2024 Philadephia Institute:
Teaching Students to Evaluate Sources and Claims
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Screenshot from Google Street View of Philadelphia Performing Arts: A String Theory Charter School![[creative commons]](/images/creativecommons_16.png)
Day 1
Logistics
Introductions & Icebreaker
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- Activity 1: Icebreaker (Acrobat (PDF) 4.6MB Jun25 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) 516kB Jun25 24)
- Activity 2 Handout: What can we learn from these sources? (Acrobat (PDF) 45kB Jun4 23) Handout used in the past that you might find useful.
- Source#1: What to Know About the Study Linking a Popular Artificial Sweetener to Cardiovascular Disease
- Source #2: Debunking The Erythritol Study
Break
Take a break and take 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) 714kB Jun25 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) 1.7MB Jun28 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 Jun25 24)
- Intro to Credibility Graphic Organizer (Acrobat (PDF) 89kB Jun3 24)
- Lateral Reading Lesson Materials
Break
Take a break and take 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 pcMEL (Acrobat (PDF) 2.6MB Jun25 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 & Wrap Up (Acrobat (PDF) 454kB Jun25 24)
Wrap Up
Feedback on two questions: 1) How do you feel after today? and 2) What questions do you have after today?
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×Day 1 Q 1 Feedback
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×Day1 Q2 Part 1 Feedback
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×Day1 Q2 Part 2 Feedback
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×Day1 Q2 Part 3 Feedback
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LR-MEL 2024 Philadelphia Workshop: Science, Social Studies and English Language Arts teachers consider how practices overlap in each content area.
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
Take a break and take 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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- Activity 2: Soil & Food Security (Acrobat (PDF) 6.2MB Jun26 24)
- Soil & Food Security baMEL Teaching Resources Below
- 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 Contrast Venn (Acrobat (PDF) 791kB Jun27 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) 431kB Jun27 24)
- Transcript of Sarah Modeling (Acrobat (PDF) 63kB Jun8 23)
- 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) 1.8MB Jun27 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) 435kB Jun27 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) 430kB Jun27 24)
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×Day 2 Wrap Up Q1 P!
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×Day 2 Wrap Up Q1 P2
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×Day 2 Wrap Up Q1 P3
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×Day 2 Wrap Up Q2 P1
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×Day 2 Wrap Up Q2 P2
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LR-MEL 2024 Philadelphia Workshop: Teachers engaged in the Food Security baMEL
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
Wrap Up
Feedback on two questions: 1) How comfortable are you using lateral reading and MELs? and 2) What outstanding questions do you have at this time?
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- Day 3 Wrap Up (Acrobat (PDF) 366kB Jun28 24)
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×Day 3 Q1
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×Day 3 Q2 P!
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×Day 3 Q2 P2
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×Day 3 Q2 P3
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LR-MEL 2024 Philadelphia Workshop: Teachers brainstorming strategies to help evaluate the credibility of sources.
Day 4
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.
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)
Implementation Planning
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
Wrap Up
Complete the Post Institute Evaluation to provide us with feedback.
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- Day 4 Wrap Up (Acrobat (PDF) 536kB Jun28 24)
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) 191kB Jun28 24)