Structured Academic Controversy

for Upper Sec Social Studies

Name of Teacher: Mohammad Suhaimi
School: East Spring Sec
Topic: Northern Ireland
Level: Sec 3N

What was the issue discussed?

Which were the sources used?
Issue: The presence of the British Army was to
blame for the violence that occurred in
Northern Ireland. Do you agree?
Sources: Refer to PPT

How well did students analyse the sources?

How prepared were they to present their best
case to the other team?
Student spoke briefly to each other (first level pairshare format)
Some students could link what happened in the picture
with their viewpoint (oppose or propose)
Some students did not understand how one source
supported the inquiry question.
How prepared were they? They were not well
prepared. There was too little scaffolding and the
worksheet could be more structured other than just
the levels of inference.
They may need more information on the conflict
written down rather than just discussed.

What were some of the skills you were aiming to develop

during the process where teams shared perspectives?
Share your reflections on how well students learnt these
skills.

Critical thinking Through looking at source

details to support their answer
Note taking Through the powerpoint
presentation at the beginning of the lesson
Information gathering in their own pairs, they
could discuss which part of the source relates to
which event
Interpretation-analysis of source to be able to
understand, make sense of the source and link it
opposition or proposition and why

How was consensus reached with the

knowledge which each of the teams
constructed?
Time too short but consensus seem to be from asking
opinions
Most of them finally said the British were mainly at
fault
Only 1 group showed that British were not at fault
They may be weaker at looking at the cartoon and
interpreting it
Some did not manage to see that one of the photos
showed the British having a positive impact as people
were smiling they need to be more observant and
know that sources may be multi faceted and may need
to look deeper.

Share your reflections on some of your

learning points
Overall, its a workable lesson. Need more scaffolding for the mid to
low ability students.
They may need time for internalising the information to make it
into a more planned and structured inquiry rather than just a once
off lesson.
Discussions were still muted. They are not used to sharing their
opinions and effective discussion so still have people who are just
passengers.
Did see some who are normally quiet voicing their opinions. So this
is good.
Concluding remarks by teachers need to be thought out. E.g. Why
are we discussing this? Whats the value of taking different
perpectives?

What improvements you would make?

More structure
Scaffolding needed
More involvement in the finding of sources
More student involvement in crafting the
question.
Make the unpacking of the question more
significant (maybe student led)