Overview

Lesson Procedure

65-65 minutes of class time across 5 phases.

1. Warm-Up10 minutes
2. Direct Instruction20 minutes
3. Guided Practice15 minutes
4. Independent Practice15 minutes
5. Closure5 minutes

1. Warm-Up10 minutes

   Warm-Up Prompt

   "Two websites tell you two different things about the same question. How do you decide which one to believe? Write down two clues you would look for."

   List the clues students suggest on the board and keep them for later. Then introduce the three jobs in W.6.8. First, students gather relevant information (information that helps answer their question) from several print sources (books, magazines, newspapers) and digital sources (websites, e-books, online videos). Second, they assess the credibility of each source: they decide how far it can be trusted. Third, they use what they found honestly: they quote (copy the exact words inside quotation marks) or paraphrase (say the idea in their own words and sentence pattern), they avoid plagiarism (using someone else's words or ideas as if they were your own), and they give bibliographic information (the author, title, publisher, date and place where they found each source).

   Read Text 1 aloud. Nadia, an invented sixth grader, has four sources that disagree by more than 60 million years. Ask: which of your clues could help her?

   1Assignment from Ms. Lindqvist: Choose a question about science or history. Gather information from at least three sources, including at least one print source (a book, magazine or newspaper) and at least one digital source (a website, e-book or online video). Decide how credible each source is. In a one-paragraph answer, quote or paraphrase your sources, and never copy words without quotation marks. End with a source list that gives each source's author, title, publisher or website, date and where you found it.

   2My question: Why did the dinosaurs die out?

   3Day 1 notes: I found four sources. Source 1 is an old book about dinosaurs, written in 1915 by W. D. Matthew, a scientist at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. It was first printed on paper, but I read a free digital copy on a laptop. Source 2 is a web page from a natural history museum. Source 3 is an article in a science magazine for kids that the library keeps on its shelf. Source 4 came up first when I searched online, on a site called DinoFacts4U.

   4Problem: my sources don't agree. Source 1 says the dinosaurs ruled for nine million years, three times as long as the time since they disappeared. That means they died out about 3 million years ago. Source 2 says 66 million years ago. They can't both be right.

2. Direct Instruction20 minutes

   Read Nadia's four sources. Source 1 is real: a 1915 book by W. D. Matthew, a scientist at the American Museum of Natural History. Before reading it, explain three old words: quadrupeds (four-legged animals; Matthew means mammals such as horses and elephants), sway (rule) and Cretacic (an old name for the Cretaceous, the last period of the age of dinosaurs). Sources 2, 3 and 4 were written for this lesson. The museum, the magazine and the website are invented, but the facts in Sources 2 and 3 are real, and the two scientific papers that Source 2 lists are real. Source 4 is false on purpose.

   1Dinosaurs. The land reptiles were chiefly Dinosaurs, a group which flourished throughout the Age of Reptiles and became extinct at its close. "Dinosaur" is a general term which covers as wide a variety in size and appearance as "Quadruped" among modern animals. And the Dinosaurs in the Age of Reptiles occupied about the same place in nature as the larger quadrupeds do today. They have been called the Giant Reptiles, for those we know most about were gigantic in size, but there were also numerous smaller kinds, the smallest no larger than a cat.

   [...]

   2In the preceding chapter we have attempted to point out the place in nature that the Dinosaurs occupied and the conditions under which they lived. They were the dominant land animals of their time, just as the quadrupeds were during the Age of Mammals. Their sway endured for a long era, estimated at nine millions of years, and about three times as long as the period which has elapsed since their disappearance. They survived vast changes in geography and climate, and became extinct through a combination of causes not fully understood as yet; probably the great changes in physical conditions at the end of the Cretacic period, and the development of mammals and birds, more intelligent, more active, and better adapted to the new conditions of life, were the most important factors in their extinction.

   1Harlan Valley Museum of Natural History, Fossil Hall Online

   2What Happened to the Dinosaurs?

   3By Dr. Elena Marsh, Curator of Fossils. Last updated March 12, 2024.

