Introduction to Research Project: How Do GMOs Influence Our Access to Healthy Food? | EL Education Curriculum

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ELA 2019 G8:M2:U2:L1

Introduction to Research Project: How Do GMOs Influence Our Access to Healthy Food?

In this Lesson

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Focus Standards: These are the standards the instruction addresses.

  • RI.8.1, W.8.7, W.8.8

Supporting Standards: These are the standards that are incidental—no direct instruction in this lesson, but practice of these standards occurs as a result of addressing the focus standards.

  • RI.8.4, RI.8.8, RI.8.10, SL.8.1, L.8.4
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Daily Learning Targets

  • I can cite evidence that supports the influence GMOs have on our access to healthy food. (RI.8.1, W.8.8)

Ongoing Assessment

  • Opening A: Entrance Ticket: Unit 2, Lesson 1 (W.8.7)
  • Work Time B: Access to Healthy Food Research: GMOs note-catcher (RI.8.1, W.8.7, W.8.8)

Agenda

AgendaTeaching Notes

1. Opening

A. Engage the Learner - W.8.7 (5 minutes)

2. Work Time

A. Introduce GMO Research Project (10 minutes)

B. Read "To GMO or NOT to GMO?" and Track Access to Healthy Food - W.8.8 (25 minutes)

3. Closing and Assessment

A. Whole-Class Share - W.8.7 (5 minutes)

4. Homework

A. Independent Research Reading: Students read for at least 20 minutes in their independent research reading text. Then they select a prompt and write a response in their independent reading journal.

Alignment to Assessment Standards and Purpose of Lesson

  • W.8.7 – Opening A: Students determine Michael Pollan’s research question from The Omnivore’s Dilemma.
  • RI.8.1 – Work Time B: Students cite evidence from “To GMO or NOT to GMO?” in a note-catcher as they track how the text supports the influence GMOs have on our access to healthy food.
  • W.8.8 – Work Time B: Students quote or paraphrase data from the text as they gather information about GMOs. Students also follow a standard format for their source citations.
  • W.8.7 – Closing and Assessment A: Students attempt to answer the additional related focus questions about GMOs using evidence from the text in this lesson.

Opportunities to Extend Learning

  • Students may find other articles about GMOs, using their note-catchers to quote and paraphrase evidence that supports how GMOs increase and decrease our access to healthy food.
  • Students may write an objective summary about the influence GMOs have on our access to healthy food as explained in the article and record their evidence in their note-catchers.
  • An optional Mini Language Dive, intended for use after students read the article in Work Time B, is available in the supporting materials download. ▲
  • Students may begin to conduct internet research about GMOs using the additional related focus questions from Closing and Assessment A and generate additional related focus questions to share with the class.
  • Students with advanced research skills may find actual academic journals in which scientists describe the data they collected on GMOs and the impact on our health and environment. Students may analyze this data, collect the most relevant information, and share their findings with the class.

How It Builds on Previous Work

  • In the previous unit, students read The Omnivore’s Dilemma and learned about where our food comes from and the role of farmers and agribusinesses in food production. In this lesson, students explore GMOs and their influence on our access to healthy food.

Support All Students

  • Note there is a differentiated version of the Access to Healthy Food Research: GMO note-catcher used in Work Time A in the supporting materials download. ▲
  • In Work Time B, students review how to quote and paraphrase information from a text and cite their sources. However, students may have mastered these research skills and need more support in one of the other mini lessons in the Research Mini Lessons (for teacher reference) guide. Use a different mini lesson as students read the text to support the development of their research skills, if necessary.

Assessment Guidance

  • Review students’ Access to Healthy Food Research: GMOs note-catchers to ensure they understand how to gather evidence from the text that answers the central research question. Circulate to monitor common issues to identify which research mini lessons would benefit students in the next lesson.

Down the Road

  • In the next lesson, students will work in pairs to research GMOs and continue to track how it influences our access to healthy food. Students will gather relevant information from internet sources that answers the research question, quoting and paraphrasing information accurately and citing their sources.

In Advance

  • Prepare and ensure there is a copy of Entrance Ticket: Unit 2, Lesson 1 at each student's workspace.
  • Read "To GMO or NOT to GMO?" and review the Access to Healthy Food Research: GMOs note-catcher (example for teacher reference) in advance to see what students are working toward in this lesson.
  • Carefully read through the Research Mini Lessons (for teacher reference) in advance to see what research skills are being taught in this lesson and to assess which skills students will need to develop in the next lessons.
  • Post the learning targets and applicable anchor charts (see Materials list).

Tech and Multimedia

  • Continue to use the technology tools recommended throughout previous modules to create anchor charts to share with families; to record students as they participate in discussions and protocols to review with students later and to share with families; and for students to listen to and annotate text, record ideas on note-catchers, and word-process writing.

