Annotating a Science Article on Earth's Interior
A 10th-grade annotation and summary guide built around the news article "It's a planet within a planet," which explores scientists' evidence about Earth's deep interior. Students use a symbol key to mark data, open questions, and established facts, then record margin notes and write a summary to practice close reading, paraphrasing complex science, and separating evidence from hypothesis. It works well as a single-class-period activity or as a scaffold for independent reading of informational science texts.
“Create an annotation guide and summary guide to go with this news article”
Teacher Guide & Tips
- Introduce the symbol key ([ D ] for data, [ ? ] for inquiry, [ ! ] for established facts) with a quick modeled annotation of one paragraph before students work independently, which typically takes about 10 minutes.
- Discussion question: Which claims in the article are supported by direct measurements, and which depend on theories still being debated, such as the 'Moon link' idea?
- Scaffold for struggling readers: Provide a short glossary of terms like seismic waves and ULVZs, and have them annotate one section with a partner before tackling the full article.
- Extension for advanced students: Ask them to evaluate how the article's framing of uncertainty compares with a primary research source on the same topic, then revise their summary to reflect the tension.
- Plan roughly 45 to 60 minutes total: about 20 minutes reading and annotating, 10 minutes on margin notes, and 15 to 20 minutes drafting and sharing the summary.
What is Diffit?
Teachers use Diffit to get quality materials for their unique classrooms. Adjust difficulty, add scaffolds, or change the topic to get started.
Try Diffit for free“Create an annotation guide and summary guide to go with this news article”
Teacher Guide & Tips
- Introduce the symbol key ([ D ] for data, [ ? ] for inquiry, [ ! ] for established facts) with a quick modeled annotation of one paragraph before students work independently, which typically takes about 10 minutes.
- Discussion question: Which claims in the article are supported by direct measurements, and which depend on theories still being debated, such as the 'Moon link' idea?
- Scaffold for struggling readers: Provide a short glossary of terms like seismic waves and ULVZs, and have them annotate one section with a partner before tackling the full article.
- Extension for advanced students: Ask them to evaluate how the article's framing of uncertainty compares with a primary research source on the same topic, then revise their summary to reflect the tension.
- Plan roughly 45 to 60 minutes total: about 20 minutes reading and annotating, 10 minutes on margin notes, and 15 to 20 minutes drafting and sharing the summary.
Annotating a Science Article on Earth's Interior
A 10th-grade annotation and summary guide built around the news article "It's a planet within a planet," which explores scientists' evidence about Earth's deep interior. Students use a symbol key to mark data, open questions, and established facts, then record margin notes and write a summary to practice close reading, paraphrasing complex science, and separating evidence from hypothesis. It works well as a single-class-period activity or as a scaffold for independent reading of informational science texts.
What is Diffit?
Teachers use Diffit to get quality materials for their unique classrooms. Adjust difficulty, add scaffolds, or change the topic to get started.
Try Diffit for free