From Superficiality to Well-Reasoned Arguments: Learning to Explain

Students who can explain their ideas have a much more powerful ability to reason and argue a point, but how do you teach someone how to become a better explainer? Chris Curtis highlights some ways his school has leveraged writing and oracy tasks to increase the complexity of their writing.

Exploring Explanation

We live in a fast world and it has become a natural expectation that good things arrive quickly, whether it be food, clothes or entertainment. There is no surprise that students think that this translates to their own writing and reading. We see this in the frustration students have with books, because the engagement isn’t always instantaneous, unlike in a film where music, lighting, special effects are working to enthral a viewer the second they start to watch. Students want quick answers and this translates to giving quick answers in their work.

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To examine historic evidence to draw conclusions and reach informed opinions."
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      string(5640) "Activity 7: Instructions  World War II©Imaginative Minds Ltd.Activity 7: Can the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki be justified?PurposeTo examine historic evidence to draw conclusions and reachinformed opinions.Curriculum FocusHistory – Understand the diverse experiences and ideas, beliefs andattitudes of men, women and children in past societies,  identify andexplain change and continuity within and across periods of historyidentify, select and use a range of historical sources, evaluate thesources used in order to reach reasoned conclusions, present andorganise accounts and explanations about the past that are coherent,structured and substantiated, use chronological conventions andhistorical vocabulary.Communication – Oracy, reading, writing.ICT – Structure, refine and communicate information, produce apresentation.Thinking Skills – Identify the problem and set the questions to resolveit, suggest a range of options as to where and how to find relevantinformation and ideas, ask probing questions, build on existing skills,knowledge and understanding, evaluate options, use priorknowledge to explain links between cause and effect and justifyinferences/ predictions, identify and assess bias and reliability,consider others’ views to inform opinions and decisions, determinesuccess criteria and give some justification for choice.P4C – Feeling empathy.MaterialsIncluded in this pack:Activity sheet 7a – Student introductionActivity sheet 7b – Hiroshima before and after the bombingActivity sheet 7c – Detonations of the atomic bombsActivity sheet 7d – The effects of the atomic bombs(Warning: Contains graphic images of survivors of the bombings)Activity sheet 7e – Enola Gay and BockscarActivity sheet 7f – StatisticsActivity sheet 7g – Eyewitness accountsYou will also need:Internet access, ropeGroupings Whole class, four or five Activity 7: Instructions  World War II©Imaginative Minds Ltd.Procedure Before sharing any of the activity sheets with the pupils, there aretwo activities that would lend themselves to P4C. They areAgree/Disagree line and Decision Alley. Only one activity isundertaken not both. It is an excellent way to provoke thought andactivate prior knowledge. The group discussion and presentationthen allows pupils to make links between their prior knowledge andnew knowledge.Agree / disagree lineWrite up the statement, ‘Can the bombings of Hiroshima andNagasaki be justified?’ There is a huge debate surrounding thiscataclysmic event. Some believe it is justified while others do not.Before looking at any of the activity sheets, tell the pupils they willhave to decide whether it was justified or not. Lay the rope acrossthe floor and ask the pupils who agree with the statement to standon one side of the rope and those who don’t to stand on the otherside of the rope. Those who cannot decide stand on the rope, butthey must come to a decision before the end of the session. Thegroups discuss their choices with each other and share their reasons.They need to listen to each other and be prepared to change theirminds.Decision AlleyThe class is divided in half and stand in two lines opposite each other,creating an alley. Pupils take it in turns to walk through the alley. Thepupils on one side of the alley give their reasons why the bombingscan be justified, the pupils on the other side give their argumentagainst. After each pupil has walked through the alley, they come toa decision as to which side of the alley they should join. The pupils sittogether at the front of the class and respond to questions from theother pupils.• What have you decided? Can the bombings be justified?• Why do you think that?• How would lives change if the atomic bombs had not beendropped?Finally, take a vote.Discuss activity sheet 7a with pupils. Present them with the otheractivity sheets. Explain that the pupils will look at the evidence theyhave been given and also have access to the internet if they wish tolook for any other evidence.In their groups, the pupils will examine all the evidence and discussits impact. They need to keep in mind the overriding question ofwhether or not the dropping of the Atomic Bombs was justified.After group discussion, the pupils can present their arguments as a Activity 7: Instructions  World War II©Imaginative Minds Ltd.group or individuals.They could support their presentation with a PowerPoint, but thePowerPoint is only to support spoken arguments and not to be thepresentation itself. 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Creative Teaching & Learning