Supporting English Language Learners

Supports guided in part by CA ELD Standards 8.I.B.6 and 8.I.B.8.

Important Points in the Lesson Itself

  • To support ELLs, this lesson builds upon work that students did in Unit 1 to build knowledge about food choices. This lesson introduces the research project that students will carry out over the course of the unit and includes in-class reading about the topic, a graphic organizer for collecting information, and tasks and tools that support students in working with sources. The article students read contains visual aids and formatting that can help ELLs navigate the text.
  • ELLs may find it challenging to generate research questions and internet search terms and to select evidence from sources that is relevant to the research question and topic. Additionally, ELLs may need support in understanding the difference between paraphrasing and summarizing when citing evidence from sources. As students begin work with analyzing information about the topic, build in time for discussion in home-language groups. This will help students to navigate the cognitive demands of the task prior to carrying out linguistic processing in English.

Vocabulary

  • N/A

Materials from Previous Lessons

Teacher

Student

  • N/A
  • Vocabulary logs (one per student; from Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 2, Opening A)
  • Independent reading journals (one per student; begun in Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 6, Work Time B)

New Materials

Teacher

Student

  • Entrance Ticket: Unit 2, Lesson 1 (answers for teacher reference)
  • Access to Healthy Food Research: GMOs note-catcher (example for teacher reference)
  • Research Mini Lessons (for teacher reference)
  • Additional Focus Questions: GMOs anchor chart (example for teacher reference)
  • Additional Focus Questions: GMOs anchor chart (one for display)
  • Entrance Ticket: Unit 2, Lesson 1 (one per student)
  • Access to Healthy Food Research: GMOs note-catcher (one per student and one for display)
  • Access to Healthy Food Research: GMOs note-catcher ▲
  • Researcher’s Toolbox (one per student and one for display)
  • “To GMO or NOT to GMO?” (one per student and one for display)
  • Homework Resources (for families) (one per student)

Assessment

Each unit in the 6-8 Language Arts Curriculum has two standards-based assessments built in, one mid-unit assessment and one end of unit assessment. The module concludes with a performance task at the end of Unit 3 to synthesize students' understanding of what they accomplished through supported, standards-based writing.

Opening

Opening

A. Engage the Learner - W.8.7 (5 minutes)

  • Repeated routine: As students arrive, invite them to complete Entrance Ticket: Unit 2, Lesson 1. Refer to the Entrance Ticket: Unit 2, Lesson 1 (answers for teacher reference).
  • Repeated routine: Follow the same routine as the previous lessons to review learning targets and the purpose of the lesson, reminding students of any learning targets that are similar or the same as previous lessons.

Work Time

Work TimeLevels of Support

A. Introduce GMO Research Project (10 minutes)

  • Remind students that in Unit 1, they read The Omnivore’s Dilemma and analyzed topics about where our food comes from. One of the topics that was mentioned in the text was GMOs and the conflicting perspectives on their use. Explain that, in order to more fully understand GMOs and how they increase and decrease our access to healthy food, students will conduct research over the next few lessons to further explore the topic.
  • Remind students that research is the exploration, investigation, and analysis of a topic. Like Michael Pollan’s research on the “omnivore’s dilemma,” students will act as detectives on a mission to find information about GMOs and to better understand the topic. Pollan’s original research question was: “Where does our food come from and what exactly are we eating?” The purpose of his gathering information about industrial farming, pesticides, and other topics was to answer his central research question.
  • Display the following central research question, and tell students that they will conduct research to answer this question:
    • “How do GMOs influence our access to healthy food?”
  • Explain that students will read a text about GMOs in this lesson and practice gathering relevant information from the text that addresses their central research question. They will use the Access to Healthy Food Research: GMOs note-catcher in the next lessons as they work with a partner to conduct internet research.
  • Distribute and display the Access to Healthy Food Research: GMOs note-catcher. For ELLs and students who require additional support, the Access to Healthy Food Research: GMO note-catcher ▲ can be used to help guide students’ thinking with prefilled information. Orient students to the note-catcher. Model how to begin completing the note-catcher by writing the central research question—“How do GMOs influence our access to healthy food?”—in the space provided.
  • Explain that when writers research a question, they may have to refine their questions to narrow or broaden their focus and that the influence of GMOs on our access to healthy food is a broad topic that requires a narrower focus in order to conduct research. Point out that the central research question has been refined, so students will answer the question by identifying how GMOs increase our access to healthy food in the first chart in their note-catcher, and how GMOs decrease our access to healthy food in the second chart.
  • Focus students’ attention on the additional related focus questions at the top of the note-catcher, and read them aloud. Explain that researchers often have to generate additional related focus questions to guide their research and gather information from sources that are relevant to their topic. Tell students that as they conduct research, they will generate their own additional related focus questions, but they will use these four questions to begin their research.
  • Also, point out the section below where they will record their search terms. Tell students that in the next lesson, they will conduct internet research and use the search terms to guide their research, as well as assess the credibility of sources, but for now they will leave these sections blank.
  • Draw students’ attention to the first chart, “GMOs Increase Our Access to Healthy Food.” Read the headings of each cell. Tell students that they will record their research findings on how GMOs increase our access to healthy food in this chart. They will gather relevant evidence, explain how the evidence shows that GMOs increase our access to healthy food, cite their sources, and assess the credibility of each source. Have students locate the second chart, “GMOs Decrease Our Access to Healthy Food,” and briefly review the cell headings. Point out that the evidence students find may support the increasing or decreasing of our access to healthy food, and remind students to record their evidence in the correct chart in their note-catcher.
  • Display and distribute the Researcher’s Toolbox. Explain that this handout will help them conduct research on their topic and that it serves as a “how to” guide to gathering information and citing evidence and sources. Tell students that they will go through each of these research skills in the upcoming lessons, and some skills may be more familiar than others.
  • Ask a volunteer to read aloud the “Quote Accurately” section. Remind students that they quoted evidence from texts in Module 1, and they will continue to follow this format as they read the following text in this lesson.
  • N/A