   4About 66 million years ago, an asteroid about 10 kilometers (6 miles) wide hit Earth near what is now the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. The crater it left, called Chicxulub (CHEEK-shoo-loob), is about 180 kilometers (110 miles) across. Today it is buried under younger rock.

   5In 1980, a team led by the scientists Luis and Walter Alvarez, a father and son, reported that a thin layer of clay from the end of the age of dinosaurs holds unusually large amounts of iridium. This metal is rare in Earth's crust but common in asteroids. The team concluded that a giant asteroid had struck Earth. In 1991, scientists identified the buried crater in Mexico as the place where it hit.

   6The impact threw huge amounts of dust and gas into the air. Sunlight was blocked, the climate cooled, and many plants stopped growing. About three-quarters of the kinds of plants and animals on Earth died out, including every dinosaur except one group: the birds. Birds are the living descendants of small feathered dinosaurs.

   7Dinosaurs first appeared about 230 million years ago, so they lived on Earth for more than 160 million years.

   8Sources for this page: L. W. Alvarez and others, Science, 1980; A. R. Hildebrand and others, Geology, 1991.

   1Young Explorer Science, April 2023, pages 14-15

   2Did Volcanoes Help?

   3By Marcus Bell, science writer

   4The asteroid was not the only disaster at the end of the age of dinosaurs. In India, enormous volcanic eruptions poured out lava again and again over hundreds of thousands of years, around the same time as the impact. Today the hardened lava, called the Deccan Traps, forms layers of rock more than a kilometer thick in some places.

   5The eruptions also released gases that can change the climate. So scientists have asked: did volcanoes help kill the dinosaurs?

   6Most scientists think the asteroid was the main cause, because the die-off happened quickly and matches the layer of rock where the impact left its mark. Some scientists argue that the eruptions had already made life harder, so the asteroid struck a world that was already under stress. Others think the eruptions did little harm to living things. The question is still being studied.

   1DinoFacts4U.com | Shop | Fun Facts

   2Ad: Buy a REAL T. rex tooth! Only $19.99!

   3The REAL Reason Dinosaurs Vanished!!

   4Dinosaurs died out because they got too big and too slow to find enough food. Their brains were the size of a walnut, so they could not figure out how to survive. Scientists all agree on this!

   5Did you know? Some dinosaurs lived until about 10,000 years ago, and cave people hunted them for meat.

   6Posted by admin. Share this page!

   Use Diagram 1 to model five credibility questions: Who wrote it? Who published it, and why? Is it up to date? Does it show evidence or name its sources? Does it agree with other credible sources? Stress that credibility is a judgment about each source, not a rule about formats: a website can be credible and a book can be out of date. Then work through the five examples.

   • Gathering relevant information from print and digital sources

     Nadia's list mixes print sources (a book and a magazine) and digital sources (two web pages). In Source 1, Matthew explains that "Dinosaur" is a general term, like "Quadruped" for modern animals.

     Result: Relevant means "helps answer my question." The sentence about the word "Dinosaur" explains a name, not why dinosaurs died out, so it stays out of her notes. The sentence about the causes of their extinction is relevant, even though it turns out to be out of date.

   • Assessing credibility: a museum page and a shopping site

     Source 2 names its author, "Dr. Elena Marsh, Curator of Fossils," gives the date "Last updated March 12, 2024," and lists two scientific papers. Source 4 is "Posted by admin," has no date, and sells a "REAL T. rex tooth" on the same page.

     Result: Source 2 passes all five questions in Diagram 1. Source 4 fails them: no named author, a seller as publisher, no date and no evidence. So Nadia does not use it.

   • Credible for its time, but out of date

     Source 1 was written by a museum scientist, and he is careful: the causes are "not fully understood as yet." But his dates put the end of the dinosaurs only about 3 million years ago, and he was writing 65 years before the Alvarez team's 1980 report on iridium.

     Result: An expert author does not make a source current. Nadia can use Source 1 to show what scientists thought in 1915, but not for the date or the cause. That is why Diagram 1 marks its date "old."

