Informational Fluency and Inquiry Mini-Lessons Lindsey Burnsed

Mini-Lesson # 1: Citing Evidence in Social Studies

Guiding Question What does it mean to ethically use information in class?

Standards Content-Area Georgia Standards of Excellence

L6-8RHSS1: Cite specific textual evidence to support
analysis of primary and secondary sources.

Information Processing Skills Goal: The student will be able

to locate, analyze, and synthesize information related to
social studies topics and apply this information to solve
problems/make decisions

ISTE 2c. Students demonstrate an understanding of and respect for

the rights and obligations of using and sharing intellectual
property.

Digital #3A. Learners ethically use digital information.

Information ● Learners decide whether or not to integrate digital
Fluency information related to a specific information task
● Learners cite the source and/or author for the
selected digital information

Principle of #8. Digital Citizenship

Inquiry-Based
Learning

Curated Resources Link https://list.ly/list/36NY-ethical-use-of-information-resources

Inquiry Focus Students will focus on the following topic: How can I ethically
use information in Social Studies?

Lesson Introduction **Introduction will use padlet.com

1. Students will be given a link to the padlet page where
they will have the word “ETHICAL” posted at the top.
2. Students will be instructed to post a word or a phrase
that they associate with the word ethical.
3. After everyone has posted, students will move and
group the posts using the organizational functions on
the tool. They can also make comments with other
connections they see as they organized the posts.
4. The organized padlet will be projected for the entire
class to see.
5. The class will compare the information on the padlet
to the actual definition of ethical.

Instruction 1. To move from introduction to the main lesson, the

entire class will discuss the following question: How
would the word “ethical” relate to Social Studies?
 2. The teacher will provide a mini-lesson of guided
material through the use of NearPod (and online
presentation tool) that defines ethical use of
information, copyright information, and creative
commons information. Students will participate in the
mini-quizzes and open-ended questions placed in the
NearPod to be discussed as the lesson progresses.
3. After the mini-lesson, students will be placed in to
small groups. They will go the Ethical Uses Curated
Content (found at https://list.ly/list/36NY-ethical-use-
of-information-resources). The groups will each go
through the resources provided. From these
resources, they will create a list for the class of the
“Do’s and Don’ts of Ethically Using Information.”
4. After each list is created, the lists will be posted
around the room for a “Chalk Talk” activity. Students
will walk around to each list, and they will write
feedback for the list on sticky notes (what they agree
or disagree with and why).
5. At the end, we will discuss the “Chalk Talk” feedback
and lists as a class to make sure we review what we
should and should not be doing in order to ethically
use information in Social Studies.

Summary To end class, students will complete an “Exit Ticket” or

“Ticket out the Door.” This will be a “Focused Freewrite” in
which students will write at least one paragraph answer the
following question:

What does it mean to ethically use information? How can I

ethically use information in Social Studies this year?

Assessment The main assessment is through the exit ticket. However, the
teacher will be able to take formative assessments through
the discussions and Chalk Talk activity.

Mini-Lesson # 2: Unequal Access to Water in Africa

Guiding Question How does unequal access to water affect people in

Africa?

Standards Content-Area Georgia Standards of Excellence:

 SS7G2 a. Explain how water pollution and unequal
access to water impacts irrigation, trade, industry,
and drinking water.

ISTE 6a. Students choose the appropriate platforms and tools

for meeting the desired objectives of their creation or
communication.

Digital Information 1e. Learners select and apply appropriate search

Fluency strategies to effectively and efficiently locate reliable
digital information related to their academic learning
goal(s)
● Navigate hyperlink, i.e. browsing strategies
● Use subject directory strategies
● Use search engine strategies

Principle of Inquiry- #1: Authentic

Based Learning

Curated Resources Link https://www.bagtheweb.com/b/5f2fL3

Inquiry Focus Students will be focusing on the question: How can I

advocate for equal water access in Africa?

Lesson Introduction Students will be given a question to reflect on through

a quick focused free-write. They will answer the
question: What would it be like to not have access to
water?

