Overview

Lesson Procedure

70-75 minutes of class time across 5 phases.

1. Warm-Up10 minutes
2. Direct Instruction20 minutes
3. Guided Practice15 minutes
4. Independent Practice20 minutes
5. Closure5-10 minutes

1. Warm-Up10 minutes

   Warm-Up Prompt

   "Write down one thing you noticed this week, in history class, in a lab, at home or outside, that made you wonder why or how. Then write the question it makes you want to ask."

   Give students three minutes, then collect several questions on the board. With the class, sort them into four groups: topics ("volcanoes"), opinions ("Is history boring?"), quick facts ("How deep is the Grand Canyon?") and research questions that would take some digging ("Why do some volcanoes explode while others ooze?"). Tell students that the questions they just wrote are self-generated, meaning they came up with them on their own, and that WHST.6-8.7 asks them to answer questions like these in short research projects.

2. Direct Instruction20 minutes

   Show Diagram 1. A short research project answers one clear question in a few days, not a whole unit's worth of topics. A source is anything that gives information: a book, an article, a website, an interview, a data table or a careful test the student ran and describes. The standard asks for several sources, because one source can be incomplete or wrong, and different sources answer different parts of a question. At the end, students write additional related, focused questions: related means the question grows out of what the research found; focused means it asks one thing that a short project could answer. Good new questions open multiple avenues of exploration, directions for further research such as a different time, a different subject or a different kind of evidence. Work through the five examples below.

   • Topic, opinion, quick fact or research question?

     Four first tries for a project on the Statue of Liberty's torch: (a) The torch. (b) Is the torch beautiful? (c) How tall is the torch? (d) Why has the torch been closed to visitors since 1916?

     Result: (a) is a topic: it asks nothing. (b) is an opinion that no source can settle. (c) asks for a single measurement that any one reference gives in seconds. (d) is a research question: it asks why, it can be answered in a few days, and the answer (an explosion at a nearby munitions depot, the Black Tom explosion of July 1916, damaged the statue) needs more than one source to explain and confirm.

   • A self-generated question starts with something you notice

     A student notices that a banana kept in the refrigerator turns brown on the outside sooner than one on the counter, although cold is supposed to keep food fresh.

     Result: Notice, then wonder, then write: "Why does a banana peel turn brown faster in the refrigerator when cold usually slows food from spoiling?" The question is the student's own, it names one thing to explain, and it points to what to search for. It is a better start than "bananas," which is a topic, or "Are bananas healthy?", which moves away from what the student noticed.

   • Several sources, each with a job

     For the torch question (d), a student finds three sources: an encyclopedia entry, a newspaper report from July 1916 and a museum page about the statue today.

     Result: The encyclopedia gives the overview and the date; the 1916 newspaper report is a primary source that shows what people knew at the time; the museum page explains what happened to the torch later (the original was replaced in 1986 and is now shown in a museum on the island). Where the three agree, the student can state the fact with confidence; where only one source says something, the answer says which source it came from.

   • Related, focused follow-up questions

     After learning that cold slows the browning of cut fruit, a student writes three follow-up questions: What is cold? Tell me about fruit. How long do apple slices in a lunch bag stay white at refrigerator temperature compared with room temperature?

     Result: "What is cold?" is not related to the research; "Tell me about fruit" is related but not focused. The third question is both: it grows out of what the student learned, it names one comparison, and a short test or two sources could answer it.

   • Multiple avenues of exploration

     The torch answer leads a student to new questions: Why did German agents attack the Black Tom depot? How did workers build a new torch in the 1980s? Why is the statue's crown still open to visitors when the torch is not?

     Result: Each question opens a different avenue: the first leads to the history of World War I before the United States joined it, the second to engineering and restoration, and the third to visitor safety today. A research project allows "multiple avenues of exploration" when its new questions point in several directions like these, not only deeper into the same fact.

   Now introduce the history case. Nia, an eighth grader (invented), has three class days for a short research project in Mr. Lindgren's history class. Students read her assignment and first log entry (Text 1) and her first two sources (Texts 2 and 3). As they read, they underline the moment Nia's question becomes her own and mark in the margin which part of her question each source answers: W for why France gave the statue, H for how it got paid for, or N for neither.

