Lesson 5

Lesson Goals

Texts

Core

• • “Introduction,” excerpt from The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell, Little, Brown and Company, an imprint of Hachette Book Group, Inc., 2000

Materials

Tools

• Foundation Unit Research and Presentation Guide

• Potential Sources Tool

• Vocabulary Journal

Reference Guides

• Assessing Sources Reference Guide

Question Sets

• Who Changes the World?: Section 2 Question Set

Editable Google Docs

• Potential Sources Tool

• Who Changes the World?: Section 2 Question Set

• Vocabulary Journal

Activity 1: Write – Discuss

We will work with an inquiry question and discuss possible additional questions that will help us explore the overall inquiry question.

Step 1

Research is an inquiry-driven process where individuals or teams use questions to deepen their understanding of topics and allow their perspective to evolve as new evidence is discovered, analyzed, and incorporated.

1. What does the word inquiry mean?

Working with a partner, determine the meaning of the word inquiry. First write down what you believe it means based on the sentence above. Then confirm or revise your definition based on a reference resource. Record the term and definition in your Vocabulary Journal.

Step 2

You will work with the following inquiry question: “What are the conditions that caused or allowed change to occur in your pathway?” What other questions need to be answered through your research to address this larger question?

Review section 1 of the Foundation Unit Research and Presentation Guide. Write at least two other inquiry questions that will help your group focus your exploration. Work with your team, and respond to the following questions:

1. What does your audience need to know?

2. Why does this topic matter? Why should other people care about your pathway?

3. Is the topic arguable? There is no single right answer.

Activity 2: Read – Discuss

We will expand our understanding of source usefulness by examining the assessing sources reference guide and the Potential Sources Tool. We will practice assessing sources for accessibility and interest, relevance and richness, and credibility.

Step 1

Assessing sources is an important early step in a research process to help you determine the sources you will use to glean information and opinions about a topic.

You will learn about the Assessing Sources Reference Guide and Potential Sources Tool so that you can use the resources throughout your research process to determine whether you wish to include particular sources in your work.

Access the Assessing Sources Reference Guide. The Assessing SourcesReference Guide can give you more information about how to determine an author’s credibility and bias, as well as how to fact check an author’s claims. Read pages 1-6.

Note: Some of this information is also found in the Foundation Unit Research and Presentation Guide. The Assessing Sources Reference Guide goes into much greater detail, which is why you are using it for this lesson.

Step 2

Now find the Potential Sources Tool. Review the bullet points in the gray rows.

Discuss the following question with your research group:

1. How can using the Potential Sources Tool benefit you as you conduct research for your pathway?

Activity 3: Read – Discuss – Write

We will expand our understanding of source usefulness by using the assessing sources reference guide and the Potential Sources Tool as we reread The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell to consider issues related to the publisher, author, and purpose of the text.

Step 1

You will reread an excerpt from The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell so you can begin to analyze its viability as a source.

Before reading the text, reread the bullet points in the two gray rows of the Potential Sources Tool so you can focus your rereading.

Now reread and annotate the excerpt from The Tipping Point.

Step 2

Work with your research team to answer the questions in the first gray row. You might need to search online for some of the information. If you cannot determine the answers, leave the question blank. Use the Assessing Sources Reference Guide to assist you as needed.

Complete the first page of the Potential Sources Tool using The Tipping Point.

Step 3

Now you will work with the first two columns on the second page of the Potential Sources Tool to analyze Accessibility and Interest, and Relevance and Richness. You will work on Credibility and Accuracy in the next activity, so ignore the last column for now.

Discuss these questions with your research team based on your understanding of The Tipping Point.

1. Is the text accessible and interesting?

2. Does the text connect with the inquiry questions you have developed for each of your research paths?

3. Is the text rich in evidence that could be used to support any findings or conclusions you may make for each of your research paths?

Complete the first two columns of page 2 of the Potential Sources Tool.

Activity 4: Read – Discuss – Write

We will learn about the concepts of credibility and accuracy, including faulty reasoning to determine the level of potential bias in The Tipping Point.

Step 1

Reread the Analyzing a Text for Bias section of the Assessing Sources Reference Guide.

Checking for credibility and accuracy of information is a good start to assessing bias. You want to ensure that the information on which you base your pathway findings is reliable in that it comes from a trustworthy source that provides accurate information in an unbiased manner.

Part of determining accuracy is determining whether the author uses strong reasoning to establish their points. Faulty reasoning is when conclusions drawn by the author are not supported by the data provided, or the author draws a conclusion from too small of a data set.

For example, if someone sees a movie made by one director and loves it, then decides that all movies made by that one director would be outstanding, that is faulty reasoning. The data set is small (one movie) and it is quite possible that other movies may not have the same desired elements as the first.

Step 2

Using the following guiding questions, discuss what you learned about bias with your research team:

1. How is bias defined? How does it compare to your understanding of bias?

2. What is the relationship between bias and a text’s credibility?

3. How does the concept of faulty reasoning relate to bias and text credibility?

4. How are bias and perspective related?

Complete the third column of the Potential Sources Tool using the information you discussed. Work with your research team to complete the third column on the second page of your Potential Sources Tool based on The Tipping Point.

Step 3

Now, use the following guiding questions to evaluate overall potential bias in The Tipping Point:

1. Which organizations funded or published this text? What are their financial, political, or religious agendas?

2. How is the information in the text presented? Does this reflect any agendas on the part of the author?

3. What information is left out of this source? How do these omissions reflect the author or publisher’s agenda?

4. What is the tone of the text or source? Is the language consistently negative, positive, or neutral?

5. Does the author present false information? The only way to know this is to claim-check against other sources on the same topic to see how the same information is presented.

6. Are there potential accuracy or credibility issues with the text? Did you see any examples of faulty reasoning, or does Gladwell base his conclusions on logical and abundant evidence?