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

   "Think of the last time you looked something up because you were curious. Did the answer end your curiosity, or did it make you wonder about something new? Write down the new thing you wondered."

   Take a few answers. Point out that good research often ends with more questions than it started with. Tell students that W.7.7 asks for exactly that. A short research project answers one question in a few days, using several sources (books, articles, websites or interviews that give information). Then the researcher writes additional related, focused questions for further research, questions the research made them curious about.

   Introduce Malik, an invented seventh grader with a short deadline to answer a question of his choice. Read his first log entry aloud. Ask: what might Malik wonder about next, once he knows the answer?

   1Starting question: Why do fireflies glow?

   2Why I want to know: Last June we visited my grandmother in Tennessee. After dark, her whole backyard was full of blinking lights. My little cousin said the fireflies were "talking," and I wondered if that could be true.

   3What I already know: Fireflies come out on summer nights. Their light blinks on and off, and it is yellow or green.

   4My plan: The project is due in four days. I need at least three sources and an answer of about 200 words. Ms. Havili, our school librarian, says the last part of the project is new this year: after the answer, we write two or three questions for further research, questions that our sources made us curious about. I'll take notes on cards, one fact per card, with the source letter at the top.

2. Direct Instruction20 minutes

   Use Diagram 1 to show the four steps of a short research project in grade 7. The fourth step is the new one: the project does not end with the answer, but with questions that could start the next project.

   Read Sources A and B, the first two sources Malik found. The sources and their publishers were written for this lesson, but the facts in them are real. As students read, they star each fact that helps answer "Why do fireflies glow?" and put a question mark next to anything that makes them curious.

   1Fireflies are not flies at all. They are beetles, and there are more than 2,000 kinds of them around the world. On summer nights in much of the eastern United States, their blinking lights are easy to spot.

   2A firefly makes light inside its body, in a special organ near the end of its abdomen, the back part of an insect's body. The light comes from a chemical reaction. A chemical called luciferin combines with oxygen, with help from an enzyme called luciferase. An enzyme is a substance in living things that makes a chemical change happen faster. The reaction also uses ATP, a chemical that stores energy in cells.

   3Making light by a chemical reaction inside a living thing is called bioluminescence. A firefly's light gives off very little heat, so it is sometimes called "cold light." Scientists think fireflies switch their lights on and off by controlling how much oxygen reaches the light organ.

   1Why do fireflies flash? For most adult fireflies, the light is a way to find a mate. Each kind of firefly has its own pattern. The pattern can differ in how long each flash lasts, how many flashes come in a row, how long the dark pause is and what color the light is. Usually, males fly and flash while females wait on the ground or on plants. When a female sees the pattern of her own kind, she answers with a flash of her own.

   2Not every flash is honest. Females of one group of fireflies, called Photuris, can copy the answering flash of another kind. When a male of that kind flies down to meet her, she eats him.

   3Firefly larvae, the young that hatch from eggs, glow too. Their light seems to send a different message: stay away. Many fireflies contain chemicals that make them taste bad to many predators, and the glow may help predators learn to leave them alone.

   Then read Malik's Day 2 log and his conference with Ms. Havili. She gives him three tests for a question for further research: it grows out of what he learned (related), one short project could answer it (focused), and his sources have not answered it yet (still unanswered). Work through the five examples.

   1Day 2 notes: Sources A and B answer my question in two parts. Source A explains how fireflies make light, and Source B explains why they flash. So my cousin was kind of right: the flashes really are signals.

   2Questions I thought of while reading (my brainstorm):
   1. What are all the kinds of animals that glow?
   2. How do some fireflies all flash at the same time? Grandma says a park near her has fireflies that do that.
   3. Why are there fewer fireflies now than when my mom was a kid?
   4. What is luciferin made of?
   5. What is my favorite kind of insect?
   6. Do firefly larvae glow?

   3I have two days left. I need a third source, and I need to pick my questions for further research.

   1Ms. Havili: That's a long list. Good further questions pass three tests. Does the question grow out of what you learned? Is it focused enough that one short project could answer it? And is it still unanswered? Let's try them.

   2Malik: Number 1 is related, but "all the kinds of animals that glow" could fill a whole book.

   3Ms. Havili: So it is related but not focused. What about number 5?

   4Malik: That one is not even research. It's just my opinion. And number 6 is already answered. Source B says larvae glow.

   5Ms. Havili: Right. Number 2 passes all three tests, and it comes straight from your grandmother. Number 3 is harder. Scientists have named several possible reasons for fewer fireflies, such as the loss of the fields and woods where they live, chemicals that kill insects, and bright lights at night. Each of those could be a project of its own.