   1Assignment from Mr. Lindgren, grade 8 history: Short research project, three class days. Choose a monument, building or invention from 1865-1900 and write your own question about it. Use at least three sources. On Day 3, hand in a one-paragraph answer with your sources listed, plus at least three new questions your research raised.

   2Day 1. My first try at a question: "Everything about the Statue of Liberty." Mr. Lindgren said that is a topic, not a question. Second try: "Is the Statue of Liberty cool?" He said sources can't answer that; it is my opinion.

   3Third try: "Why did France give the United States the Statue of Liberty?" I got this question from a photo in our textbook. The statue holds a tablet with a date in Roman numerals, JULY IV MDCCLXXVI, and I looked it up: it is the date of the Declaration of Independence. Why would a gift from France carry an American date?

   4What I already know: the statue stands in New York Harbor, and it was a gift from France.

   5Where I will look: an encyclopedia for students, the history magazines in the school library, and a museum guide or website.

   6Search words: Statue of Liberty gift France why.

   1The Statue of Liberty stands on Liberty Island in New York Harbor. Its full name is Liberty Enlightening the World. The idea for the statue is usually credited to Édouard de Laboulaye, a French law professor and politician who admired the United States. Around 1865, he suggested that the people of France give the United States a monument to celebrate the friendship between the two nations, a friendship that went back to France's help in the American Revolution. He also hoped a monument to liberty would send a message at home, where France was then ruled by an emperor.

   2The sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi designed the statue. Gustave Eiffel, the engineer who later built the Eiffel Tower, designed the iron framework inside it that holds up its thin copper skin. The tablet in the statue's left hand is inscribed JULY IV MDCCLXXVI, the date of the Declaration of Independence. Planners hoped to finish the statue in time for the 100th anniversary of the Declaration in 1876, but the work took much longer. The statue was dedicated on October 28, 1886, and President Grover Cleveland accepted it for the United States.

   1The Statue of Liberty was a shared project. The plan was that the people of France would pay for the statue, and the people of the United States would pay for the pedestal, the tall stone base that it stands on. In France, the money came from public events, a lottery and gifts from thousands of citizens.

   2In the United States, raising money for the pedestal went slowly. Many people outside New York saw the statue as a New York monument and did not want to pay for it. By 1885, work on the pedestal had stopped for lack of money.

   3Then the newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer stepped in. His paper, the New York World, promised to print the name of every person who gave, no matter how small the gift. In about five months, the World raised more than $100,000 from more than 120,000 people. Most of them gave less than a dollar.

   4Meanwhile, the statue had been taken apart in France and shipped across the Atlantic Ocean. It arrived in New York in June 1885 in 350 pieces, packed in 214 crates. When the pedestal was finished in 1886, workers put the statue together on top of it.

3. Guided Practice15 minutes

   Pairs read Nia's second log entry (Text 4), her third source (Text 5) and her finished answer (Text 6). Then they complete three tasks on one sheet:

   • Trace the sources. For each sentence of Nia's answer, write the letter of the source it draws on and underline the words in that source that support it.
   • Judge the brainstorm. For each of the six questions in Text 4, write R (related to her research), F (focused enough for a short project), both or neither, with a one-line reason.
   • Compare the lists. Match each new question in Text 6 with the brainstormed question it grew from, and write what Nia changed to make it focused.

   Discuss as a class: Why did Nia need a third source on Day 2? What would her answer be missing without it?

   Day 2. Notes from Source A: the idea is usually credited to Laboulaye, around 1865. The gift was meant to celebrate the friendship of France and the United States, which goes back to the American Revolution. The date on the tablet is the Declaration of Independence.

   Notes from Source B: France paid for the statue, and Americans paid for the pedestal. Pulitzer's newspaper raised the pedestal money in 1885.

   Comparing: Source A tells why France offered the gift. Source B tells who paid, but not why. Both say the statue was finished in 1886.

   Ms. Okonkwo, our librarian, pointed out that Source A says the idea "is usually credited" to Laboulaye. She said that careful wording means historians are not completely sure who had the idea first, so I should keep it in my answer instead of writing that Laboulaye invented the statue.

