What Are the Claim Testers?
BIG HISTORY PROJECT / LESSON 1.4ACTIVITY WHAT ARE THE CLAIM TESTERS?1Unless otherwise noted, this work is licensed under CC BY 4.0. Credit: “What Are the Claim Testers?”, OER Project, https://www.oerproject.com/PurposeTesting claims will not only help you evaluate claims made in Big History,but those made bypeople throughout your life.Process1.There arefour different ways we test claims in the Big History course. We call these four methods claim testers. Claimsare statements that people make about something they believe to be true or that they want you to believe to be true.Key informationClaim testers include:•Intuition—Having a gut feeling, such as when the support for a claim just “seems” right.•Logic—Carefully thinking about a claim to see if it makes sense.•Authority—Accepting a claim from a credible (believable) and trustworthy source.•Evidence—Gathering verified information, such as data, examples, or expert testimony, that supports the claim (for example, when we test a hypothesis in science class).
BIG HISTORY PROJECT / LESSON 1.4ACTIVITY WHAT ARE THE CLAIM TESTERS?22.Which of the claim testers do you think you use the most in your life? Why?3.Which of the claim testers do you think is the most important to use when you’re trying to decide if a claim is true or false? Why?
BIG HISTORY PROJECT / LESSON 1.4ACTIVITY WHAT ARE THE CLAIM TESTERS?34.Review the claims in the table below and decide if you agree or disagree. Then, write a one-sentence explanation for why you either agreed or disagreed with the claim,and state which claim tester you used to make your decision.ClaimCircle oneWhy? Which claim tester did you use?The Earth is flat.AgreeDisagreeIt’s OK to eat something that’s been dropped on the floor as long asyou pick it up within five seconds. AgreeDisagreeWe know more about the surface of the Moon than the bottom of the sea.AgreeDisagreeIn the Southern Hemisphere, summer starts in the month of December.AgreeDisagreeThe Universe is 13.8 billion years old.AgreeDisagree