   6Malik: Then I should pick one. Source B says the flashes are how fireflies find each other. So maybe: does bright outdoor lighting at night make it harder for fireflies to find mates?

   7Ms. Havili: That is a focused question, and it grows out of Source B. What about number 4?

   8Malik: It's focused, and it's still unanswered. But when I searched, everything about luciferin was written for scientists.

   9Ms. Havili: Keep it anyway. A question for further research doesn't have to be one you can answer this week. You might ask a high school chemistry teacher someday. For your third source, look at the national park's page about the fireflies your grandmother saw.

   • Choosing a question for a short research project

     Malik's question comes from something he saw: "her whole backyard was full of blinking lights," and his cousin said the fireflies were "talking" (Text 1, paragraph 2).

     Result: "Why do fireflies glow?" fits a short project. It asks "why," so the answer needs explaining and not a single fact, and sources for young readers cover it. A question born from real curiosity also gives the researcher a way to check the answer: were the fireflies really "talking"?

   • Drawing on several sources: one note card, two sources

     Source A says the light is made "in a special organ near the end of its abdomen" by a chemical reaction. Source B says that "For most adult fireflies, the light is a way to find a mate."

     Result: Malik's card reads: "Light made by a chemical reaction in the abdomen (A). Used to find a mate (B)." Each fact keeps its source letter, and neither source alone answers both the how and the why of his question.

   • Generating related questions while reading

     In his Day 2 log, Malik lists six questions he "thought of while reading." Question 4, "What is luciferin made of?", comes from a word in Source A. Question 2 comes from his grandmother, who says a park near her has fireflies that flash together.

     Result: A further question is related when it grows out of what the research turned up, a word, a fact or a surprise. Writing questions down as they come, and testing them later, keeps a researcher from losing a good one or chasing a bad one in the middle of the project.

   • Focusing a related question that is too broad

     Question 3 asks, "Why are there fewer fireflies now than when my mom was a kid?" Ms. Havili names several possible reasons, "Each of those could be a project of its own" (Text 5, paragraph 5).

     Result: Malik picks one reason that connects to what he learned in Source B, that flashes are how fireflies find each other: "does bright outdoor lighting at night make it harder for fireflies to find mates?" A focused question is narrow enough for one short project.

   • A new source raises a question for further investigation

     Source C says the park's males flash "five to eight quick flashes, then about eight seconds of darkness," and that "Scientists are still studying why these males flash together."

     Result: Malik's first further question asks how each male knows when to flash, "so that thousands of them end up in step." It is still open for scientists too, so it leads to further investigation: reading new studies, or watching a recording of a display and counting flashes.

3. Guided Practice15 minutes

   Pairs read Source C, which Malik found on Ms. Havili's advice. It describes synchronous fireflies, which flash at the same time as each other. Pairs fill in the note-taking chart below, writing the source letter after each note, and use Diagram 2 to check how Malik sorted his brainstorm.

   1Most fireflies flash on their own schedule, so a field of them twinkles at random. A few kinds flash together. In Great Smoky Mountains National Park, on the border of Tennessee and North Carolina, one kind called Photinus carolinus is famous for it.

   2Each year, for about two to three weeks, usually sometime between late May and late June, the males flash in a pattern: five to eight quick flashes, then about eight seconds of darkness. At first the flashes look random. As more males join in, their patterns line up, until waves of light seem to pass through the woods together. The females answer during the dark pauses.

   3Scientists are still studying why these males flash together. One idea is that flashing in unison makes their pattern easier for females to recognize.

   4The park is home to 19 kinds of fireflies. So many people want to see the synchronous fireflies that the park holds a lottery for places to view them. Visitors are asked to cover their flashlights with red cellophane and point them at the ground, because bright white light can interrupt the fireflies' signals.

   Note-taking chart for Malik's question (pairs fill in the blank cells)

   Part of the question	Notes (with source letters)
   How does a firefly make light?
   Why do adult fireflies flash?
   Why do larvae glow?
   What is special about the park's fireflies?
   New questions this source raised

   Discuss as a class: Source C answers part of question 2 from Malik's brainstorm. Did it end his curiosity about synchronous fireflies, or change it? What would a good next question about them be?

4. Independent Practice15 minutes

   Read Malik's finished answer (Text 7). Students underline each place where he names a source and check each further question against Ms. Havili's three tests.

   1Fireflies glow to send messages, and they make their light with a chemical reaction.

   2The light comes from an organ near the end of a firefly's abdomen. There, a chemical called luciferin combines with oxygen, with help from an enzyme called luciferase and from ATP, a chemical that stores energy (Source A). The light is so cool that it is called "cold light," and scientists think a firefly switches it on and off by controlling how much oxygen reaches the light organ (Source A).

