Principles of an Argument Teacher Resources

When in the course of a course on historic American events, it becomes necessary for learners to examine, with decent respect, the Declaration of Independence, it becomes evident that there are six separate and equal parts of that...

In this argument instructional activity, students pick different sides to be on for different arguments and conduct a debate on topics such as Facebook, mobile phones in schools, and more. Students conduct debates for 7 topics and fill...

Young scholars examine how religion affected arguments justifying American independence. They read and analyze primary source documents, and write an essay analyzing how Americans used religious arguments to justify revolution against a...

Did she cheat on her husband? Did the hospital switch the babies? Should they have children? As much as this sounds like the plot for a soap opera, all of these questions fit into a single lesson on genetics. Scholars read about three...

One of the hardest skills for many young geometers to grasp is to move beyond just declaring obvious things true, and really returning to fundamental principles for proof. This brief exercise stretches those proving muscles as the...

Persuade your writers that crafting arguments is not that difficult. They only need to follow the steps outlined in this resource.

Circles, circles, everywhere! Pupils learn all about circles, central angles, inscribed angles, circle theorems, arc length, area of sectors, and radian measure using a set of 12 lessons. They then discover volume formulas through...

Several graphs help to illustrate the dynamics of international trade in this slideshow. World prices, imports and exports, and the economic impact of tariffs are detailed in the presentation, along with arguments for free trade and the...

What is the relationship between a hemisphere, a cone, and a cylinder? Using Cavalieri's Principle, the class determines that the sum of the volume of a hemisphere and a cone with the same radius and height equals the volume of a...

Proving triangles are similar is often an exercise in applying one of the many theorems young geometers memorize, like the AA similarity criteria. But proving that the criteria themselves are valid from basic principles is a great...

"How did the slavery system undermine the United States' democratic principles?" This question launches a study of how the Preamble to the Declaration of Independence, Article I, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution, and Article IV,...

Odd or even—fifty-fifty chance? Pupils first conduct an experiment rolling a pair of dice to generate data in a probability lesson. It goes on to introduce mutually exclusive and non-mutually exclusive events, and how to use the...

Choose a side! Pupils watch and read several nonfiction resources about zoos. After gathering their research, they choose a side either for or against closing zoos. Scholars complete KWL charts, anticipation guides, flow charts, and...

Oxford professor E.E. Evans-Pritchard's Witchcraft, Oracles, and Magic among the Azande is credited with developing the field of social anthropology. Introduce viewers to his argument that in the absence of science, societies like the...

Students investigate ways to enhance an object's flying ability.  In this model construction lesson, students construct two paper airplanes, one of which is twice as big as the first.  Students compare and contrast the two...

Genetic modification is a hot topic in the science and political world. A complete unit gives learners an opportunity to research genetic modification, play an interactive genetic engineering simulation, and interact with the information...

Blaise Pascal's pessimism makes way for his readers' optimism, with his famous contemplative work, Pensées. High schoolers watch a short video that summarizes the historical philosopher's worldview and most popular aphorisms.

Tenth graders compare and contrast the immigration reform policies of Presidents Reagan and Bush. For this immigration lesson, 10th graders examine primary documents related to each president's policy for immigration reform. Students...

While the Constitutional Convention lay the foundation of the new government for the United States, the protections given under the Bill of Rights were controversial. Using documents, such as James Madison's and Thomas Jefferson's...

Students determine how free press principles can be compromised. For this global studies lesson, students read an article titled "Free and Independent Press." Students respond to discussion questions regarding the article.

Do the government's affirmative action policies promote equity in the United States? The Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution and affirmative action policies come under scrutiny in an activity that asks class members to...

Class members investigate The Indian Removal Act of 1830, U.S. Theft of Mexican Territory Timeline, and President Abraham Lincoln’s letter to Horace Greeley, 1862, and then conduct a mock trial of each of these documents to determine...

Thomas Malthus posed the most famous, and most easily disproven, theory about projected population growth in economic history. What did he get wrong—and why? Explore the Malthusian Theory of Population with a Crash Course video that...

While it may seem incredibly obvious to the geometry student that congruent sides make congruent triangles, the proving of this by definition actually takes a bit of work. This exercise steps the class through this kind of proof by...