WWII Activity 7 - Can the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki be justified

14 May 2018

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      string(5650) "Activity 7: InstructionsWorld War IIActivity 7: Can the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki be justified?PurposeTo examine historic evidence to draw conclusions and reach informed opinions. Curriculum FocusHistory – Understand the diverse experiences and ideas, beliefs and attitudes of men, women and children in past societies, identify and explain change and continuity within and across periods of history identify, select and use a range of historical sources, evaluate the sources used in order to reach reasoned conclusions, present and organise accounts and explanations about the past that are coherent, structured and substantiated, use chronological conventions and historical vocabulary.Communication – Oracy, reading, writing.ICT – Structure, refine and communicate information, produce a presentation.Thinking Skills – Identify the problem and set the questions to resolve it, suggest a range of options as to where and how to find relevant information and ideas, ask probing questions, build on existing skills, knowledge and understanding, evaluate options, use prior knowledge to explain links between cause and effect and justify inferences/ predictions, identify and assess bias and reliability, consider others’ views to inform opinions and decisions, determine success criteria and give some justification for choice.P4C – Feeling empathy. MaterialsIncluded in this pack:Activity sheet 7a – Student introductionActivity sheet 7b – Hiroshima before and after the bombingActivity sheet 7c – Detonations of the atomic bombsActivity sheet 7d – The effects of the atomic bombs(Warning: Contains graphic images of survivors of the bombings)Activity sheet 7e – Enola Gay and BockscarActivity sheet 7f – StatisticsActivity sheet 7g – Eyewitness accountsYou will also need:Internet access, rope GroupingsWhole class, four or five ProcedureBefore sharing any of the activity sheets with the pupils, there are two activities that would lend themselves to P4C. 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Creative Teaching & Learning

Activity 7 Resource Pack: Can the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki be justified?