   My brainstorm of new questions:
   1. What do the broken chains at the statue's feet mean? I saw them in a photo, and neither source mentions them.
   2. Why didn't people outside New York want to help pay?
   3. Why is the statue green if its skin is copper?
   4. How tall is it?
   5. Is the Statue of Liberty the best statue ever?
   6. What did people arriving by ship think when they first saw it?

   Mr. Lindgren's questions for me: Which of these could you look up in ten seconds? Which would need several sources? Which one connects back to your "why" question closely enough to change your answer?

   I crossed out 4, because it is a quick fact, one number from one source, and 5, because it is an opinion that sources can't settle. Number 1 connects back to "why," so today I will find a third source about the chains. The others go on my list for later.

   1Many visitors never notice them, because they are hard to see from the ground. At the statue's feet lie a broken shackle and chain, and her right heel is raised, as if she is stepping forward, away from them.

   2An early model of the statue, made by Bartholdi around 1870, showed the figure holding broken chains in her left hand. In the final design, the chains moved to the feet, and the left hand held the tablet with the date of the Declaration of Independence instead.

   3Édouard de Laboulaye, the man usually credited with the idea for the statue, was president of the French Anti-Slavery Society. For him, the end of slavery in the United States after the Civil War was part of the story of American liberty. Historians describe the broken chains as a symbol of freedom from oppression, and they point to the end of slavery as one of the ideas behind them.

   4Over time, as millions of immigrants passed the statue on their way into New York Harbor, many Americans came to see it mainly as a symbol of welcome. A poem by Emma Lazarus, "The New Colossus," written in 1883, was placed on a plaque inside the pedestal in 1903.

   Why did France give the United States the Statue of Liberty?

   The Statue of Liberty was a gift meant to celebrate liberty and the long friendship between France and the United States. The idea is usually credited to Édouard de Laboulaye, a Frenchman who admired the United States and wanted to honor the two nations' alliance in the American Revolution (Source A). That is why the tablet in the statue's hand carries the date of the Declaration of Independence, JULY IV MDCCLXXVI (Source A). Laboulaye was also president of the French Anti-Slavery Society, and the broken chains at the statue's feet tie the gift to the end of slavery in the United States after the Civil War (Source C). The gift came with a cost for Americans, though: they had to pay for the pedestal, and the statue waited in its crates until more than 120,000 people answered a newspaper's call for money and the pedestal was finished (Source B).

   Sources: A. "A Gift Across the Ocean," an encyclopedia for students. B. "Who Paid for Liberty?," a history magazine for students. C. "The Broken Chains," a museum guide.

   New questions for further research:
   1. Why did many people outside New York refuse to help pay for the pedestal?
   2. How did the statue's copper skin turn from a reddish brown to green, and does the green layer harm it?
   3. When and why did Americans begin to see the statue as a symbol of welcome to immigrants?

4. Independent Practice20 minutes

   Students turn to science. Owen, a sixth grader (invented), wrote his own question in Ms. Tran's science class after his lunch apple slices kept turning brown. Students read his log (Text 7), his two written sources (Texts 8 and 9) and the results of his test at home (Table 1). Then each student writes Owen's answer:

   • a paragraph of 100-150 words that answers both parts of his question, why the slices brown and what slows it, drawing on Source D, Source E and Table 1, with each source named in parentheses;
   • one sentence that states a limit of Owen's test;
   • three new related, focused questions, at least two of which open different avenues of exploration, each labeled with its avenue.

   Partners trade and check: Does every fact in the paragraph come from a named source? Is each new question related, focused and different in direction from the others?

   Day 1. My question: Why do apple slices turn brown, and what can slow it down? Where it came from: I pack apple slices for lunch, and by lunchtime they are brown, but a whole apple is still white inside when I cut it open at home.

   Search words: "apple brown" gave me mostly recipes, so I tried "why do cut apples turn brown science." Ms. Tran said to use at least three sources, and that a careful test of my own can count as one of them if I describe exactly how I did it.

   Sources so far: Source D, a science website for students (why it happens), and Source E, a cooking magazine for families (how to slow it).