B. Read “To GMO or NOT to GMO?” and Track Access to Healthy Food – W.8.8 (25 minutes)

  • Review the learning target relevant to the work to be completed in this section of the lesson:

“I can cite evidence that supports the influence GMOs have on our access to healthy food.”

  • Distribute and display “To GMO or NOT to GMO?”
  • Read aloud the full article, and instruct students to follow along. Stop as needed to check for general comprehension, and ensure that all students have a basic understanding of the article.
  • Remind students of their central research question— “How do GMOs influence our access to healthy food?”—and that they are looking for information on how GMOs increase or decrease access to healthy food. Use the mini lesson from “Gather Information: Paraphrase and Quote” in the Research Mini Lessons (for teacher reference) to guide students in understanding how to quote and paraphrase information in a text.
  • Model skimming and scanning the first two paragraphs of the source for information. Ask:

Is there a single sentence in that section of text that helps to address the central research question? (“GMO crops may produce more food for human consumption. Jaffe says, ‘GE crops are not the primary solution to food security in developing countries—but they could be helpful.’”)

  • Invite students to refer to “Quote Accurately” on the Researcher’s Toolbox handout, and model recording the quote on the displayed Access to Healthy Food Research: GMOs note-catcher in the evidence section under “GMOs Increase Our Access to Healthy Food.”
  • Draw students’ attention to the next two paragraphs. Invite students to turn to a partner and use the information in these two paragraphs to orally respond to the research question in their own words. Select a couple of students to share with the whole group. Explain that this is paraphrasing the information, and model recording a paraphrase [Although GMOs make crops resistant to pests, they can also harm other species that are not pests.] on the displayed note-catcher in the evidence section under “GMOs Decrease Our Access to Healthy Food.”
  • Instruct students to work in pairs to finish searching for relevant information in the rest of the text that addresses the research question and record their evidence in the Access to Healthy Food Research: GMOs note-catcher. Circulate as students gather their evidence, and support students who may struggle with identifying evidence that answers the research question. Refer to the Access to Healthy Food Research: GMOs note-catcher (example for teacher reference).
  • Focus students on the “Answer and Evidence (quote accurately or paraphrase)” section of their note-catcher. Use the model quote and model paraphrase to show students how to write a brief answer that explains why their evidence supports how GMOs increase or decrease our access to healthy food.
  • Focus students on the quote they recorded in the evidence section under “GMOs Increase Our Access to Healthy Food.”
  • Think-Pair-Share:

“Based on this quoted evidence, how do GMOs increase our access to healthy food?” (Responses will vary, but may include: GMOs increase our access to healthy food because they can produce a lot more food and help prevent starvation.)

  • As students share, record responses on the first chart of the Access to Healthy Food Research: GMOs note-catcher. Refer to the Access to Healthy Food Research: GMOs note-catcher (example for teacher reference) for possible answers.
  • Focus students on the paraphrase they recorded in the evidence section under “GMOs Decrease Our Access to Healthy Food.”

“Based on this paraphrased evidence, how do GMOs decrease our access to healthy food?” (Responses will vary, but may include: modifying crops can decrease our access to other foods that are harmed by GMOs.)