6 Jan 2014

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      string(364) "... right to challenge an injustice,’ is Lucas’sresponse.‘What type of challenge do you mean,’ Kateasks. ‘A challenge with the fists or a challengewith a reasoned argument?’Lucas concludes: ‘You always have the rightto challenge an injustice as long as you do itrespectfully.’In philosophical terms, he is drawing adistinction ..."
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      string(5622) "all,’ he muses. ‘That’s notfair,’ says Ewan. ‘Why not?’ counters Nick.‘They’re my sweets. It’s fair on me if I havethem all.’On his other side, Kayleigh says somethingabout fairness. It’s hard to understand, butthen, she is often hard to understand so weakare her verbal skills. At least she is speaking.The conversation goes on for 30 minutes,delving into questions of fairness andoccasionally straying into issues of Nick’sgluttony. It’s not a free-for-all. If a child wantsto speak, they have to sit quietly with theirhand held out on their knee and wait till Nickcalls on them to speak. That’s really hard forEwan who normally can’t sit still for morethan five minutes at a time, but there he is,in his brother’s too big shirt, waiting patientlyfor his turn.It’s even harder for Daniel who is on theautistic spectrum. He won’t look Nick in theeye when he speaks, but again, at least he’sspeaking. The week before, Nick got a letterfrom Daniel’s mum, who hardly ever writesa letter. What she wanted to say was thatDaniel had come home and told her what he’dbeen doing in ‘flossfee’. That’s remarkablebecause Daniel almost never says anythingabout school. That mattered to his mum – somuch so that she went to the effort of puttingit into writing.Thirty-five per cent of the pupils on roll atColeridge School in Rotherham have SEN,compared to the national average of 17.1 percent. They also have 63 per cent of students onFSM, 63 per cent EAL, and a mobility rate of 27per cent (many pupils are recent immigrants).In fact, on a recent Ofsted visit, the inspectorsaid that Coleridge was one of the most difficultenvironments she had ever come across.Despite this difficult situation, however, theschool is thriving. How? Headteacher JaneWhite attributes much of their success toP4C. The approach forms a major part of theschool’s ethos and is playing an importantrole in maximising student engagement withlearning and opportunities for future success.‘It lays the critical foundations for our childrento achieve,’ said Jane. ‘The last three yearshave seen us double our number of Year 6pupils achieving at [the expected level] in allthree areas of reading, writing and maths, and,in all year groups, our reading progress is nowoutstanding.’Supporting our most troubled anddisadvantaged childrenAt Park Campus Academy in South Norwood –a secondary Alternative Provision (AP) academywith about 80 students, almost all permanentlyexcluded, almost all from difficult and disturbedfamily backgrounds – Lucas is telling his story.At his previous school and at just 13, hemade a big mistake – he brought a knife intoschool. In his mind, it was just a defensivemove to ward off the constant bullying thatleft him physically and emotionally batteredevery single school day. His school took theview that he had to be excluded, and he was– permanently.He is now at Park Campus Academy, and hetells his story in a P4C class without anger orrancour. He acknowledges that he did a stupidthing, but feels that he was given no chance toexplain the situation. He was told that he wouldhave the chance to put his case to the schoolauthorities, but the decision was made beforehe could do that.Lucas’s teacher, Kate, is focusing on rightsin this week’s P4C session. She starts with arole play in which one of the teaching assistantsplays a disobedient student. The ‘student’ tellsKate to leave her alone. Kate loses her temperand throws the student out of the class. Shethen asks the boys: ‘Did I have the right to dothat?’.A discussion ensues in which Kate leads thestudents to qualify different rights in termsof whether they apply always, sometimes ornever. Lots of ideas quickly emerge. Lucascomes up with: 1) the right to feel safe, and 2)the right to speak up for oneself.Kate asks: ‘What about the right to takerevenge for an injustice?’ ‘You never have theright to take revenge, but you sometimes havethe right to challenge an injustice,’ is Lucas’sresponse.‘What type of challenge do you mean,’ Kateasks. ‘A challenge with the fists or a challengewith a reasoned argument?’Lucas concludes: ‘You always have the rightto challenge an injustice as long as you do itrespectfully.’In philosophical terms, he is drawing adistinction between taking revenge andchallenging an injustice, identifying the right torespond, and making the moral decision thatchallenge is a more appropriate response thanrevenge. He qualifies this by asserting that theright to challenge injustice is always justified ifyou do it respectfully.Park Campus Academy deals with a tiny13Volume6.2nCreativeTeaching&LearningThinkingSkillsminority of the most difficult students inthe country. 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Creative Teaching & Learning