   Day 2, my test, at home with my dad, who did the cutting: four slices from one apple, on four plates on the kitchen counter. Slice 1, plain. Slice 2, dipped in plain water for five minutes. Slice 3, soaked for five minutes in salt water (half a teaspoon of salt in a cup of cold water), then rinsed. Slice 4, brushed with lemon juice. I scored the browning from 0 (none) to 3 (dark brown). My scores are in Table 1.

   New questions I wrote after the test:
   1. Is it the acid or the vitamin C in lemon juice that slows browning?
   2. Why are apples red?
   3. Do some apple varieties brown more slowly than others, and why?
   4. Does browning happen faster in a warm room than in a cool one?
   5. How did scientists develop apples that brown very slowly?
   6. What is an enzyme?

   Table 1: Owen's test, browning score of four slices from one apple (0 = none, 3 = dark brown; invented data)

   Slice	0 minutes	30 minutes	60 minutes
   1. Plain	0	2	3
   2. Dipped in plain water	0	1	2
   3. Soaked in salt water, rinsed	0	0	1
   4. Brushed with lemon juice	0	0	0

   1An apple turns brown after it is cut, but not while its skin is whole. The reason is a chemical reaction. Inside apple cells, an enzyme called polyphenol oxidase is kept apart from natural chemicals called phenolic compounds. An enzyme is a protein that speeds up a chemical reaction. When a knife or a bite breaks the cells open, the enzyme and the phenolic compounds mix, and oxygen from the air joins the reaction. The products link together into brown pigments.

   2The same reaction browns cut bananas, pears, potatoes and avocados. Browning changes the color and sometimes the taste of the fruit, but a browned apple slice is not spoiled, and it is safe to eat. Not all apples brown at the same speed. Some varieties have less of the enzyme or fewer phenolic compounds, so they stay white longer. Scientists have also developed apples that brown very slowly.

   1Packing apple slices for lunch? Here are three ways to keep them from browning, and why each one works.

   2Lemon juice. Brush or toss the slices with lemon juice. Lemon juice is acidic, and the browning enzyme works poorly in acid. Lemon juice also contains vitamin C, which undoes the first step of the browning reaction until the vitamin C is used up.

   3Salt water. Soak the slices for about five minutes in a cup of cold water mixed with half a teaspoon of salt, then rinse them so they don't taste salty. Salt slows the enzyme.

   4Cold and covered. Keep the slices cold and wrapped tightly. Cold slows the reaction, and a tight wrap keeps out some of the oxygen.

   5Plain water helps a little too. Slices kept under water get less oxygen, but they start to brown once they come out.

5. Closure5-10 minutes

   Exit ticket: (1) Write one question from today that is a quick fact and one that is a research question, and explain the difference. (2) Name one thing Nia's answer would lose without Source C. (3) Write one new question from Owen's research that opens an avenue nobody in class has mentioned yet.

   Read the homework directions together. Part 1 uses Nia's Texts 4 and 6; Part 2 is each student's own short project.

   Teacher notes: Nia, Owen, their families, their teachers, their school and Owen's test results are invented; Sources A-E are written for this page, and the facts in them are real. Sources D and E are described as a website and a magazine so that students practice naming kinds of sources; they are not real publications. If you run Owen's test in class, an adult cuts the apple, students keep lemon juice away from cuts and eyes, and nobody eats the test slices. For the homework, check that each student's own question is one that sources available to them can answer safely.

Differentiation Strategies

Assessment Guidance

1. Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Why did Mr. Lindgren turn down Nia's first try, "Everything about the Statue of Liberty" (Text 1)?

   AIt names a topic but asks nothing BIt asks about a monument outside 1865-1900 CIt is an opinion that no source can answer DIt could be answered with one quick fact

2. Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   What made Nia's third question her own, a self-generated question (Text 1)?

   AMr. Lindgren gave it to her from a list of good questions BShe wondered why a French gift had an American date CShe copied it from the first line of the encyclopedia entry DMs. Okonkwo suggested it when Nia visited the school library

3. Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   According to Source B (Text 3), the New York World raised more than $100,000 from more than 120,000 people. Using those two numbers, about how much did each person give on average?

   AAbout $1.20 BAbout $12 CAbout 83 cents DAbout $220,000

4. Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which part of Nia's question does Source A (Text 2) answer that Source B (Text 3) does not?

