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.
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.
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.