What has been done?
Students read a news article and answered SEL and DL questions before self-assessing on the topic of bias.
What kind of dl or sel skills did you cover?
- Collaborative Talk (use reasoning skills collaboratively to evaluate, critique and reflect on ideas, concepts or theories effectively)
- Self-Awareness (examining prejudices and biases)
Which authentic text did you choose?
Title: ‘Nasa selects landing site for Moon rover mission’
Description: A science news article describing how lunar missions are planned. (21st September 2021), BBC News website:
Author: Paul Rincon
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-58608295
Which results can you expect?
The students understood the nature of bias much better after the lesson and enjoyed discussing this in groups. They liked the space aspect to the work and thought the moon lander was brilliant. The ability to articulate bias varied in the group as this was the first time they had encountered this theme in science. Lower ability students needed support to understand some of the nuance involved in the arguments of the higher ability students.
What do students say?
‘Everyone is biased!’
What do teachers say?
‘This was a lesson that worked well with all abilities of students. Scaffolding helped them answer questions well.’
Annex:
- Lesson plan (Appendix 2_1_Water on the Moon Lesson Plan)
- Article (Appendix 2_2 Article)
- Marking Criteria PowerPoint (Appendix 2_3_Water on the moon marking criteria)
- Workbook that was used with students (it was lesson 6 in the sequence) (Appendix 2_4_Workbook_Lesson 5)