Closing the achievement gap with P4C

11 Feb 2016

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      string(5631) "caused by increased levels ofgreenhouse gases such as carbon dioxideand methane.Intensive animal farming or industrialCreativeApproaches48Volume6.1nCreativeTeaching&Learninglivestock production, also called factoryfarming, is a modern form of farming, andrefers to the industrialised production oflivestock, including cattle, poultry and fish,in confinement at high stock density.A feedlot is a type of animal feedingoperation which is used in factory farmingfor finishing (fattening) livestock prior toslaughter. It mostly refers to beef cattle,but can also apply to pigs, horses, sheep,turkeys, chickens and ducks.Main exerciseThis Mystery investigates the role of intensiveanimal rearing in the production of gases thatcontribute to global warming. The statementsstimulate the students to consider whether ornot we should continue with current intensivemeat production and with our increasing levelsof meat eating.Their own eating habits and their attitudestowards animals and the environment willinfluence how students respond to thestatements. The issues under consideration areethical as well as practical, and are contestable;there are no unassailable right answers.Students need to be clear what their reasonsare for their conclusions and draw on evidencefrom the statements to support their reasoning.Ask pupils to read the key question beforeopening the envelopes and spreading out thestatements. Explain that they are going to usethe statements to answer the key question,which will involve sorting the statementsinto groups and identifying links betweenthem. Suggest they take it in turns to read thestatements and jointly decide how to organisethem.When they have come up with an answerto the question, they should write it on thethinking frame in the box marked ‘Conclusion’.Evidence to support their answer should bewritten in the ‘Reason’ boxes, summarisedfrom the statements but in their own words.DebriefingA debriefing is very important once pupils havecompleted the task. Ask each group to statetheir main conclusions and give their reasonsfor their choices.You might also like to ask some key questionsin the debriefing to ensure that students haveunderstood the implications of the Mystery.Have pupils answer the questions in class orcomplete them for homework.Questions may include:n Why is methane more worrying than CO2 asa greenhouse gas?n If feedlots produce less methane, they soundlike a good idea – what other factors do wehave to take into account when decidingwhether or not to rear animals in feedlots?n Which animal has the best protein to meatconversion? Should we focus on theseanimals for food production?n Which animal makes the highest contributionto global warming? Should we stop producingthese animals for food?n Why don’t we feed pigs and chickens ourfood waste?n Why are people worried about antibiotics inanimal feed?n Should we be worried about the hugeamounts of water needed to produce animalsintensively? Why/Why not?n Why are people worried about the massiveamounts of manure produced by animals infeedlots?n What are the implications of cutting downforests to create animal grazing?n Based on the evidence in the Mystery, whatarguments could you put forward for eatingless meat?Research questionsDepending on the subject area, you might wantto set research questions for the students. Thefollowing are some examples:n What digestive process produces methanein cows?n How do cows convert the grass they eatinto protein?n What other sources of protein can we eat andproduce sustainably? (Pupils could researchmussel production, fish farms and insects asalternative protein sources here).n Should we only rear ruminants naturally ongrassland that it is unsuitable for growingcrops?n How much meat should we eat in a healthydiet?n Is some meat healthier than others?n What are the arguments put forward infavour of vegetarianism?StatementsPhotocopy and cut out these statements priorto the lesson. Each group of pupils will needa full set.49Volume6.1nCreativeTeaching&LearningCreativeApproachesAccording to the United Nations, the methane thatcomes from the digestion of ruminant animals such ascows and sheep adds 2.8 billion tonnes of methane tothe atmosphere every year.Globally, we slaughter and consume 300 million cattle, 1.4billion pigs, one billion sheep and goats, five million horses,two million camels, 3.5 billion ducks and turkeys, and 60billion chickens per year.Worldwide, we eat twice as much meat as we did 50years ago.The average Briton and European eats 80kg of meat a year.The average American eats 120kg.A side effect of cows eating is the production ofmethane whenever they belch. Methane produced byfarm animals is an incredibly potent greenhouse gas.A third of the entire landmass of the earth is given over toanimals that we either eat or milk – that is 70 per cent moreland than a century ago.The seven billion people on this planet eat 65 billionanimals every year – this is predicted to double in thenext few decades.An adult cow can produce 500 litres of methane everysingle day – that’s equivalent to a family car.A quarter (26 per cent) of the ice-free landmass of theearth is devoted to grazing for animals.Cows naturally eat grass. A cow can eat about 50kg ofgrass a day and convert it into 1kg of meat.The majority of American beef is produced on a feedlot. A third of crop-rearing areas on the planet are used to growcrops to feed animals.You can dramatically reduce the amount of methane acow produces by changing its diet.Some feedlots have been criticised for poor animal welfareand"
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Creative Teaching & Learning

Have you solved the mystery of literacy across the curriculum?

