Summary
In this lesson, students explore how teens learn, think, and grow by examining research about sleep, learning, and the brain. Students first play the game "Fiction in the Facts" to assess their existing knowledge. Then, students read and analyze scientific articles in small groups, highlighting key ideas and discussing major points. Next, students evaluate different claims and determine which are the strongest using evidence and reasoning. To conclude the lesson, students create their own research questions related to teen health and learning and develop a strong thesis statement that connects their ideas with evidence gathered during the lesson.
Essential Question(s)
How can I ask strong research questions that help me find clear and useful information? What makes a claim and its evidence trustworthy, and how can I use a claim to build my own argument?
Learning Objectives
Identify information about teens’ well-being from scientific articles.
Develop a research question.
Create a clear thesis statement that explains your perspective and the reasons behind it.
Snapshot
Engage
Students activate prior knowledge about teen well-being by identifying false statements.
Explore
Students investigate scientific research about teens’ well-being.
Explain
Students analyze claims about teens and provide evidence to support each claim.
Extend
Students evaluate the strength of evidence for different stances on teen well-being and develop a research question around a health and wellness topic.
Evaluate
Students reflect on their learning by communicating their claim and evidence to a peer.
Materials
Lesson Slides (attached)
Article Jigsaw handout (attached; one per student; print two-sided)
Teen Wellness Articles (attached; one set per group of four students; print two-sided)
Article Vocabulary handout (attached; optional)
Claim Cards handout (attached; one card per group)
Highlighters
Sticky notes
Engage
20 Minute(s)
Use the attached Lesson Slides to facilitate the lesson. Display slide 2 and introduce the lesson title and topic to students. Move through slides 3–4 and go over the essential questions and learning objectives.
Display slide 5 and introduce the Fiction in the Facts instructional strategy. Tell students that this activity is similar to the game “Two Truths and a Lie.” Display slide 6 and have students follow along as you, or a designated student, read aloud the three statements presented on the slide. Have students attempt to discern which statement they believe is fiction. Consider having students form groups to discuss the statements and work together to determine the fictional one.
After students have had time to determine which statement is fictional, poll the class to see which statement they believe is fiction. You can do this by having students raise numbered cards, write on a whiteboard, or hold up the number of fingers to indicate which of the three statements is false. Invite a few students to share out the reasoning behind their choices.
Move to slide 7 and share the fictional statement, marked by a red box. Offer an explanation as to why the statement is fiction. Repeat this process with each set of statements on slides 8–17.
Explore
30 Minute(s)
Transition to slide 18 and introduce students to the Jigsaw instructional strategy. Tell students that they should each read their assigned science article about teen health and prepare to share what they learned from the reading with other students.
Give each student one copy of the attached Article Jigsaw handout and one text from the attached Teen Wellness Articles document. Ask students to form groups with their peers that have the same article. Tell students that as they read their assigned articles, they should use the Categorical Highlighting instructional strategy to highlight claims in blue and evidence that supports the claims in yellow. Allow students time to read and annotate their articles.
Have students share out what they highlighted in their articles with the others in their group. Tell them that as they share, they should work with their group members to complete the “Part I: Group Reading” section of their Article Jigsaw handouts. Remind students to mark any claims or pieces of evidence they missed during their initial reading of the articles as their peers share.
After students complete the first part of their handouts, have them form new groups of four so that each student in the new groups has read a different article. Tell students that each person in each group should teach the others about the article they read. As that student shares, the other students should listen and take notes on the back of their handouts. Allow time for students to teach each other about their articles.
Bring students together as a whole class once more. Invite students to share out what they learned during the Jigsaw activity. Encourage them to make connections across all four articles and share out any trends or themes they noticed.
Explain
25 Minute(s)
Move to slide 19 and organize students into small groups. Give each group one of the claim cards from the attached Claim Cards handout. Have each group select a “scribe,” which should be the person who woke up the earliest that day, and a “spokesperson,” which should be the person who woke up the latest.
Have groups discuss and identify evidence and reasoning that support the claim on their assigned card. As they discuss, have the scribe record identified evidence and reasoning on the claim card.
Once all groups have completed their claim cards, facilitate a whole-class discussion about the claims. Have each group’s spokesperson share the group’s claim, evidence, and reasoning.
Extend
30 Minute(s)
Display slide 20 and introduce students to the Tug-Of-War instructional strategy. Present opposing perspectives on your chosen claim about teen health and well-being to students. Label each side of your Tug-Of-War rope, represented in whichever way you choose, with one of the opposing perspectives.
Give each group several sticky notes. Tell students that they should work together as a group to generate as many tugs, or pieces of evidence that support each side, as possible. Have them write each tug on a sticky note and evaluate the strength of each tug by placing stronger, more convincing tugs at a far end of the rope with the claim it supports and placing weaker, less relevant tugs closer to the center of the rope.
Once groups have finished adding tugs, move to slide 21. Have students read the evidence for each side with their group members. Ask students to generate “What if…"?” questions related to the claims (e.g., What if schools started later? What if social media was limited to one hour a day?) and post them above the rope to encourage them to think deeper. Explain that these questions should be things they think will impact the claim or things they want to know more about.
Facilitate a discussion about which side had the strongest tugs and why that is. Explain to students that their “What if…?” questions are similar to research questions. Ask students to choose one of the “What if…?” questions they generated or to create a different one. Have each student write their chosen question on a piece of paper and develop a claim that addresses their question. Have students then write a short justification for their claim using the strongest evidence to support their position.
Evaluate
15 Minute(s)
Display slide 22. Explain to students that they should share their “What if…?” question, claim, and justification to a peer using the 30-Second Expert instructional strategy.
Organize students into pairs. Have one student act as the “expert,” sharing their claim and justification in 30 seconds. Their partner should listen carefully, paraphrase the explanation, and check for accuracy. The expert should then clarify or add information. Once the first expert has shared, have partners switch roles so both can practice summarizing and listening.
Resources
K20 Center. (n.d.). 30-second expert. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/1048
K20 Center. (n.d.). Card sort. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/147
K20 Center. (n.d.). Categorical highlighting. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/192
K20 Center. (n.d.). Fiction in the facts. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/60
K20 Center. (n.d.). Jigsaw. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/179
K20 Center. (n.d.). Tug-of-War. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/98
Magis-Weinberg, L., & Berger, E. L. (2020). Mind games: Technology and the developing teenage brain. Frontiers for Young Minds. https://kids.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frym.2020.00076
Mills, K. L., & Anandakumar, J. (2020). The adolescent brain is literally awesome. Frontiers for Young Minds, 8(75). https://kids.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frym.2020.00075/full
National Institute on Drug Abuse. (2020). Can too much screen time harm you? National Institutes of Health. https://nida.nih.gov/sites/default/files/NIDA_YR18_INS3_ACTION_StuMag_2pg_508.pdf