2025 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

Provenance: Science Learning Research Group, UMD
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

Introductions & Icebreaker

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• Activity 1: Icebreaker (Acrobat (PDF) 4.7MB Jun25 25)

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) 850kB Jun25 25)
• Activity 2A Handout: What Can We Learn From These Sources (Acrobat (PDF) 84kB Jun2 25)
• Source#1: Measles Truth or Consequences
• Source #2: Global measles cases almost double in a year, say researchers
• Hurricane Helene Was Engineered (Acrobat (PDF) 136kB Jun2 25)
• Activity 2B 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: Disciplinary Venn Diagram (Acrobat (PDF) 714kB Jun25 25)
• Disciplinary Venn Diagram (Acrobat (PDF) 77kB Jun5 23)
• Harkness Discussion
• How to Run & Assess HARKNESS DISCUSSIONS
• Harkness Discussions in Three Simple Steps

Website Introduction

Slides and Handouts from the workshop and other resources

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• Activity 4: Project Website (Acrobat (PDF) 538kB Jun25 25)

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 5: Conserving Attention with Lateral Reading (Acrobat (PDF) 2.9MB Jun25 25)

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 6: Intro to Credibility (Acrobat (PDF) 1.1MB Jun2 25)
• Intro to Credibility Guiding Questions (Acrobat (PDF) 143kB Jun2 25)

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 7: Wetlands pcMEL (Acrobat (PDF) 3.2MB Jun25 25)
• 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 8: Connections (Acrobat (PDF) 382kB Jun25 25)

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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• Activity 9: Wrap Up (Acrobat (PDF) 640kB Jun25 25)

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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  PA Day 1 Q1 Word Cloud

  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?
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  PA Day 1 Q2a

  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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  PA Day 1 Q2b

  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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  PA Day 1 Q2c

  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

LR Activity: Introducing Lateral Reading

What does it mean for a source to be credible? Why should we investigate whether a source is credible before we read it?

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• Activity 10: Introducing Lateral Reading (Acrobat (PDF) 979kB Jun20 25)
• Lateral Reading Guiding Questions (Acrobat (PDF) 83kB Jun20 25)

Break

Break

• ....a little time for yourself

MEL Activity: Soil and 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 11: Soil and Food Security baMEL (Acrobat (PDF) 6.2MB Jun26 25)
• Soil and Food Security baMEL Teaching Resources

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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• Activity 12a: Compare Contrast pcMELs and baMELs (Acrobat (PDF) 549kB Jun26 25)

Lunch

Lunch!

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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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  PA Day 1 Q1 Word Cloud

  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 3 Qi PA

  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?
• 

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  Day 3 Q2a PA

  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 3 Q2b PA

  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

Science in the News part 2

How do students apply claims-based reasoning beyond the classroom? How do we support students' evidence-based reasoning with new science concepts & articles? Analyze two sources to identify claims or models and the evidence that supports them.

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• Activity 25: Science in the News part 2 (Acrobat (PDF) 765kB Jun28 25)
• Poorest areas bear brunt of air pollution, US study shows | Air pollution | The Guardian (Acrobat (PDF) 2.6MB Jun28 25)
• When air quality declines, low-income people and communities of color suffer the most - MarketWatch (Acrobat (PDF) 2.1MB Jun28 25)
• Seeking Models and Evidence in Research Articles (Acrobat (PDF) 75kB Jun28 25)
• Seeking Models and Evidence in Research Articles: Teacher Guide (Acrobat (PDF) 144kB Jun28 25)