item is offered under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ You may reuse this item for non-commercial purposes as long as you provide attribution and offer any derivative works under a similar license.

Day 3

MEL Research Talk

How do students negotiate evaluations of the relations between lines of scientific evidence and alternative explanatory models of a phenomenon during an argument-based learning activity? How do students plausibility judgements change pre- and post- MEL activities? Does this make a difference between pcMELs and baMELs? What does the research show?

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• MEL Research Talk (Acrobat (PDF) 4.9MB Jun27 24)
• Some of our recent research publications
• The curious construct of active learning
• Negotiations in scientific argumentation: An interpersonal analysis
• Students’ Scientific Evaluations of Water Resources (Acrobat (PDF) 2.7MB Jun12 23)
• Climate crisis learning through scaffolded instructional tools
• Scientific evaluations and plausibility judgements in middle school students' learning about geoscience topics

LR Activity: Addressing Unhelpful Strategies

What do you think/know your students have learned from other classes or past teachers about evaluating online information? How can you help counter unhelpful strategies?

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• LR Activity: Addressing Unhelpful Strategies (Acrobat (PDF) 952kB Jun27 24)
• Weak Heuristics Transcripts (Acrobat (PDF) 45kB Jun13 23)
• Lateral Reading Lesson Materials

Break

Take a break and take a little time for yourself.

Talk Moves

In order to process, make sense of, and learn from their ideas, observations, and experiences, students must talk about them. What does academically productive talk look like?

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• Talk Moves (Acrobat (PDF) 1.1MB Jun27 24)
• Talk Moves Infographic (Acrobat (PDF) 603kB Jun26 19)
• Talk Moves Checklist (Acrobat (PDF) 139kB Jun26 19)
• Talk Science Primer (Acrobat (PDF) 880kB Jun26 19)
• Ready, Set, SCIENCE
• How (Well-Structured) Talk Builds the Mind An extra article not included in the Institute, but that you might find interesting.
• Discussion Moves Transcripts (Acrobat (PDF) 61kB Jun12 23)

Lunch

Lunch!

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MEL Activity: Discourse Strategies

Negotiation is a subset of argumentation, where students present a position and agree or disagree with each other by offering explanations and counter arguments. What strategies help scaffold student discourse so that negotiation leads to consensus?

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• MEL Activity: Discourse Strategies (Acrobat (PDF) 2.3MB Jun28 24)
• Negotiation Flowchart (Acrobat (PDF) 436kB Jun28 24)
• Negotiation Table (Acrobat (PDF) 561kB Jun28 24)

LR Activity: After Lateral Reading

Explore additional resources, ways to assess lateral reading, and strategies, such as click restraint, that might help students abandon sources that aren't credible enough for their information goals. How do we respond to students' experiences, knowledge, and beliefs?

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• LR Activity: After Lateral Reading (Acrobat (PDF) 1.4MB Jun28 24)
• Civic Online Reasoning Resources from the Stanford History Education Group - Includes curriculum, videos, and research.
• Lateral Reading Lesson Materials

MEL Activity: The MEL Project Teacher Guide

Take a tour of The MEL Project Teacher Guide. Check out directions and hints for using pcMELs, baMELs, and virtual MELs in the classroom.

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• MEL Activity: The MEL Project Teacher Guide (Acrobat (PDF) 668kB Jun28 24)
• MEL Project Teacher Guide (Acrobat (PDF) 4.6MB May24 21)

Break

Take a break and take a little time for yourself.

The Transfer Task

Use a transfer task to determine if students can: 1) transfer the skills acquired from Lateral Reading, MELs, and baMELs to science phenomenon and claims made in real-world scenarios; 2) identify models and evidence in science articles; and 3) based on the evidence presented, evaluate the plausibility of each model. What do students do differently when evaluating articles compared to the MEL task? What similarities?

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• The Transfer Task (Acrobat (PDF) 588kB Jun28 24)
• Transfer Task LR-MEL Students (Acrobat (PDF) 57kB Jun28 24)
• Transfer Task LR-MEL Teachers (Acrobat (PDF) 103kB Jun28 24)
• Source 1: Global measles cases almost double in a year, say researchers
• Source 2: Measles Truth & Consequences

Research Invite and Wrap Up

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• Day 3 Research Invite and Wrap Up (Acrobat (PDF) 327kB Jul25 24)

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LR-MEL 2024 Georgia Workshop: Teaching Students to Evaluate Sources and Claims. Dr. Donna Governor helps teachers engage in 3-D assessment.

Provenance: Carla McAuliffe, IGES
Reuse: This item is offered under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ You may reuse this item for non-commercial purposes as long as you provide attribution and offer any derivative works under a similar license.

Day 4

Making LR and MEL Connections

How might LR and MEL activities go together? What could this look like in the classroom?

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• Making LR and MEL Connections (Acrobat (PDF) 423kB Jun28 24)
• LR Sources Mapped to MEL Topics (Acrobat (PDF) 80kB Jun28 24)

Online Materials

Take a quick tour of the project website.

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• Website Resources (Acrobat (PDF) 534kB Jun28 24)
• The LR-MEL project website
• With this grant we have added lateral reading activities along with pcMEL and baMEL activities to the website.
• Materials from this workshop and more are posted here.

Implementation Planning and Evaluation

If you're here in a team, what will implementing LR and MEL in your classrooms look like? What kinds of coordination will you need to do? If you're flying solo, what components (LR or MEL) can you use? Are there ways to bring in the principles of the other into your classroom? Are there teammates at your school that you could teach with about LR and MEL?

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• Implementation Planning (Acrobat (PDF) 290kB Jun28 24)
• UMD Science Learning Research Group
• Project Website
• Lateral Reading Lesson Materials

Interested in Research?

Implement MEL and LR activities. Allow us to observe your classroom after collecting consent and assent forms. Collect student data and return to the research team. Find out more below and email us with a plan if you are interested.

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• Interested in Research (Acrobat (PDF) 159kB Jun6 24)