   • Quoting data and paraphrasing a conclusion

     Nadia wants how long dinosaurs lived on Earth (data) from Source 2 and Bell's point about the volcanoes (a conclusion) from Source 3.

     Result: Data is easiest to quote exactly: dinosaurs "lived on Earth for more than 160 million years" (Marsh). A conclusion is often better paraphrased: huge eruptions in India happened at about the same time, and scientists still disagree about how much they mattered (Bell). Both name the source.

   • Fixing plagiarism and giving basic bibliographic information

     In an early note, Nadia wrote "The eruptions also gave off gases that are able to change the climate." Source 3 says "The eruptions also released gases that can change the climate."

     Result: Swapping a few words keeps Bell's sentence, so it is still plagiarism (this is called patchwriting). Nadia rewrites it: Bell notes that gases from the volcanoes may have altered Earth's weather over time (Bell). Her source list then gives Bell's name, the article title, the magazine, the date and the pages.

3. Guided Practice15 minutes

   Pairs read Nadia's first draft (Text 6). For each numbered sentence they decide: is it the writer's own idea, a fair paraphrase with a source named, or a problem? For each problem, they write what is wrong and which source it came from. Use Diagram 2 to check their labels: a quotation keeps the exact words inside quotation marks, a paraphrase changes both the words and the sentence pattern, and both name the source.

   1[1] The dinosaurs ruled the earth for millions of years and then disappeared. [2] About 66 million years ago, an asteroid about 10 kilometers (6 miles) wide hit Earth near what is now the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. [3] In 1980, a team led by the scientists Luis and Walter Alvarez, a father and son, reported that a thin layer of clay from the end of the age of dinosaurs holds unusually large amounts of iridium. [4] Sunlight was stopped, the climate got cooler, and lots of plants quit growing. [5] Dinosaurs were too big and slow to find food, and scientists all agree on this. [6] Some scientists think volcanoes in India helped. [7] That is why the dinosaurs died out.

   Draft check chart (pairs fill in the blank cells)

   Sentence	Own idea, fair use or problem?	Which source? What is the fix?
   [2]
   [3]
   [4]
   [5]
   [6]

   Discuss: which sentence would be plagiarism even if Nadia had never meant to cheat? Which sentence is not plagiarism but still uses a source that is not credible? Which sentence names a real idea but gives no source?

4. Independent Practice15 minutes

   Read Nadia's revised paragraph and source list (Text 7). Students underline each quotation, circle each paraphrase and box each source name in parentheses. Then they answer on their own: which source did Nadia leave out, and why? Which source did she use only to show an older idea? Finally, each student starts a source list for his or her own research question with at least one print and one digital source, and writes one credibility sentence about each. The quiz uses Texts 1-7 (Warm-Up through Independent Practice).

   1Why did the dinosaurs die out? Today, the leading explanation among scientists is a giant asteroid (Bell). According to Dr. Elena Marsh, a museum curator, the asteroid was "about 10 kilometers (6 miles) wide" and hit Earth about 66 million years ago, near what is now Mexico (Marsh). The first evidence was a layer of clay with far more iridium than usual, a metal found much more often in asteroids than in the rocks of Earth's surface (Marsh). After the impact, dust and gas darkened the sky and cooled the planet, so many plants could not grow, and about three out of every four kinds of plants and animals disappeared (Marsh). Science writer Marcus Bell explains that huge volcanic eruptions in India were happening around the same time. Some scientists think the eruptions had already made life harder, but Bell says the question "is still being studied" (Bell). In 1915, the museum scientist W. D. Matthew thought the dinosaurs lost out to mammals and birds that were "more intelligent, more active" (Matthew). His book was careful for its time, but it was written long before the asteroid evidence was found, and its dates are far too recent.

   2Sources

   3Bell, Marcus. "Did Volcanoes Help?" Young Explorer Science, April 2023, pages 14-15. Print magazine, school library.

   4Marsh, Elena. "What Happened to the Dinosaurs?" Harlan Valley Museum of Natural History website, last updated March 12, 2024.

   5Matthew, W. D. Dinosaurs, with Special Reference to the American Museum Collections. American Museum of Natural History, 1915. Read as a free e-book at Project Gutenberg.

