Developing Ideas and Evidence

Overview

This is lesson 5 of 10 in Voices for a Changing Climate. Students move from identifying environmental destruction to developing a focused, evidence-based position. They investigate a small selection of contrasting sources, test credibility, and organise ideas through social, environmental, economic, and cultural viewpoints.

Learning intentions

• WALT generate relevant ideas about environmental destruction.
• WALT select evidence that is credible, relevant, and useful.
• WALT explain how evidence supports an idea or viewpoint.
• WALT consider how an issue affects people, places, economies, and cultures.

Success criteria

• I can identify a clear issue and generate relevant questions about it.
• I can select evidence and explain why a source is trustworthy and useful.
• I can record examples and explanations in a planning grid.
• I can consider more than one perspective before forming a position.

Curriculum links

• English — student-read texts that encourage critical analysis by raising questions within and across texts.
• English — non-fiction texts with clear, straightforward arguments and rationales.
• English — non-fiction texts that broaden students’ worldviews through multiple perspectives.
• The New Zealand Curriculum competencies of thinking, using language, symbols, and texts, managing self, and participating and contributing.

Lesson structure (60 minutes)

1. 0–7 min · Hook and retrieval. Display a striking image of a damaged environment alongside a restored or protected version using the opening comparison slide. Students complete a quick-write: “What has happened here, who is affected, and what questions should we investigate?” Invite several responses and connect them to learning from the previous lesson.

2. 7–17 min · Model ideas and evidence. Use the credibility and viewpoint slides to distinguish an idea, an example, evidence, and an explanation. Model one claim about a chosen issue, such as plastic pollution or deforestation, then think aloud: “Who produced this information? What evidence is offered? What might the purpose or viewpoint be?” Students help classify two sample statements as fact, opinion, example, or explanation.

3. 17–27 min · Source investigation. Distribute the source investigation and planning grid. In pairs, students read the short, contrasting source extracts and annotate useful information. They use the prompts to identify the author or organisation, purpose, date, evidence, and perspective, then rank each source as highly useful, partly useful, or questionable. Clarify that a source can contain useful information while still presenting a limited viewpoint.

4. 27–40 min · Planning across viewpoints. Students choose one environmental destruction issue and complete the four viewpoint sections of the grid: social, environmental, economic, and cultural. For each section, they record one idea, one specific example or piece of evidence, and an explanation of how it supports the idea. Encourage students to consider who benefits, who carries the cost, whose knowledge or values are represented, and what may be missing.

5. 40–51 min · Collaborative evidence check. Form groups of four and ask each student to share one planned idea and its strongest evidence. Groups use the viewpoint discussion prompts to ask: “Is the evidence relevant?”, “Is the source credible?”, “Does the explanation show why it matters?”, and “What perspective is not yet included?” Students revise one entry in a different colour after receiving feedback.

6. 51–60 min · Synthesis and exit check. Return to the plenary and exit-question slide. Students independently complete the final section of the worksheet: “My most convincing idea is … My strongest evidence is … This matters because … A viewpoint I still need to investigate is …” Collect the grids to identify readiness for the next lesson, where students will shape a clear argument.

Resources

• the complete introduction, modelling, discussion, and plenary slide deck
• the source investigation and planning grid
• Four to six short, teacher-selected non-fiction source extracts about environmental destruction
• Projector or interactive display
• Highlighters or coloured pens
• Pens and student exercise books
• Timer

Assessment

• Listen during pair investigation for students distinguishing evidence from opinion and explaining source credibility.
• Check planning grids for a relevant issue, four viewpoints, specific evidence, and explanations rather than unsupported claims.
• Use the exit response to identify students who need support with credibility, perspective, or linking evidence to an idea.

Differentiation

• Provide a choice of issues and pre-highlight key evidence for students who need reading support. Offer sentence starters such as “This source is useful because …” and “This affects the community by …”.
• Pair students strategically and read difficult extracts aloud. Allow students to record ideas orally before writing; provide text-to-speech or enlarged copies where appropriate.
• Support EAL learners with a small teacher-created word bank for terms such as destruction, consequence, perspective, credible, evidence, and sustainability, with examples in context.
• Extend confident students by asking them to compare two sources that disagree, identify a possible bias or omission, and explain which source would be more convincing to a particular audience.