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

   "Write down three things you noticed this month and wondered about. Which one could you answer by Friday with a few good sources?"

   Give students three minutes, then take a few wonders and sort them on the board with the class: ones that sources could answer, opinions, and ones too big for a week. Point out that every wonder came from the students themselves.

   Introduce Keziah, an invented eighth grader. Her English teacher, Ms. Ferrante, has assigned a Curiosity Project in which each student chooses a question. Read Text 1 aloud. Students underline the reason Keziah gives for each wonder she drops.

   1Assignment: Ms. Ferrante's Curiosity Project. Choose your own question. Answer it in about 200 words, using at least three sources. End with at least three questions for further exploration. Due Friday, five school days from today.

   2My wonders list (things I have noticed and wondered about):
   1. Why is the sky blue?
   2. How did the cicadas at Grandpa's house know when to come out?
   3. What is the best video game ever made?
   4. Why do cicadas exist?

   3Why number 2: In May 2024, when I was in sixth grade, the oak trees at my grandparents' house outside Chicago were covered with cicadas. The buzzing was so loud that we had to shout on the porch. Grandpa said the last time he saw them was 2007, when my mom was in high school, and that they would not be back until 2041. How can an insect keep track of 17 years?

   4Testing my wonders: Number 1 is a real question, but we already learned the answer in science class. Number 3 is an opinion, so no source can answer it. Number 4 is so big and vague that I would not know where to start. Number 2 is my own, I don't know the answer, and it is small enough for five days.

   5My question: How do periodical cicadas know when to come out of the ground?

2. Direct Instruction20 minutes

   Explain the standard in three parts. W.8.7 asks students to conduct short research projects to answer a question, and it adds "(including a self-generated question)": a question the student asks herself, not only one a teacher assigns. A short research project takes a few days, not weeks. Students must draw on several sources: books, articles, websites or interviews that give information. Finally, they generate "additional related, focused questions that allow for multiple avenues of exploration," new questions that point in different directions.

   Compare the grades. W.7.7 asks for further questions "for further research and investigation." W.8.7 adds the self-generated question and asks that the new questions open multiple avenues, so a list of questions that all ask the same kind of thing no longer meets the standard.

   Four tests for a self-generated research question

   Test	What to ask	A wonder that fails it
   Is it mine?	Did it come from something I noticed or care about?	A question copied from a list without thinking
   Can sources answer it?	Is it a question of fact or explanation, not taste?	"What is the best pizza topping?"
   Do I not know yet?	Will research teach me something new?	A question already answered in class
   Does it fit the time?	Can a few sources answer it in the days I have?	"How does the whole ocean work?"

   Read Source A (Text 2) and Source B (Text 3) together. A periodical cicada is an insect that comes out of the ground in huge numbers once every 13 or 17 years; a nymph is a young cicada, and xylem fluid is the watery sap inside tree roots. Then read Keziah's Day 2 notes (Text 4) and work through the examples.

   1Periodical cicadas are insects that live underground for years and then come out all at once. There are seven species, or kinds, and all of them live only in eastern North America. Some have a life cycle of 17 years, and others have a life cycle of 13 years.

   2A young cicada is called a nymph. It spends about 99.5 percent of its life underground. There it feeds on xylem fluid, the watery sap that moves through the roots of trees. Nymphs grow slowly in the dark and shed their skin several times.

   3In the spring of its last year, a nymph digs a tunnel to the surface. On the right evening, huge numbers of nymphs crawl out together, climb up tree trunks and plants, and shed their skin one last time to become winged adults. Adults live only a few weeks. The males sing to attract females. A female cuts slits in young twigs and lays her eggs inside. After about six to ten weeks, the eggs hatch. The tiny nymphs drop to the ground, burrow into the soil and begin the long wait again.

   4Periodical cicadas are grouped into broods. A brood is a group that comes out in the same year in the same area. Scientists name broods with Roman numerals, such as Brood XIII.

   1How does a periodical cicada know when to come out? Scientists think the answer has two parts: the right year and the right night.

   2The right year. A nymph has no calendar, but the tree it feeds on changes with the seasons. When a tree loses its leaves and grows new ones, the sap in its roots changes too. Scientists think nymphs count these yearly changes. In one experiment, researchers made a group of trees lose and regrow their leaves twice in a single year. The cicadas feeding on those trees came out after 16 years instead of 17, as if they had counted one extra year.

