Limiting+Science+and+Technology?

Original List: Penny Abstetar

I am using the trade books and websites listed below in a required English Language Arts (ELA) course. The largest unit of the second semester focuses on nine of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS): Reading Literary Text 1; Reading Literary Text 4; Reading Literary Text 10; Reading Informative Text 1; Reading Informative Text 4; Writing 1; Writing 7; Speaking and Listening 2; and, Language 3. The unit focuses around the essential question: Should there be limits on science and technology? Learners work their way through the defend, challenge, and qualify positions of argument in Writing standard 1 and are expected to read both assigned texts, such as Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, as well as self-selected materials in order to see how others might answer this question.

==== This class consists primarily of ninth grade learners in a high school with a wide variety of reading levels, including learners with a Specific Learning Disability and English Language Learners. I have chosen a variety of books within the recommended Lexile to 2012 CCSS Text Measure (Lexile-to-grade…, 2014) of 1050L to 1260L, as well as some both below and above those levels for readers with different needs. The books cover many areas connected to science and technology, including space, medicine, weather, and more. Several of the books were also nominated and/or won the YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults (1996-2014). ====

As a culminating activity in this unit, learners will be expected to write an argumentative essay in the Toulmin structure of argument in which they explore others who defend (agree with), challenge (disagree with), or qualify (both agree and disagree with) the essential question before taking and arguing their own position.

The trade books and websites listed can serve as options for their required outside reading, as well as for support for their argumentative essay and exploration of different claims related to the essential question.

__Books:__

__ Benson, M. (2009). //Beyond: A Solar system voyage//. New York: Henry N. Abrams Books. __ This is a photo-essay that shows large-photo images by various space organizations from space travel. Lexile: 1210

__ [|Chevat, R., & Pollan, M. (2009). //The omnivore's dilemma: the secrets behind what you eat// (Young readers ed.). New York: Dial Books.] __ This young adult version of Pollan’s adult book looks at where we get our food from and addresses both concerns and realities about today’s food sources. Lexile: 930

__ [|Jurmain, S. (2009). //The secret of the yellow death: a true story of medical sleuthing//. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.] __ This blend of text and photos looks at the early twentieth century mystery of the yellow death and how it was transmitted. It shares how the doctors who studied it approached their quest to find answers. Lexile: 1010

__ [|Martin, R., & Nibley, L. (2009). //The mysteries of Beethoven's hair////.// Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge.] __ Again, a young adult version of a book originally published for adults, it describes how the tradition of taking a lock of hair from the dead allowed scientists to study the long-dead Beethoven’s life, including the deafness and other medical issues he lived with. Lexile: 1400

__ [|Miller, R. (2014). //Chasing the storm: tornadoes, meteorology, and weather watching////.// Minneapolis, MN: Twenty First Century Books.] __ This book explores and tries to explain some of the more exciting weather phenomenon, along with providing some scientific experiments to learn more about weather on your own. Lexile: 1110

__Murphy, J., & Blank, A. (2012). //Invincible microbe: tuberculosis and the never-ending search for a cure ////.// Boston: Clarion Books. __ Another medical mystery, this book looks at the history of tuberculosis and how we still search in modern time to find a cure, not just a treatment, for this disease. (This is of particular interest in our building as we had one of the few outbreaks of tuberculosis in the United States just over a year ago.) Lexile: 1200

__ [|Patterson, J., & Friedman, H. (2010). //Med head: my knock-down, drag-out, drugged-up battle with my brain////.// New York: Little Brown & Co..] __ Another young adult version of a previously published adult book, this is the story of a young man with diagnosed psychological disorders and the challenges of finding the “right” medications and surviving their side effects. Lexile: not available

__ [|Skloot, R. (2010). //The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks////.// New York: Crown Publishers.] __ The story of a poor, black woman who died at age 31 of cervical cancer, and how the cells taken from her body changed the medical world in both good and bad ways, as well as the powerful impact it had on the family she left behind. Lexile: 1140

__ [|Turner, P. S., & Comins, A. (2009). //The frog scientist//. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children.] __ The story of how one young boy’s curiosity in the frogs he found in his own back yard led him to a career as a scientist who traveled the world studying the creature that first captured his interest. Lexile: 950 __ [|Walker, S. M., & Owsley, D. W. (2012).//Their skeletons speak: Kennewick man and the Paleoamerican world////.// Minneapolis: Carolrhoda Books.] __ When hikers stumble across skeletal remains, it leads to scientific testing that reveals the bones age of 9,000 years. The subsequent studies help to reveal more about what this ancient world was like. Lexile: 1140

__Websites:__

// Dihydrogen Monoxide (dhmo.org): // This site is deceptive in its reading as it seems like a genuine website exploring the “threat” of a chemical being spread into nature. In reality, Dihydrogen Monoxide is water (H 2 O) and this is a site created to explore reliability of websites, which makes the information shared quite humorous when the “mystery” is revealed.

// SciTechDaily (www.scitechdaily.com): // This site has much of the most recent news in science and technology and is divided into subcategories such as Biology, Space, Science, and Technology. This is highly technical reading for more skilled, confident, and/or interested readers.

// How Stuff Works (www.howstuffworks.com): // This site is much like it sounds and explains both the technical (coal rollers) and the interesting (television sweeps week). In addition, offers up “Top...lists” of things such as “films that changed filmmaking.”

// ProCon (www.procon.org) // //:// Provides research based arguments both for and against a wide variety of topics, including science and technology and health and medicine.

//Nobel Prize (nobelprize.org):// The official website of the Nobel Prize, this site has a wide variety of information related to the scientists who have won the award, the philosophy of those award-winning scientists along with those nominated, a history of the award, and the biographies and findings of scientists currently working in the field.