Module+9

Understanding the Showing Evidence Tool

Benefits of the Showing Evidence Tool Students:
 * Improve collaboration and higher-order thinking skills
 * Engage in discussion and understand complex ideas
 * Develop visual representation skills
 * Use precise language when presenting or evaluating evidence
 * Improve argumentation skills through the peer review process

Teachers:
 * Shift to student-centered instructional practices
 * View the progression of the students’ thinking, ideas, and research
 * Can quickly and easily set up and manage as many team projects as needed

The Showing Evidence Tool is most beneficial when students need to develop arguments supported by evidence or facts. Developing these arguments often involves analyzing conflicting information, sorting through complex ideas, or evaluating controversial topics. Showing Evidence can be used in a variety of projects to:
 * Analyze experiments and draw conclusions
 * Research hypotheses
 * Understand different perspectives
 * <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Investigate social issues
 * <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Analyze characters or plots
 * <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Evaluate credibility
 * <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Apply knowledge
 * <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Create a cost-benefit analysis
 * <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Organize ideas for projects or essays
 * <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Debate a controversial issue

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Characteristics of a project that integrates the Showing Evidence Tool:
 * <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Contains elements of a controversial issue, debatable topic, moral or ethical dilemma, social issue, or challenge to an existing opinion
 * <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Provides engaging, thought-provoking, and open-ended project questions
 * <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Involves answers that are not readily attainable or evident
 * <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Addresses conflicting evidence, with multiple perspectives or methods of evaluation

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Finding Controversial Issues for the Showing Evidence Project: <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Almanac of Policy Issues ([|www.policyalmanac.org]) <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Controversial Topics Resource Guides: <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">[] <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">[] <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">[]

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">O’Keefe Library: Best Information on the Net, Hot Paper Topics, Article Files and Indexes to Topics ([])

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Review the standards identified in your Unit Plan and note which standards could benefit from the use of the Showing Evidence Tool. If the standards are not already highlighted in a color specific for Showing Evidence, you may want to highlight them now or classify them using the following key words:
 * <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">analyze
 * <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">argument
 * <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">conjecture
 * <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">debate
 * <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">evaluate
 * <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">evidence
 * <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">hypothesis
 * <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">investigate
 * <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">persuade
 * <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">position
 * <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">premise
 * <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">social issue
 * <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">thesis

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">See Project Idea Samples on the course CD starting in Module 9, Activity 4, Step 2 for different subject areas.

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Files used in this Module:

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">[]

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;"> <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;"> <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;"> <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;"> <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;"> <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;"> <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;"> <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">our students can approach this project with one of the two types of Usage Models: <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Usage Model 1: Create Claims and Support with Evidence (closest to scientific method, proving a hypothesis) <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">1. Establish an initial position—stake your claim. <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">2. Build a set of evidence items. <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">3. Evaluate the quality of evidence (for reliability; how true is the evidence). <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">4. Link evidence to the claim. <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">5. Evaluate the strength with which evidence supports the claim. <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">6. Evaluate the claim and make new claim(s), as needed. <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">OR <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Usage Model 2: Analyze Evidence to Make a Claim or Form a Hypothesis (building a theory, analyzing data) <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">1. Start with a set of evidence items. <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">2. Evaluate the quality of evidence (for reliability; how true is the evidence). <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">3. Analyze evidence and make a claim. <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">4. Link evidence to claim. <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">5. Evaluate strength with which evidence supports the claim. <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">6. Evaluate the claim and make new claim(s), as needed. <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">7. Consider the following questions before you set up your project online. <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">a. Will you require your students to start with a claim and then collect evidence to see if they can support the claim? Or, will your students collect evidence and then determine the claim? <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">b. Will you provide your students with a claim or choice of claims? Or, will you allow them to determine and create their own claim? If you are going to pre-populate the case with a claim, draft an idea for the claim here. <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">c. How will your students find and create their evidence? Will you provide any of the evidence as a starter set in the Showing Evidence Tool? If so, what kinds of evidence do you need to locate?

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">• Showing Evidence can be set up with a Standard or Simplified version of the tool. The simplified version does not require students to rate the evidence or support, nor explain how the evidence supports or opposes the claim. This version may be helpful with younger students or during a practice session where you simply want students to get used to the idea of documenting evidence and weighing support for a claim. (See Teaching Tools, Showing Evidence Tool Skill 3.8.5 and 3.8.6.)

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Module 9 Key Points: <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Research shows that, regardless of grade level or subject, argumentation skills extend learning. <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">The argument model used by Showing Evidence consists of: <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">• Making a claim <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">• Providing evidence <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">• Evaluating the quality of evidence <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">• Making explicit links between the claim and evidence <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">• Providing reasoning for why the evidence supports the claim <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">• Considering counterarguments <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">• Making a conclusion

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Accomplishments: <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">• Looked deeply into a unit that includes the Showing Evidence Tool to get ideas on project design, implementation, teacher-student dialog, and assessment