   3The right night. In the spring of the final year, from late April to early June, grown nymphs dig tunnels up toward the surface and wait. They come out on an evening when the soil about 8 inches (20 centimeters) down has warmed to about 64 degrees Fahrenheit (18 degrees Celsius).

   4The clock is not perfect. Cicadas that come out in the wrong year are called stragglers. Most stragglers are one year or four years early or late. In 2020, for example, some cicadas from Brood XIII came out in the Chicago area four years early.

   1Day 2 notes: Sources A and B answer my question in two parts. The year: nymphs seem to count the yearly changes in the tree sap they drink (Source B). The night: they wait until the soil 8 inches down reaches about 64 degrees (Source B). Source A explains the life cycle, so I know what the nymphs are doing all those years.

   2New questions I wrote while reading:
   1. How exactly does a nymph notice the change in the sap?
   2. Can a nymph count wrong, and why?
   3. Do the stragglers from 2020 survive if they come out almost alone?
   4. What would happen if the soil never reached 64 degrees?
   5. How many kinds of insects are there in the world?
   6. Do 13-year cicadas count the same way?

   3Tomorrow I have a conference with Ms. Ferrante. I still need a third source.

   • Choosing a self-generated question

     Keziah's wonders list has four items (Text 1, paragraph 2). She writes that number 2 "is my own, I don't know the answer, and it is small enough for five days" (paragraph 4).

     Result: A self-generated question is one the student asks herself instead of one a teacher assigns. Before she starts, she tests each wonder: is it hers, can sources answer it, does she not know the answer yet, and can she answer it in the time she has? Her question is "How do periodical cicadas know when to come out of the ground?"

   • Drawing on several sources: a two-part answer

     On Day 2 Keziah writes, "Sources A and B answer my question in two parts" (Text 4, paragraph 1). Her notes split the answer into the year and the night.

     Result: Keziah writes the source letter in parentheses after each fact in her notes, such as "(Source B)." Later she can cite every fact in her answer and see at a glance which parts of it rest on which source, and whether any part rests on a single source.

   • Using a third source to go past the first two

     Ms. Ferrante tells Keziah, "For your third source, look for something about the 2024 emergence itself" (Text 5, paragraph 13). Source C explains how the 2024 broods lined up and why coming out together may protect cicadas.

     Result: The third source changes the answer, not just its length. Keziah's last paragraph adds why timing matters, "They were on time together," a point neither Source A nor Source B makes.

   • Keeping new questions related and focused

     Ms. Ferrante says "What happens to a forest after the cicadas come out?" is related "but it needs a tighter focus" (Text 5, paragraph 11). Keziah narrows it to the birds, because her grandfather saw robins eating cicadas.

     Result: A related question grows out of what the research found. A focused question is small enough for one short project. "How does a cicada year change the number of birds?" is both, while "the forest" as a whole could fill a book.

   • Opening multiple avenues of exploration

     In the conference, Ms. Ferrante reminds Keziah that the project asks for "questions that open several avenues of exploration" (Text 5, paragraph 5).

     Result: An avenue of exploration is a different direction a researcher could take next, such as the science of the cicada's clock, the math of its cycles, its place in a food web, or how it may change in the future. Keziah's final list in Text 7 has one question on each of four avenues, so a reader could follow any one of them.

3. Guided Practice15 minutes

   Pairs read Keziah's conference with Ms. Ferrante (Text 5), her third source (Text 6) and her finished answer (Text 7). A brood is a group of periodical cicadas that comes out in the same year in the same area, and a prime number is a whole number greater than 1 that can be divided evenly only by 1 and itself. While they read, pairs fill in the source tracker below. Then they compare Keziah's new questions on Day 2 with her final list, using Diagram 1.

   1Ms. Ferrante: You answered your own question with two sources. That's a strong start. Now read me your new questions.

   2Keziah: Six of them. The first four are about how the nymphs count, what happens when they count wrong and what happens if the soil stays cold. Number 5 is how many kinds of insects there are, and number 6 asks whether 13-year cicadas count the same way.

   3Ms. Ferrante: Most of them are related, because each one grows out of what you read. But look at where they point. What are numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 all about?

   4Keziah: The cicada's clock. How it counts, and what happens when it goes wrong.