3 Dec 2015

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      string(5696) "tenacity, grit, self-control and related habits, we believe that there are essentially four habits of a tenacious thinker, which break down further into twelve sub-habits.  Centre for Real-World Learning’s Model of TenacityOur definition is applicable across the broadest possible range of subjects.ConfidentTenacious people are aware of their own self efficacy. This means they are learning-oriented rather than performance-oriented. They have a growth mindset or learn to develop one. Not hung up on trying to look clever, they actively seek opportunities to learn through challenge, mistakes and self-evaluation. Having weighed up their own performance, they will actively make a plan for change. In the moment, they will also draw on past experience to inform their own actions. They will step outside the bounds of what is comfortable to them in order to improve. Sub-habits of the confident learner are learning from mistakes, self evaluating and challenge-seekingAn example of being confident in a primary school might be a school policy that requires all classrooms to have a Learning from our Mistakes wall on which pupils are encouraged to annotate the lessons they have learned from their own and others’ mistakes. ControlledTenacious individuals are able to self-regulate. They can use self-control when required, to avoid distractions. They can focus on tricky tasks, seeing them through to completion. They work diligently, tolerating short-term boredom when practising the less interesting aspects of a skill. They develop routines for themselves that prepare their minds and their environment for different kinds of endeavours. Routines can be modified depending on the situation, but involve such practises as checking equipment, reading ahead and planning. Sub-habits of the controlled learner are controlling impulses, deferring gratification and sticking to a routine.An example of being controlled in a secondary school could be a discussion activity in a PHSE session where students are invited to think of situations when they find it difficult to control their natural impulses (to shout, get angry, hit someone, etc.). Each example is written on a card and these cards are then shared with other students who come up with practical suggestions for better control or delay of strong feelings.CommittedTenacious learners take a long view of things. They are able to persevere through difficulty because they can see the value of overcoming a problem to arrive at success. They have the wisdom to know when to quit. They don’t persist with something ‘just because’ but make sure their rationale is sound. They are able to put both success and failure into perspective, refusing to dwell on what is past or to generalise single mistakes into evidence of their own inadequacy. Sub-habits of the committed learner are seeing beyond the immediate, keeping things in context and staying optimistic.An example of being committed in a primary school might be to identify characters from children’s stories who display perseverance and create a display highlighting the kinds of things that they do.ConnectedConnected learners understand the importance of engaging with other people and seek them out. While believing that their own actions and opinions have real worth, they recognise that these can be improved by interaction with skilled others. They seek out talented and committed peers in areas of their interest recognising the power of learning from and with others who are more advanced than them.Sub-habits of the connected learner are valuing own contribution, seeking feedback and engaging with interest groups.An example of being connected in a secondary school could be the establishment of expert advisory groups for all sixth form subjects with a termly meeting of parents and local community members where adult experts give short talks on topics of relevance to the curriculum – English and journalists, art and design and artists, etc. Why tenacity matters todayDeveloping tenacity is not just a nice-to-have – it’s critical. Here are just four reasons why.Tenacity leads to higher performance. A tenacious learner persists despite obstacles and failure. Of course tenacity in itself does not necessarily imply an ‘overcoming’ of problems. One has to know how to overcome the problem. A study by Arslan et al. (2013) found a useful connection between aspects of tenacity and an individual’s metacognitive awareness – a person’s knowledge and regulation of their own ‘cognition’. It will mediate their regulation of effort, recognition of need for assistance, or deployment of learning strategies. Self-efficacy and associated concepts of challenge-seeking, and the valuing of their own contributions have consistently been shown to be associated with school achievement. Tenacity underpins social mobility. In 2012, the All Party Parliamentary Group on Social Mobility published a report after reviewing evidence about social mobility. It concluded that ‘personal resilience and emotional wellbeing are the missing link in the chain’. In the USA similar arguments have been made by Richard Reeves and colleagues (2014) at the Brookings Institute. Tenacity is valued across societies and cultures. James Heckman (a Nobel Prize winner in Economics) and Tim Kautz (2013, p. 6) list a range of character skills that are ‘crucial to success in economic and social life’. A large number of these character skills relate to aspects of tenacity – perseverance, self-control, trust, attentiveness,"
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Creative Teaching & Learning

Teaching Tenacity

17 Jul 2018