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Teacher guide · Phase 2

CHECK · Prepare evidence students can interrogate

Students identify actual sources, ask what each can and cannot establish, and classify claims as WE KNOW, WE THINK or WE DON’T KNOW.

Suggested time · About 50 minutesCore pack · 3–4 sources · groups use 2–3Student page · Open CHECK →

Lesson resources

Video

CHECK walkthrough

Before class · Prepare the evidence pack

Bring the FIND question and identified perspective. Prepare 3–4 accessible core sources. For a longer route, prepare 4–6 in total, including at least two that offer different information or positions. Groups begin with 2–3, not all six.

  • Choose source types suited to the question: objects, images, testimony, documents, catalogue entries, maps, statistics or a historian’s extract.
  • Identify exact passages/images, creator, date and provenance where known.
  • Retain a usable reference so students can answer “Which source shows it?” precisely.
  • Acknowledge missing information rather than filling it.
  • Select one source to model and include only the context needed to interpret it.

Prepare repeated source columns and a claims/second-source page. Print another source column only when students actually use an additional source.

Continue the FIND context · source cautions

  • Netherlands: the 1874 print supports a claim about celebrating reform; the Canon can complicate claims about coverage and enforcement.
  • Greece: the 1853 painting can support inquiry into later remembrance, not the private experience of a particular civilian in 1826.
  • Flanders: printing tools establish production and setting; a worker’s wage, choices or feelings need other evidence.
Timing · Keep the reasoning visible

Suggested 50-minute split: START 4, MODEL 7, INVESTIGATE 15, BIG TOOL 7, TRY IT 8, CHECK AGAIN 5, close 4. For 45 minutes: 4 / 6 / 13 / 6 / 8 / 5 / 3. These are transparent planning estimates. Readable, short extracts matter more than squeezing a large pack into one lesson.

Lesson at a glance · Preserve the six steps
  1. Source or door? Distinguish Google/ChatGPT/access websites from the particular document or object. A catalogue entry can itself be a source when its author and purpose are named.
  2. Reliable for what? Model WHO / WHEN / WHY / WHAT CAN IT TELL US / WHAT CAN’T IT TELL US. Avoid a global reliability score.
  3. Evidence detectives. Pairs/groups analyse 2–3 sources and judge whether each helps the question a lot, a little or not really.
  4. Know, Think, Don’t Know. Use the factory examples to distinguish direct support, reasonable inference and unsupported feelings. Categories depend on the available evidence.
  5. Try it. Require a supported WE KNOW, a reasoned WE THINK and a completed WE DON’T KNOW. The unknown box is not optional.
  6. Check it again. Test one claim against another source. Ask whether it becomes stronger, weaker or more complicated.
CHECKClose

Return to the missing perspective. Knowing more is not knowing everything. Keep the same three categories for COMPARE and all later phases.

Extend the same CHECK; do not restart it

With extra time, analyse an additional prepared source, repeat the second-source check and revise the same claims. Do not introduce another lesson, vocabulary set or worksheet.

If homework is assigned, ask for one claim, one additional source, its creator and location, then a revised category and reason. Supply a teacher-provided alternative for students without research access. The source curriculum adds no AI activity here.