   AWhy France offered the gift BHow many crates the statue was shipped in CWho paid for the stone pedestal of the statue DWhy people outside New York refused to pay

5. Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   What does Source B (Text 3) add to Nia's answer?

   AThe name of the sculptor who designed the statue BThe meaning of the broken chains at the statue's feet CHow the pedestal money was raised DThe date on the tablet in the statue's left hand

6. Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Ms. Okonkwo tells Nia to keep the words "is usually credited" (Text 4). Why?

   AThe phrase is a direct quotation that Nia must copy exactly BThe phrase shows that Laboulaye did not want any credit CThe phrase means that Source A is not a source she can trust DIt shows historians are unsure who had the idea first

7. Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Nia crossed out "How tall is it?" from her brainstorm (Text 4). What was her reason?

   AIt is an opinion that sources cannot settle BIt is not related to the Statue of Liberty at all CIt is a quick fact, one number from one source DIt would need too many sources to answer in a day

8. Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which question from Nia's brainstorm (Text 4) did she decide to research on Day 2, and why?

   AThe broken chains, since it connects to her "why" question BWhy the statue is green, since copper does not usually rust CHow tall the statue is, since that is the easiest to find out DWhat people arriving by ship thought of it, since it is the newest

9. Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which sentence of Nia's answer (Text 6) draws on Source C (Text 5)?

   AThe sentence that explains the date on the tablet in the statue's hand BThe sentence that links the broken chains to the end of slavery CThe sentence about the cost of the pedestal for Americans DThe sentence that names the man usually credited with the idea

10. Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Where did Owen's research question come from (Text 7)?

    AMs. Tran assigned the same question to the whole class BA recipe website he found while searching for apples CSomething he kept noticing about his own lunch DA question at the end of Source D's page on apples

11. Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    According to Source D (Text 8), why does a whole, uncut apple stay white inside?

    AIts skin holds in the lemon juice and vitamin C that it contains BIts enzyme is kept apart from the phenolic compounds CA whole apple has no phenolic compounds until it is cut open DOxygen can reach the inside of a whole apple through its skin

12. Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Which statement is supported by Owen's scores in Table 1?

    AAfter 60 minutes, the salt-water slice was as brown as the plain slice BThe slice dipped in plain water browned more than the plain slice did CEvery slice showed at least some browning by the 30-minute check DAfter 60 minutes, only the lemon slice had no browning

13. Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Owen wants to cross out any of his new questions (Text 7) that is not related to his research on browning. Which one should go?

    A"Is it the acid or the vitamin C in lemon juice that slows browning?" B"Why are apples red?" C"Does browning happen faster in a warm room than in a cool one?" D"How did scientists develop apples that brown very slowly?"

14. Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Ms. Tran says Owen's own test can count as a source "if I describe exactly how I did it" (Text 7). Why does the description matter?

    AIt lets a reader judge the results and repeat the test BIt makes the paragraph long enough to hand in on time CIt proves that the results will be the same for every apple DIt replaces the need to find any written sources at all

15. Question 15 of 20 · Short Answer

    Explain why "Why did France give the United States the Statue of Liberty?" counts as a self-generated research question, and why Nia's first two tries did not. Quote Text 1.

    Show model answer

16. Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer

    Nia's Day 2 notes compare Sources A and B (Text 4). Name one fact the two sources agree on and one way they fill different parts of her answer, and quote Text 2 or Text 3 for each.

    Show model answer

17. Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer

    Write two new related, focused questions from Nia's research that open two different avenues of exploration, not the avenues of her three questions in Text 6. Name each avenue and the fact in Texts 2, 3 or 5 that it grows from.

    Show model answer

18. Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer

    Sort Owen's six new questions (Text 7) into at least two avenues of exploration, name each avenue, and explain why question 6, "What is an enzyme?", does not need a research project.

    Show model answer

19. Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer

    Owen's question has two parts: why slices turn brown and what slows it down. Explain why he needed both Source D and Source E, and what Table 1 adds that neither written source gives.

    Show model answer

20. Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer

    Using the assignment in Text 1, explain two ways Nia's project fits the standard's description of a "short" research project that draws on "several sources."

    Show model answer

These standards connect to WHST.6-8.7: 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.