   5Ms. Ferrante: So they all go down the same road. The project asks for questions that open several avenues of exploration: different directions a researcher could take next. The clock is one avenue, and you have it covered. What did your sources mention that you skipped past?

   6Keziah: Source A says they come out together, in huge numbers. I wondered why they don't come out a few at a time, like other insects.

   7Ms. Ferrante: That is a new avenue: survival. Another?

   8Keziah: The numbers themselves, 13 and 17. Is there a reason they aren't 12 and 16?

   9Ms. Ferrante: That one points toward math. And number 5?

   10Keziah: It isn't really related. It's about all insects, and it's huge.

   11Ms. Ferrante: Right. A good question is related and focused, small enough that one short project could answer it. Here's a harder case: "What happens to a forest after the cicadas come out?" It's related, but it needs a tighter focus. Which part of the forest?

   12Keziah: The birds, maybe. Grandpa said the robins ate cicadas all day.

   13Ms. Ferrante: "How does a cicada year change the number of birds?" is focused, and it's a third avenue. For your third source, look for something about the 2024 emergence itself. You saw part of it.

   1In the spring of 2024, two broods of periodical cicadas came out in the same year. Brood XIII, a 17-year brood, appeared in northern Illinois and parts of Iowa, Wisconsin and Indiana. Brood XIX, the most widespread of the 13-year broods, appeared across a large part of the Southeast and Midwest. The last time both broods came out in the same year was 1803.

   2A 17-year brood and a 13-year brood come out together only once every 221 years, because 13 and 17 are prime numbers, numbers that can be divided evenly only by 1 and by themselves. So the next time these two broods come out together will be 2245. Even in 2024, their ranges barely touched. They may have overlapped only in a thin strip of central Illinois.

   3Why prime numbers? Scientists are not sure. One idea is that a prime-numbered cycle helps cicadas avoid predators whose numbers rise and fall on shorter cycles, such as every 2, 3 or 4 years. Another idea is that it keeps broods with different cycles from meeting and mating, because they so rarely come out in the same year.

   4Coming out all at once may also protect them. Where a brood is thick, there can be more than 1.5 million cicadas on one acre. Birds, squirrels and other animals eat all they can, but there are far more cicadas than the predators can eat, so many survive to lay eggs.

   1How Do Periodical Cicadas Know When to Come Out?

   2Periodical cicadas use two clues: one tells them the year, and the other tells them the night. Both clues come from the world around them, not from any kind of calendar.

   3A periodical cicada spends about 99.5 percent of its life underground as a nymph, drinking xylem fluid from tree roots (Source A). To know the year, nymphs seem to count the yearly changes in that sap, which happen when the tree loses and regrows its leaves. When researchers made trees go through two leaf cycles in one year, the nymphs came out after 16 years instead of 17 (Source B). To know the night, grown nymphs wait near the surface until the soil 8 inches down reaches about 64 degrees Fahrenheit (Source B). The clock is not perfect, though: some Brood XIII cicadas came out four years early, in 2020 (Source B).

   4Coming out together matters too. With more than 1.5 million cicadas on an acre in some places, predators cannot eat them all, and plenty are left to lay eggs (Source C). So when Grandpa's oak trees filled up in 2024, the cicadas were not just on time. They were on time together.

   5Questions for further exploration:
   1. The clock: how does a nymph detect the change in the sap, and do 13-year nymphs count the same way?
   2. Math: why are the cycles 13 and 17 years long, and which idea about prime numbers has the most evidence?
   3. Survival: how does a cicada year change the number of birds in a forest in the years that follow?
   4. The future: if springs keep getting warmer, will cicadas come out earlier in the year?

   Source tracker (pairs fill in the blank cells)

   Part of Keziah's answer	Which source?	Words from the source that support it
   What a nymph does underground
   How nymphs know the year
   How nymphs know the night
   The clock is not perfect
   Why coming out together matters

   Discuss as a class: Keziah wrote six new questions on Day 2 and four in Text 7. Which of her Day 2 questions survive in the final list, and what did she add?

4. Independent Practice15 minutes

   Students start a short research project of their own. (1) Wonder: list four things they have noticed and wondered about. (2) Test: run each through the four tests, and circle one self-generated question. (3) Plan sources: name three different sources they could use, such as a library book, a science website and an interview, and what each might add. (4) Look ahead: write two new questions the topic might raise, on two different avenues.

