12.3.1 Unit Overview a Seed Text as a Springboard to Engage in Research Texts Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond Students choose from the following research sources: Source #1: “Empowering Women is Smart Economics” by Ana Revenga and Sudhir Shetty Source #2: “Poverty Facts and Stats” by Anup Shah Source #3: “Evidence For Action: Gender Equality and Economic Growth” by John Ward, Bernice Lee, Baptist, and Helen Jackson Source #4: “How Many Americans Live in Poverty?” by Pam Fessler Source #5: “Human Capital Investment in the Developing World: An Analysis of Praxis” by Adeyemi O. Ogunade Source #6: “The Case for Universal Education for the World’s Poorest Boys and Girls” by Gene B. Sperling Source #7: “Education for All Global Monitoring Report, 2005” by UNESCO Source #8: “Bridging the Gender Divide: How Technology Can Advance Women Economically” by Kirrin Gill, Kim Brooks, James McDougall, Payal Patel, and Aslihan Kes Source #9: “Investing in Development: A Practical Plan to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals” by Jeffrey D. Sachs, et al. Source #10: “Economic Impacts of Broadband” by Christine Zhen-Wei and Carlo M. Rossotto with Kaoru Kimura in 2009 Information and Communications for Development: Extending Reach and Increasing Impact by World Bank Publications Number of Lessons in Unit 27
9 Students choose texts for research based on their 2–3 areas of investigation. In this lesson, students pause in their reading of Guns, Germs, and Steel, and begin to focus on specific aspects of an issue to craft areas of investigation. Students then engage in a pre-search activity to begin gathering sources for further research. This work develops students’ proficiency for posing general and specific questions, finding relevant sources, navigating a wide pool of potential sources, and validating the depth of and their interest in their proposed issues. Students use the Tool to record relevant information about the sources they find, including the author’s name, issue, source, location, publication date, and general content/key ideas. 10 Guns, Germs, and Steel, by Jared Diamond, pages 439–446 In this lesson, students continue to read and analyze 439–446 of Guns, Germs, and Steel. In this excerpt, Diamond extends several of the principles he has observed over the course of the book to present-day questions of business productivity and innovation. Students consider how Diamond further develops ideas previously explored in the text and apply their analysis independently in a written response at the beginning of the lesson. This response informs students’ participation in a whole-class discussion that follows. 11 Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond, pages 65–78, 229–249, and 439–446 In this lesson, students prepare for the Mid-Unit Assessment in 12.3.1 Lesson 12 by engaging in a discussion of Diamond’s claims in key excerpts from Guns, Germs, and Steel, analyzing whether his evidence is relevant and sufficient, and whether his reasoning is valid. 12 Guns, and Steel by Jared Diamond, pages 65–78, 229–249, and 439–446 In this lesson, the Mid-Unit Assessment, students use textual evidence from Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel and the Evaluating Evidence and Reasoning Tool from 12.3.1 Lesson 11 to craft a formal, multi-paragraph response to the following prompt: Choose an excerpt from Guns, Germs, and Steel. Identify one of Diamond’s supporting claims; evaluate whether the evidence is relevant and sufficient and the reasoning is valid to support that claim.