Forensic Anthropology and the Science of Solving Crime (Grades 7-8)

In this unit, students learn about the field of forensic anthropology and develop their understanding of methods for reading complex informational texts. Through their readings, writings, and discussions of the four unit's texts, students learn to discern central ideas from supporting ones. They also learn how to analyze the methods writers use to teach readers about unfamiliar topics and domains. Four informational texts 4-6 weeks instruction Explanation writing   What is this unit about? As part of this unit, students read four informational texts on the subject of forensic anthropology and complete three assessment tasks. The assessment tasks build in complexity and are sequenced to scaffold student learning. They provide an opportunity for teachers (and students) to formatively assess students’ understanding of the content they have read before being presented with a major writing task in the final assessment. A primary focus of this unit is learning how to determine centr