For this lab you are going to read a scientific, peer reviewed article from the Geological Society of America (GSA) Bulletin. This article was written by the author and reviewed by three of his peers before being allowed to be published in the GSA Bulletin. The lab sheet is a pdf file, so you will have to download it, print it out, take a picture of your hand written answers, and upload it again. I apologize for that. Usually I write things in Word, but I don’t know where my original document went.
Before you read the article, print out the lab sheet. There is an exercise that I want you to start BEFORE you read the article. Part of literacy is the ability of a person to make predications about what they are going to read and then see if what they thought was actually the case. The table in the beginning of the lab is a prediction chart. I have placed some very obviously political statements in the table. BEFORE you read the article, write down whether or not you agree with those statements. There is no right or wrong answer…so go ahead, don’t be afraid, write down what you honestly feel. THEN read the article. After you read it, revisit the table and write down whether or not you still agree with your first position. If you do…go ahead and write down “still agree”. If you don’t, go ahead and write down “don’t agree”. The thing is…back up your agree or don’t agree with evidence from the text. Write down the page and paragraph numbers of the text that support your position. The point of this exercise is to teach students to back up their opinions with data and fact. Imagine that! Imagine if folks actually did that! Maybe this world wouldn’t be in the shambles it is in, right?
Follow the directions on the rest lab sheet as to what you will do after you read the article.
Running Water Literacy Lab
Title of Article: _______________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
Author: _____________________________________________________________________________
Publication Date: _____________________________________________________________________
Journal Name: _______________________________________________________________________
BEFORE
Write down AGREE
in this column if
you agree, or
DISAGREE if you
disagree, with the
opinion stated in
the next column.
Write your opinion
BEFORE you read
the article.
OPINION STATEMENT
1.
The Federal government
has NO right to EVER tell
private land owners how
to use their property.
2. Dams and levees protect
the public from floods
and save lives.
3. The job of local
governments to protect
the economy (i.e. keep
land on the tax roll) at all
costs.
AFTER
Write down AGREE
in this column if
you agree, or
DISAGREE if you
disagree, with the
opinion stated in
the previous
column. Write
down your opinion
AFTER you read
the article.
EVIDENCE
Write down the page
number and
paragraph number of
the sentences in the
article that support
your “AFTER”
opinion. Underline
the section of the
paragraph in the
article that is
supporting your
“after” opinion.
BEFORE
Write down AGREE
in this column if
you agree, or
DISAGREE if you
disagree, with the
opinion stated in
the next column.
Write your opinion
BEFORE you read
the article.
OPINION STATEMENT
AFTER
Write down AGREE
in this column if
you agree, or
DISAGREE if you
disagree, with the
opinion stated in
the previous
column. Write
down your opinion
AFTER you read the
article.
EVIDENCE
Write down the page
number and
paragraph number of
the sentences in the
article that support
your “AFTER”
opinion. Underline
the section of the
paragraph in the
article that is
supporting your
“after” opinion.
4.
Everyone “knows” 100
year floods only happen
once every 100 years. So
it is OK to build on
floodplains, as floods are
not common and the
public will have plenty of
time to evacuate.
5. Floods are “acts of God”
and therefore occur in
random places at random
times. We have no way
to predict when and
where they can happen.
1. Write a 100 to 150 word summary of the article that you read today.
2. After you complete your summary, pick two opinions from the table above (one that you
agreed with and one that you disagreed with) and explain if your opinion was changed by
reading the article.
If your opinion changed, explain how it changed and why it changed. What is your new
understanding now?
If your opinion did not change, explain why. What insight did the article provide to reinforce
your understanding of the issue at hand.
3. Optional for extra credit (10 points): Pick ten of the words that you listed on your vocabulary
sheet. Write down the definition of the word and write a sentence using the word.