  • As students share, record responses on the second chart of the Access to Healthy Food Research: GMOs note-catcher. Refer to the Access to Healthy Food Research: GMOs note-catcher (example for teacher reference) for possible answers.
  • Refer to the displayed Researcher’s Toolbox handout, and focus students’ attention on their copies.
  • Focus students on “Cite Sources.”
  • Use the following mini lesson from “Gather Information: Cite Sources” in the Research Mini Lessons (for teacher reference) to guide students through citing sources:
  • Model using the source-citing format outlined in the “Cite Sources” section of the Researcher’s Toolbox handout. Instruct students on the necessity of citing sources for each of their quotes and paraphrases to avoid plagiarism, which is the use of someone else’s work without permission.
  • Draw students’ attention to the citation at the bottom of “To GMO or NOT to GMO?” Point out that there are two authors for this text, so the first author’s name is written as “Erdosh, George” and the second author’s name is written after as “Amidon Lusted, Marcia.” Then the title of the text, “To GMO or NOT to GMO?” follows; the publication, Odyssey Magazine, is written next; the date of publication, “1 Feb. 2014” follows; and the page numbers of the article, “pp. 15–19,” are last.
  • Explain to students that the additional information at the end of the attribution on this article is because this entire article has been printed for distribution to schools and students. Students don’t need to seek the permission of people to cite their work in their papers because they aren’t printing the entire article, only quotes and other evidence.
  • Refer to the displayed Access to Healthy Food Research: GMOs note-catcher, and model how to record the citation in the third column of each row of evidence for this text in both charts on the note-catcher. Have students follow along, recording the citation in their note-catchers.
  • Repeated routine: Invite students to reflect on their progress toward the relevant learning target.

For Lighter Support

  •  In Work Time B, highlight or underline key phrases in individual copies of the informational text in advance of the in-class reading. If time is limited, focus on highlighting vocabulary connected to the central ideas of the text to aid students in understanding the most essential ideas (e.g., GMOs, gene, trait, resistance).
  • In Work Time B, invite students to participate in a Mini Language Dive with a sentence from the article in small groups to deepen their understanding of evidence from the text that supports an analysis of GMOs’ influence on access to healthy food. The sentence also helps students to address L.8.1a, as it contains both an infinitive and a gerund.
  • To extend work with the sentence in the Mini Language Dive, invite students to consider the structure of the sentence. This sentence is written in passive voice; the verb’s object (A new kind of tomato) appears at the beginning of the sentence rather than after the verb, to emphasize the result of genetically modifying crops. Additionally, the subject of the sentence has been omitted, which is common in passive-voice constructions. Challenge students to rewrite the sentence in active voice using subject-verb-object word order (Scientists have bred a new kind of tomato to resist rotting and give it a longer shelf life.), and invite them to notice the differences between the two sentences and the different effects created by each one (in passive voice, the object is emphasized; in active voice, the emphasis is on the subject).

For Heavier Support

    • Invite students who need heavier support to use the Access to Healthy Food Research: GMOs note-catcher ▲. This resource features prefilled information about sources to guide students’ thinking when considering and gathering evidence to respond to the research question.
    • To extend work with the sentence in the Mini Language Dive, invite students to consider the structure of the sentence. This sentence is written in passive voice; the verb’s object (A new kind of tomato) appears at the beginning of the sentence, rather than after the verb, to emphasize the result of genetically modifying crops. Additionally, the subject of the sentence has been omitted, which is common in passive-voice constructions. Display the sentence in active voice (Scientists have bred a new kind of tomato to resist rotting and give it a longer shelf life.), and invite them to notice the differences between the two sentences and the different effects created by each one (in passive voice, the object is emphasized; in active voice, the emphasis is on the subject).

    Closing & Assessments

    Closing

    A. Whole-Class Share - W.8.7 (5 minutes)

    • Explain that now that students have read a research text about GMOs, they will attempt to answer the additional related focus questions that were introduced in Work Time A.
    • Display the Additional Focus Questions: GMOs anchor chart. Read aloud each of the questions. Remind students that they are using these questions to guide their research of the topic and that they will generate their own additional related focus questions in the next lesson.
    • Think-Pair-Share:

    "After reading this article, what answers can we come up with to answer the additional related focused questions about GMOs?" (Answers will vary but may include: Modifying crops prevents potential damage, which increases the amount of food that is harvested for people to eat; Although GMOs make crops resistant to pests, they can also harm other species that are not pests; There is not enough information about how GMOs affect the human body and they may cause food allergies and even cancer; Certain farming practices utilizing GMO crops are unsustainable.)

    • Refer students to the evidence they recorded in their note-catchers. As students share, capture their responses on the Additional Focus Questions: GMOs anchor chart. Refer to the Additional Focus Questions: GMOs anchor chart (example for teacher reference).
    • Repeated routine: Invite students to reflect on their progress toward the relevant learning target.

    Homework

    Homework

    A. Independent Research Reading

    • Students read for at least 20 minutes in their independent research reading text. Then they select a prompt and write a response in their independent reading journal.

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