MODULE 4: Insecticides: Costs vs. Benefits
Unit 1: Frightful's Mountain and DDT
In this first unit, students are introduced to the central theme of this module: the delicate balance between human needs and the needs of the natural world. Students launch their reading of Frightful’s Mountain, focusing their learning about the natural world by reading through the perspective of Frightful, a peregrine falcon. Students then begin to analyze informational texts and videos about DDT, a pesticide used widely throughout the world to fight malaria, but banned in the United States in 1972 due to its harmful environmental consequences. In these articles and videos, students to learn to trace and evaluate an author’s argument, claims, and evidence. In the second half of the unit, students grapple with the central question of this module: Do the benefits of DDT outweigh its harmful consequences?
In this first unit, students are introduced to the central theme of this module: the delicate balance between human needs and the needs of the natural world. Students launch their reading of Frightful’s Mountain, focusing their learning about the natural world by reading through the perspective of Frightful, a peregrine falcon. Students then begin to analyze informational texts and videos about DDT, a pesticide used widely throughout the world to fight malaria, but banned in the United States in 1972 due to its harmful environmental consequences. In these articles and videos, students to learn to trace and evaluate an author’s argument, claims, and evidence. In the second half of the unit, students grapple with the central question of this module: Do the benefits of DDT outweigh its harmful consequences?
Unit 2: Do the Benefits of DDT Outweigh Its Harmful Consequences
In this unit, students grapple with the question “Do the benefits of DDT outweigh its harmful consequences?” In the first half of the unit, students use a guided researcher’s notebook, research folder, and a WebQuest to research informational texts about DDT’s benefits and harmful consequences. The researcher’s notebook requires students to cite their sources, assess the credibility of each source, paraphrase the information relevant to their research question, and decide if the evidence from their research changes the focus of their inquiry. In the second half of the unit, students work toward making a claim based on the evidence of their research, a similar skill to the work of Module 2 in which students made a claim on which they built a literary argument.
In this unit, students grapple with the question “Do the benefits of DDT outweigh its harmful consequences?” In the first half of the unit, students use a guided researcher’s notebook, research folder, and a WebQuest to research informational texts about DDT’s benefits and harmful consequences. The researcher’s notebook requires students to cite their sources, assess the credibility of each source, paraphrase the information relevant to their research question, and decide if the evidence from their research changes the focus of their inquiry. In the second half of the unit, students work toward making a claim based on the evidence of their research, a similar skill to the work of Module 2 in which students made a claim on which they built a literary argument.
Unit 3: Writing: Position Paper about the Use of DDT
Building on the research and decision-making process that students completed in Unit 2, Unit 3 is an extended writing process during which students draft, revise, edit, and publish their research-based position papers. In the first half of the unit, students analyze a model position paper and plan their own, with several opportunities to talk through their ideas as well as get feedback to improve their plans. In the second half of the unit, students revise their position papers based on teacher feedback.
Building on the research and decision-making process that students completed in Unit 2, Unit 3 is an extended writing process during which students draft, revise, edit, and publish their research-based position papers. In the first half of the unit, students analyze a model position paper and plan their own, with several opportunities to talk through their ideas as well as get feedback to improve their plans. In the second half of the unit, students revise their position papers based on teacher feedback.