We will then read a few excerpts from the book “A

Long Walk to Water” by Linda Sue Park that focus on
what it is like for a young girl to have to walk for
water. We will then compare this to what we have
already written about what we think it’d be like not to
have water.

Instruction 1. After the introduction activity, students will be

given a note-taking sheet where they will fill in
the notes based on the curated resources
(found here:
https://www.bagtheweb.com/b/5f2fL3). The
notes will be a graphic organizer with the
following categories: who is affected, how they
are affected, what is going on, where it is
occurring, why is it important that we know
this, and extra notes.
2. After students fill in the graphic organizer (the
notes), they will be placed in small groups for
a project presentation.
3. Students will create a presentation to
advocate for equal access to water in Africa.
 They will be guided to the best research
databases to use, and they will be required to
research more information on water access
and its effects in Africa. They will also need to
know how people are advocating and trying to
solve the issue for people.
4. Students will pick the technological tool they
will use to present (students will be given a list
of possible tools to use including Canva,
Smore, Powtoon, and Google Slides). They
will create a presentation that explains why
people need equal access, the effects of
unequal access, and how other groups are
trying to solve the problem.

Summary Students will finish this lesson by presenting the

project to their class. Students will write reflections on
the projects that include how they think their
presentation influenced their classmates and explain
how and why they chose to present their information.

Assessment The assessment will be through a presentation.

Students will include all parts of the information
including who is affected, where it is happening, why
it’s important, how people are affected, how people
are solving the issue, and why we should advocate
for equal water access.

Mini-Lesson # 3: Establishing Israel As a State- The Role of Zionism

Guiding Question How did Zionism lead to the establishment of Israel

as a state in Southwest Asia?

Standards Content-Area Georgia Standards of Excellence:

SS7H2 b. Explain the historical factors contributing to
the establishment of the modern State of Israel in
1948; include the Jewish religious connection to the
land, antisemitism, the development of Zionism in
Europe, and the aftermath of the Holocaust.

ISTE 3d. Students build knowledge by actively exploring real-

 world issues and problems, developing ideas and
theories and pursuing answers and solutions.

Digital Information 2a. Learners evaluate the quality of a search result to

Fluency determine its usefulness in the search process.
● Determine whether or not the digital
information addresses the natural language
question
● Decide whether or not the digital information
suggests revisions to search queries (revision
decision)

Principle of Inquiry- #2: Deep Understanding

Based Learning

Curated Resources Link https://www.smore.com/j1mqe

Inquiry Focus Students will be focused on asking themselves:

Should the Jewish population have established the
state of Israel in Arab Territory? Why or why not?

Lesson Introduction Students will look at a Wordle based on “Zionism.”

They will try to create a definition for the word using
only words and phrases provided in the Wordle.
Students will then post their definitions through
Twitter (or a similar tool). Students will vote for what
they think is the best definition by “liking” the
definition.

Instruction 1. Students will log in to Newsela and read the

article “The History of Zionism” (found here:
https://newsela.com/read/lib-history-
zionism/id/30286/). Students will annotate the
article through identifying key words and
writing questions they have (using the tools
available on Newsela). After they finish each
section (there are four sections of the article),
they will summarize that section.
2. Students will share their summaries with an
elbow partner. They will discuss what is
similar and different between their summaries.
Students will then discuss the article together
based on the summaries they have created.
3. Students will then go to the curated content
with primary sources on the establishment of
Israel (found here:
https://www.smore.com/j1mqe). They will be
working in groups to create a mindmap
around the following question: How was Israel
established as a state? Students must decide
what information is useful to answer this
 question from the primary sources provided.
4. After they have identified important
information from the different articles, they will
relate each piece of information back to
Zionism and how Zionism influenced that
event.

Summary At the end of the lesson, students will write a

reflection that answers the following question: Did
Zionism give the Jewish population the right to
establish Israel? Why or why not? Students can use
the mind-map they created to help them answer the
question and provide evidence from the articles they
read.

Assessment The assessment will be through a reflection. Students

will reflect on the inquiry question (Did Zionism give
the Jewish population the right to establish Israel?
Why or why not?) They will reflect on the articles they
read and explain how they developed their opinion.