   3For most adult fireflies, the flashes are signals for finding a mate. Each kind has its own pattern, and a female answers when she sees the pattern of her own kind (Source B). Some fireflies flash together. In Great Smoky Mountains National Park, males of one kind flash five to eight times and then go dark for about eight seconds, and the females answer during the dark pauses (Source C). Larvae glow too, but their light seems to warn predators that they taste bad (Source B).

   4So my little cousin was right: fireflies really are talking, with light.

   5Questions for further research:
   1. How does each male in Great Smoky Mountains National Park know when to flash, so that thousands of them end up in step?
   2. Does bright outdoor lighting at night make it harder for fireflies to find mates?
   3. What is luciferin made of, and can scientists make it in a lab?

   Then students start a short research project of their own. (1) Write a how or why question and test it: can a few days and several sources answer it? (2) List three different kinds of sources to try, such as a library book, an encyclopedia article and an interview with an adult who knows the topic. (3) Keep a "new questions" list open while researching, and add to it every time a source makes you curious.

   Circulate and ask the question Ms. Havili asked: does this new question grow out of what you learned? The quiz uses Texts 1-7 (Warm-Up through Independent Practice).

5. Closure5 minutes

   Exit ticket: (1) Name the three tests for a question for further research. (2) Write one related, focused question that Malik's project made you curious about. Then hand out the homework texts below: Ines's first research log entry (Text 8) and the three short sources she found (Text 9). Ines and her dad are invented; the facts in the sources are real.

   Teacher note: Problem 6 of the homework invites a kitchen test. Remind students to cut onions only with an adult present, or to plan the test without carrying it out.

   1Starting question: Why do onions make you cry?

   2Why I want to know: I help my dad cook on Sundays, and every time I chop an onion my eyes sting and water. My dad wears his swim goggles to chop onions, and it works.

   3What I already know: Only raw onions do this. Cooked onions don't make my eyes water.

   4My plan: Find three sources, answer the question in 150 words, and write two or three questions for further research by Friday.

   5Questions I thought of so far:
   1. What is the gas from onions called?
   2. Why do vegetables exist?
   3. Does chilling an onion first really cut down on tears, and by how much?
   4. Why doesn't chopping garlic make me cry?

   1Source 1, from an invented cooking website: An onion is made of millions of tiny cells. Inside each cell, some chemicals are kept apart from each other. When a knife cuts the cells open, the chemicals mix. An enzyme, a substance that speeds up a chemical change, turns sulfur-containing chemicals in the onion into new ones, and a second change makes a gas called syn-propanethial-S-oxide. The gas drifts up from the cutting board. When it reaches your eyes, it irritates nerves on their surface, and your tear glands make tears to wash it away.

   2Source 2, from an invented science magazine for students: For a long time, scientists thought the first enzyme did all the work. Then, in 2002, a team from House Foods, a Japanese food company, reported in the science journal Nature that a second enzyme is needed to make the tear-causing gas. They named it lachrymatory factor synthase; "lachrymatory" means "causing tears." Garlic does not have this enzyme, so its sulfur chemicals turn into different ones. That is why chopping garlic rarely makes cooks cry.

   3Source 3, from an invented kitchen tips blog: Onions are thought to be among the oldest vegetables that people grow. Red onions get their color from natural pigments called anthocyanins, the same kind of pigment that colors blueberries. Many cooks chill an onion in the refrigerator for half an hour before cutting it, because the cold slows the chemical changes, and they use a sharp knife, which crushes fewer cells.

Differentiation Strategies

Assessment Guidance

1. Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which detail in Text 1 shows that Malik is doing a short research project?

   AHe wants to know why his grandmother's backyard was full of lights. BHe will take notes on cards, one fact per card, with the source letter. CHe already knows that fireflies come out on summer nights. DThe project is due in four days, with an answer of about 200 words.

2. Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which fact could Malik get from Source B but not from Source A?

   AA chemical called luciferin combines with oxygen to make light. BFireflies are beetles, and there are more than 2,000 kinds. CEach kind of firefly has its own pattern of flashes. DA firefly's light gives off very little heat.

3. Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   On Day 2, Sources A and B already answer Malik's question. Why does he still look for a third source?

   AHis plan calls for at least three sources, and one of his new questions needs more information. BSources A and B disagree with each other, so he needs a third source to decide which is right. CMs. Havili tells him that Sources A and B are too old to be trusted for a school project. DHis answer must quote every source on the library shelf that mentions fireflies at all.

4. Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   A student researching "How do bees make honey?" learns that bees fan nectar with their wings to dry it out. Which is the best related, focused question for further research?