5. Closure5 minutes

   Exit ticket: (1) Name one credibility question and explain how it helped Nadia. (2) In one sentence, explain the difference between a paraphrase and patchwriting. Then hand out the homework texts below: Luca's research log (Text 8) and his four sources (Text 9).

   1My question: Why do our fingers wrinkle in the bath?

   2Why I want to know: After swimming lessons, my fingertips always look like raisins, but the skin on my arms and legs never does.

   3Sources I found: Source A is a web page from a university's health news site. Source B is a library book about skin. Source C is a science news website for students. Source D came up when I searched "wrinkly fingers."

   4My first try at a note: For a long time, people believed fingertips wrinkle because the skin absorbs water and swells. That idea was proven to be wrong.

   1Source A (digital), from an invented university news site: "Why Wet Fingers Wrinkle," Northfield University Health News, by Jordan Price, staff science writer, posted June 6, 2022. For a long time, people thought fingertips wrinkle because the skin soaks up water and swells. That idea turned out to be wrong. In 1935, two doctors studying patients with an injured nerve in the hand noticed that the skin supplied by that nerve did not wrinkle in water. So the nervous system must be involved. Scientists now think the wrinkles form when nerves signal the blood vessels under the fingertips to narrow. The fingertip loses a little volume, and the skin on top folds into wrinkles.

   2Source B (print), from an invented library book: Your Amazing Skin, by Dr. Samuel Reyes, a skin doctor, Brightwater Books, 2019, page 42. The skin on your fingers and toes wrinkles in water, but the skin on your arms and legs does not. Wrinkles appear after you have been in the water for a while, and they fade soon after your skin dries. Because nerves control the wrinkling, doctors sometimes soak a patient's hand in water to check whether its nerves are working.

   3Source C (digital), from an invented science news site: "Do Wrinkly Fingers Grip Better?" Kid Science Now, by Alisha Grant, updated January 15, 2024. In 2011, the scientist Mark Changizi suggested that wrinkled fingertips might work like the treads on a tire, helping us hold on to wet things. In 2013, scientists at Newcastle University in England tested the idea. Volunteers moved small wet objects, such as marbles, from one container to another. Wrinkled fingers moved the wet objects faster than smooth fingers did, but wrinkles made no difference with dry objects. The scientists concluded that wrinkles may help us handle wet things. In 2014, another team ran a similar test and found no difference. Scientists are still testing the idea.

   4Source D (digital), from an invented website: WOW-Body-Facts.net, no author, no date. Wrinkly fingers mean your body is soaking up water like a sponge! Your skin can soak up 2 cups of water in one bath. If your fingers wrinkle, it is a sign you are dehydrated, so try our Hydra-Skin cream, only $24.95!

Differentiation Strategies

Assessment Guidance

1. Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   According to Ms. Lindqvist's assignment in Text 1, which set of sources would meet the requirement?

   AThree websites from the first page of search results BA library book, a museum website and a magazine article CTwo books from the library shelf and nothing else DOne long online video that covers the whole question

2. Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which of Nadia's sources is a print source that she also read in print?

   ASource 1, the 1915 book by W. D. Matthew BSource 2, the museum web page by Dr. Marsh CSource 4, the page on the DinoFacts4U site DSource 3, the magazine on the library shelf

3. Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which claim in Source 4 does Source 3 show to be false?

   A"Scientists all agree on this!" B"Some dinosaurs lived until about 10,000 years ago." C"Cave people hunted them for meat." D"Their brains were the size of a walnut."

4. Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Why is Source 1 credible in some ways but not in others?

   AIts author is unknown, but its facts match those in Source 2. BIt is a digital copy, so its words may have been changed online. CIt was written to sell dinosaur books, so it exaggerates. DIts author was a museum scientist, but it was written in 1915.

5. Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which note quotes the data about the crater from Source 2 correctly?

   AThe crater is "about 10 kilometers (6 miles)" across (Marsh). BThe crater is "about 66 kilometers" across, according to Marsh. CThe crater is "about 180 kilometers (110 miles) across" (Marsh). DThe crater is about 180 miles across, in the words of Marsh.

6. Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Source 3 says, "Most scientists think the asteroid was the main cause, because the die-off happened quickly and matches the layer of rock where the impact left its mark." Which is the best paraphrase?

   ABell explains that most experts blame the asteroid, since the dinosaurs vanished fast, right at the rock layer that shows the impact (Bell). BMost scientists believe the asteroid was the main reason, because the die-off happened fast and matches the layer of rock where the impact left its mark. CBell says that scientists have now proved that the volcanoes, and not the asteroid, were what really killed the dinosaurs (Bell). DBell writes, "Most scientists think the asteroid was the main cause," and he goes on to explain the reasons (Bell).

7. Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Why is sentence [2] of Nadia's first draft (Text 6) plagiarism?

   AIt copies Source 2's words exactly, with no quotation marks or source BIt includes a date, and dates must always be put in quotation marks CIt gives a fact that is false, according to the museum curator DIt is too long for a paragraph written by a student in grade 6

8. Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Sentence [4] of Nadia's first draft changes several words from Source 2. Why is it still plagiarism?

   AIt changes the meaning of the sentence, which makes it false. BIt keeps Marsh's sentence pattern and ideas and names no source. CIt uses informal words such as "lots of" and "quit." DIt should have come from Source 3, not from Source 2.

9. Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   A classmate writes this source list entry: "What Happened to the Dinosaurs?" Harlan Valley Museum of Natural History website. What basic information is missing?

   AThe title of the web page BThe name of the website CThe author and the date DBoth the title and the website

10. Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    In Text 1, Nadia works out that Source 1 puts the end of the dinosaurs about 3 million years ago. Source 2 says 66 million years ago. About how many times as long ago is the date in Source 2?

    A22 times B63 times C3 times D198 times

11. Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Which sentence from Source 1 is least relevant to Nadia's question, "Why did the dinosaurs die out?"

    AThey "became extinct through a combination of causes not fully understood as yet." BThere were "numerous smaller kinds, the smallest no larger than a cat." C"Their sway endured for a long era, estimated at nine millions of years." DMatthew names "the great changes in physical conditions" as a cause.

12. Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Which of these is NOT a good reason to trust a source?

    AIts author is named and is an expert on the topic. BIt was written or updated recently. CIt came up first in an online search. DIt names the sources of its facts.

13. Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Why does Nadia's entry for Matthew's book end with "Read as a free e-book at Project Gutenberg"?

    ATo show that the book is out of date and should not be trusted BTo tell readers where she found the book and in what form CTo prove that she did not copy any words from the book DTo explain that the book was written by a museum scientist

14. Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    In Text 7, which words does Nadia quote rather than paraphrase?

    A"a metal found much more often in asteroids than in the rocks of Earth's surface" B"dust and gas darkened the sky and cooled the planet" C"three out of every four kinds of plants and animals disappeared" D"more intelligent, more active"

15. Question 15 of 20 · Short Answer

    Use two of the credibility questions in Diagram 1 to decide whether Nadia can trust Source 3. Quote one detail from the source for each question.

    Show model answer

16. Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer

    Paraphrase this sentence from Source 2 and name the source: "The team concluded that a giant asteroid had struck Earth."

    Show model answer

17. Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer

    Sentence [3] of Nadia's first draft copies Source 2. Rewrite it two ways: once as a correct quotation and once as a paraphrase.

    Show model answer

18. Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer

    Write a source list entry for this invented source: a print book called Dinosaur Detectives, written by Grace Liu, published by Pinecone Press in 2021, which you borrowed from the public library.

    Show model answer

19. Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer

    Nadia wants one more source. Name one print source and one digital source that would be relevant and credible for her question, and explain what makes each one credible.

    Show model answer

20. Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer

    Nadia says Source 1 is out of date, yet she still uses it in Text 7. Explain why she uses it and how she keeps readers from being misled.

    Show model answer

These standards connect to W.6.8: prerequisites to review first, parallel standards at the same level, and next steps that build on it.

Standard text: Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy. © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.