   Circulate and ask Ms. Ferrante's questions: is it your own, and where do your new questions point? Collect the plans to return at the start of the next research day. The quiz uses Texts 1-7 (Warm-Up through Guided Practice).

5. Closure5 minutes

   Exit ticket: (1) Write your self-generated question and the test it almost failed. (2) Write one new question about Keziah's topic on an avenue that is not in her list. Then hand out the homework texts below: Renata's Day 1 research log (Text 8) and her three sources (Text 9). Renata is invented. The study in Source 2 is real: it was published in the British Medical Journal in 2002, and its first author was an eighth grader.

   Teacher note: the sources in Texts 2, 3, 6 and 9 are written for this page, but their facts come from published science reporting and, for Source 2 in Text 9, from the published study. If students want to repeat the ice cream test, get permission and check for food allergies first.

   1Assignment: Ms. Ferrante's Curiosity Project, due in five school days.

   2My wonders list:
   1. Why does eating ice cream fast give me brain freeze?
   2. Who invented ice cream?
   3. What is the best ice cream flavor?
   4. How does the brain work?

   3My question: Why does eating ice cream fast give you brain freeze?

   4Why I want to know: At my cousin's birthday party last summer, I ate a scoop of mint chip in about ten seconds, and a stabbing pain shot through my forehead. It was gone in less than a minute. My aunt said brain freeze only happens in hot weather. My cousin said that's not true, because he got one in January.

   5New questions I wrote before I started reading:
   1. Does brain freeze hurt your brain?
   2. Why does the pain feel like it is in my forehead?
   3. Does a cold drink cause it too?
   4. Why do some people get brain freeze and others don't?

   1Source 1, from an invented health website for kids: Brain freeze is a short headache that can happen when something very cold touches the roof of your mouth. The cold makes the tiny blood vessels there narrow and then quickly widen again. Pain signals travel to the brain along the trigeminal nerve, a large nerve that also carries feeling from the forehead and face. So the brain senses the pain as if it were coming from the forehead. The pain usually lasts from a few seconds to a couple of minutes. Taking the cold food out of your mouth, pressing your tongue against the roof of your mouth or sipping warm water may help it pass.

   2Source 2, from an invented science magazine for students: In 2002, the British Medical Journal published a study by Maya Kaczorowski, then an eighth grader at Dalewood Middle School in Hamilton, Ontario, and Janusz Kaczorowski, an associate professor of family medicine at McMaster University. All 145 students in six classes at her school took part. Each student got 100 milliliters of ice cream. Half, chosen at random, were told to eat it in less than 5 seconds, and the others to take more than 30 seconds. In the fast group, 20 of 73 students got a headache; in the slow group, 9 of 72 did. Most of the headaches lasted less than 10 seconds. The study was done in December and January, to test the idea that brain freeze happens only in hot weather.

   3Source 3, from an invented food-history blog: One of the earliest written descriptions of an ice cream headache comes from Patrick Brydone, a Scottish traveler who wrote about Sicily in the 1770s. The name "brain freeze" came much later; it first appeared in print in 1986. Scientists still debate exactly what causes the pain. Besides the blood vessels in the roof of the mouth, some think a sudden rush of blood through an artery at the front of the brain plays a part. Because each brain freeze lasts only seconds, it is hard to study.

Differentiation Strategies

Assessment Guidance

1. Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In Text 1, paragraph 4, why does Keziah drop "What is the best video game ever made?"

   AIt is an opinion, so no source can answer it. BIt is too small a question for a five-day project. CIt was already answered in science class. DIt is not something she has ever noticed.

2. Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which words in Text 1 show most clearly that Keziah's question is self-generated?

   A"Number 4 is so big and vague that I would not know where to start." B"the oak trees at my grandparents' house outside Chicago were covered with cicadas" C"Answer it in about 200 words, using at least three sources." D"Number 1 is a real question, but we already learned the answer in science class."

3. Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   According to Keziah's Day 2 notes (Text 4), how do Sources A and B work together?

   ASource A gives the year, and Source B gives the night. BThey give the same facts, so she could drop either of the two. CSource B gives both parts, and Source A gives the life cycle. DSource A gives both parts, and Source B explains the broods.

4. Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In Source B (Text 3, paragraph 2), what does the experiment with trees that lost their leaves twice in one year suggest?

   ANymphs count the tree's yearly changes, not days. BNymphs come out whenever the soil reaches 64 degrees. CNymphs that move to a new tree lose track of time. DNymphs that drink more sap grow up faster than others.

5. Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In Text 5, paragraph 5, what does Ms. Ferrante mean when she says Keziah's new questions "all go down the same road"?

   AThey are not related to her research question at all. BThey all explore one avenue, the cicada's clock. CThey are opinions that no source could answer. DThey are each too big for one short project.

6. Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Why is "How many kinds of insects are there in the world?" (Text 4, question 5) the weakest of Keziah's Day 2 questions?

   AIt is an opinion, so there is no answer. BIt adds a second question about the clock. CIt is not related to cicadas and is too broad. DIt is already answered by Source B, paragraph 2.

7. Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Keziah thinks of one more question: "Who first wrote down that cicadas come back every 17 years?" Which avenue of exploration does it open?

   AThe clock BSurvival CThe future DHistory

8. Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which fact from Source C (Text 6) helps Keziah explain why cicadas come out together?

   AThe two broods last came out together in 1803. BThere can be more than 1.5 million on one acre. CBrood XIII came out in northern Illinois. DScientists are not sure why the cycles are prime.

9. Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which of Keziah's questions for further exploration (Text 7, paragraph 5) grows most directly out of the soil temperature fact in Source B?

   AQuestion 1, about how nymphs detect the sap BQuestion 2, about the prime-number cycles CQuestion 3, about the number of birds DQuestion 4, about warmer springs

10. Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    A student has five days for a short research project. Which question from her wonders list is the best choice?

    A"Is basketball a better sport than soccer?" B"How does everything in the ocean stay alive?" C"Why does my dog tilt her head when I talk?" D"What year did our middle school first open?"

11. Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    A student answered "Why do owls hunt at night?" Which set of further questions allows for multiple avenues of exploration?

    AHow do owls see in the dark? How do they hear in the dark? How do they find and catch mice in the dark? BHow do owls see in the dark? Why are owls linked with wisdom in old stories? Are streetlights changing where owls hunt? CWhat is the best kind of owl? Are owls cute? Which owl would make the best pet for a family with young children? DHow do all birds fly? How do all animals see? How does light work, and why do we have night and day on Earth?

12. Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Keziah's classmate is researching "How do sea otters stay warm in cold water?" Which new question is related and focused?

    A"How thick is a sea otter's fur, hair by hair?" B"What is the biggest animal in the ocean?" C"How do all animals keep warm in winter?" D"Are sea otters the cutest animals in the ocean?"

13. Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Two sources in a short research project give different numbers for the same fact. What should the researcher do?

    AUse the source that was found first and ignore the other one. BLeave the fact out and never mention the disagreement. CAverage the two numbers and report the result as a fact. DCheck another reliable source and tell readers they differ.

14. Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Why does W.8.7 ask students to draw on several sources instead of one?

    ASo the writer can check facts and cover what one source misses. BSo that the answer ends up longer than one source would allow. CSo that the writer never has to cite any single source. DSo that each source can be copied into its own paragraph.

15. Question 15 of 20 · Short Answer

    Explain how Keziah turned her wonders list into a self-generated question she could answer in five days. Name the reason she gives for dropping or keeping each of the four wonders, and quote Text 1.

    Show model answer

16. Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer

    Explain what Sources A and B each add to Keziah's answer in Text 7. Then find one fact in Source C (Text 6) that she does not use in her answer, and explain which of her questions for further exploration it connects to.

    Show model answer

17. Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer

    Ms. Ferrante says "What happens to a forest after the cicadas come out?" is related but needs a tighter focus (Text 5, paragraph 11). Explain why, explain how Keziah's new version fixes it, and write one more focused question about the forest from a different angle.

    Show model answer

18. Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer

    Choose one of Keziah's four questions for further exploration in Text 7. Plan the next short project: name two different kinds of sources you would use and what each could add, then write one new, focused question it might lead to.

    Show model answer

19. Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer

    A student ends a project with this answer: "Our ears pop on airplanes because the air pressure in the cabin changes, and air has to move through a small tube inside each ear to even out the pressure." Write three related, focused questions for further exploration, each on a different avenue, and label each avenue.

    Show model answer

20. Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer

    You notice that every spring, the ice on the pond behind your school melts first along one shore. Write a self-generated research question from this, explain why it passes the four tests, and name three different kinds of sources you could use.

    Show model answer

These standards connect to W.8.7: 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.