   AWhat is the whole long history of beekeeping all around the world? BHow long does it take bees to dry the nectar in one cell? CDo bees make honey from the nectar of flowers? DWhich insect do I think is the most interesting?

5. Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Malik's second further question asks whether bright outdoor lighting at night makes it harder for fireflies to find mates. Which is the best way to begin investigating it?

   ARead what scientists have found, and compare flashes seen in a dark yard and a lit yard on similar nights. BAsk classmates to vote on whether they think outdoor lights bother fireflies, and report the result. CLook up the word "bioluminescence" in a dictionary and copy its definition into the research log. DCatch fireflies in a jar and keep them under a bright lamp for a week to see what they do.

6. Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In Text 5, why does Ms. Havili tell Malik to keep question 4, "What is luciferin made of?", even though he found no sources written for his age?

   AShe thinks the question is broad enough to fill several short projects. BShe knows the answer and plans to tell him at the next conference. CShe wants him to drop his first question so that he can research luciferin instead. DA question for further research does not have to be answerable this week.

7. Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   According to Source C, what do the female fireflies do during the park's synchronous display?

   AThey fly and flash in the air while the males wait on the ground. BThey flash in unison with the males throughout the night. CThey answer during the dark pauses in the males' pattern. DThey stay dark for the two to three weeks of the display.

8. Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   How does Malik show readers which facts in his answer (Text 7) came from which source?

   AHe lists all three sources in a group at the very end of his answer. BHe puts the source letter in parentheses after the facts he used from it. CHe copies each source word for word, inside quotation marks, one after another. DHe names only the source he trusted most and leaves the other two out.

9. Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Malik writes that larvae's "light seems to warn predators that they taste bad (Source B)." Which words from Source B support this?

   A"chemicals that make them taste bad to many predators" B"When a male of that kind flies down to meet her, she eats him." C"the light is a way to find a mate" D"can copy the answering flash of another kind"

10. Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    A student asks, "How do emperor penguins stay warm in Antarctica?" Which set of sources best shows drawing on several sources?

    AOne encyclopedia article, read carefully three separate times BThree posts from the same social media account, all about emperor penguins CA cartoon movie about penguins and the same movie's sequel DAn encyclopedia article, a zoo's fact page and a zookeeper interview

11. Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Which question fits a short research project best?

    AWhat is the whole history of space exploration since the year 1957? BHow did the Apollo 11 astronauts get back safely to Earth? CWill people be living on Mars by the year 2200? DHow far away is the Moon from Earth, in miles?

12. Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    A student researching "How do earthquakes happen?" learns that huge plates of Earth's crust get stuck and then suddenly slip. Which new question is related but too broad for one short project?

    AWhy do earthquakes happen more often in some places than in others? BWhat is the scariest earthquake movie that has ever been made? CWhat is everything scientists know about the inside of the Earth? DDo earthquakes happen when plates of Earth's crust slip?

13. Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Suppose Malik had used only Source C. Which part of his answer (Text 7) would be missing?

    AHow the light is made, by luciferin, oxygen, luciferase and ATP BThe pattern of five to eight flashes and about eight seconds of dark CThat some fireflies in the park flash at the same time as each other DThat the females answer during the dark pauses in the pattern

14. Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Which sentence would be a mistake for Malik to write, based on Source C?

    AThe park is home to 19 kinds of fireflies. BVisitors cover their flashlights with red cellophane. CMales flash five to eight times, then go dark for about eight seconds. DThe males flash together every night from spring until fall.

15. Question 15 of 20 · Short Answer

    Source B includes a fact about Photuris fireflies that Malik did not use in his answer. Explain what the fact is, and argue whether it belongs in his answer to "Why do fireflies glow?"

    Show model answer

16. Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer

    Write two related, focused questions for further research that grow out of Source C. Do not use Malik's first question. For each, name the sentence in Source C that it grows out of.

    Show model answer

17. Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer

    A classmate researched "How do sharks find their food?" and learned that sharks can sense the tiny electric signals made by other animals' muscles. Her question for further research is "What is everything about the ocean?" Explain which test it fails, and write a better question.

    Show model answer

18. Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer

    Plan a short research project of your own: write the question, explain why it fits a short project, and name three different kinds of sources. Then write one question for further research you expect it might raise.

    Show model answer

19. Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer

    Malik's cousin said the fireflies were "talking." Using Sources B and C, explain whether that is a fair description. Quote each source once.

    Show model answer

20. Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer

    Look at the three questions for further research at the end of Text 7. Which one is most ready to become Malik's next short project, and which one is least ready? Explain both choices using what you know about his sources and Ms. Havili's advice.

    Show model answer

These standards connect to W.7.7: 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.