Learning Enrichment Opportunities

Assignment option # 1 -- Read a science article and find answers to the basic questions — Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? — that journalists ask to relay the news.

Assignment option # 2 -- Choose any science related “breaking news” stories from today's newspaper, then, without reading any of the news stories further, choose one of the news events and theorize about what possible causes led to that event. Read the news article in its entirety and complete the “Identifying Cause and Effect” diagram by identifying any additional causes of the event and adding any of its effects (described in the article). Understand that some “effects” may also act as additional “causes.” You might also predict future effects or even “effects of effects” that might result from this news event.

Assignment option # 3 -- Use this assignment to make connections between science articles you read and your own life, other texts and the world around you.

Assignment option # 4 -- Use the Fact, Question, Response worksheet to chart your thinking as you read a science article. In the “Fact” column, record interesting or useful factual information you learn about the topic. In the “Question” column, write a list of questions that occur to you as you read. Finally, in the “Response” column, make a list of responses to the article, either as they occur to you or in direct relation to one of the facts or questions you've listed.

Assignment option # 5 --Sometimes it is easier to interpret statistics or data presented in a graph rather than written about in an article. Find a science article that you believe could benefit from the addition of a graph to illustrate statistical data found in the article. Draw the type of graph (line, bar or circle) that you think could best illustrate the data from the chosen article. Graphs can be drawn on the “A Graphic Interpretation” sheet.

Assignment option # 6 -- Locate any charts or graphs found in today’s newspaper, clip out one of the graphs and paste it onto the “A Graph Is Worth a Thousand Words, or at Least 50…” sheet. Complete the sheet by explaining in writing what your chosen graph represents.

Assignment option # 7 -- Choose a science article from that describes an event or topic and multiple perspectives or points of view about the particular news story. Understand that points of view may be explicitly stated in the article or inferred by the reader. At the bottom of the “Multiple Points of View” sheet, choose two of the four points of view and summarize your feelings or reactions to the subject of the article in more detail.

Assignment option # 8 -- React to a science article in a format called a “one-pager.” In this exercise, you will draw an illustration that captures some aspect of the article. You will also include a quote from the article that seems important to you, and pose a question for the journalist or for someone mentioned in the article.

Assignment option # 9 -- Filmmakers create storyboards to help them visualize particular scenes before they begin to actually start production on a movie or show. Choose a science article that you could retell in pictures using the storyboard format provided on the “Telling a Times Story: Reinterpreting News Through a Storyboard” sheet. Draw images in each of the six frames to graphically represent different sections of the article or to retell the event described in the article. Finally, provide a caption for each of the frames that “captures” the essence of each image; these captions could be original or quotations from the text of the article.

Assignment option # 10 -- Although newspapers feature many factual or objective news articles, newspapers also contain subjective pieces or persuasive writing such as editorials, op-eds, reviews and essays. Read an editorial or op-ed article related to science. Select one opinion and one related fact stated in the article. Then, develop a counter-argument that someone could pose in opposition to the opinion expressed in the article.

Assignment option # 11-- Use this graphic organizer below to compare two different science topics or issues covered in the news. Write characteristics of the first thing in the first space on the left. Write characteristics of the second thing in the last space on the right. List any characteristics the two have in common in the space in the middle. Then draw a conclusion about the relationship between the two.

Assignment option # 12-- Use the questions below to help you think about the relationship between two or more texts of any kind. Use the back of the sheet if you need more room to write.

Assignment option # 13-- Answer as many of the questions as you can to analyze any primary document, whether a newspaper article, letter, diary entry, map, advertisement or anything else.

Assignment option # 14-- Use the chart to keep track of arguments about a controversial science issue covered in The New York Times. First, write a statement of purpose or policy summing up the scientific issue, then use a Times article or articles to list arguments for or against (pro or con) the statement.