6th Grade Latin America DBQ

(Document Based Question)

TEKS: 6.10B Economics. The student understands categories of economic activities and the data used to measure a society’s economic level. The student is expected to describe levels of economic development of various societies using indicators such as life expectancy, gross domestic product (GDP), GDP per capita, and literacy.

Procedures:

This assessment can be given “as is” after students complete the World Cultures Alive lesson: Evaluating Economic Development in Latin America. Students would choose 3 documents to support their answer, OR, this can be the activity for students to complete stations in class and answer assessment question once complete. Since this is the first DBQ, you will want to spend some time teaching students how to analyze the question and develop a thesis statement.

DBQ Question:

Analyze the validity of this statement: Brazil’s economy is more developed than Cuba’s. (Include 3 documents in your response.

RUBRIC
6th Grade: Second Nine Weeks
Latin America - Document Based Question
Novice
24 points / Apprentice
27 points / Practitioner
30 points / Expert
33 points / Total
Understanding
Does the student understand and answer the document based question? / Student does not address the question/statement completely; Needs teacher assistance in using the documents. / Student addresses the question/statement; Needs some teacher assistance in using the documents. / Student addresses all aspects of the question/statement; able to incorporate the documents successfully as evidence/support. / Student response to the question/ statement reflects independent thought; student uses appropriate and detailed analysis of all documents.
Strategies, Reasoning, Procedures
Does the student plan and execute the task appropriately using social studies skills? / Needs extensive assistance to use documents to complete the DBQ. / Demonstrates effective use of documents to complete the DBQ. / Uses critical thinking skills to use documents to complete the DBQ. / Demonstrates refined, complex reasoning while using documents to complete the DBQ.
Communication
Does the student communicate ideas and social studies concepts clearly to an appropriate audience? / DBQ essay includes limited idea, development and organization. / DBQ essay represents the basic idea but with minimal detail. / DBQ essay includes a thoughtful answer with well-organized supporting details. / DBQ essay includes a sophisticated complex answer with well thought out supporting details citing specific examples.
Comments:
TOTAL

Document C: Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for selected countries.

1.  Where does Brazil rank compared to other large countries with the potential for 5-7% growth?

2.  When compared to China, Brazil has a higher or lower GDP per capita?

3.  How does this document help you determine the development level of Brazil?

Document E: Comparing Health biotechnology in Brazil and Cuba, 1991-2002

1.  Which country shown has completed more research in biotechnology?

2.  How many more papers did Brazil produce than Cuba from 2000-2002?

3.  How does this chart help determine the economic level of the two countries?


Bucketing – Getting Ready to Write

Bucketing

Look over all the documents and organize them into buckets. Write labels under each bucket and place the letters of the documents in the buckets where they belong. It is O.K. to put a document in more than one bucket. That is called multi-bucketing, but you need a good reason for doing so.

Thesis Development and Road Map

On the chicken foot below, write your thesis and your road map. Your thesis is always an opinion and answers the main question. The road map is created from your bucket labels and lists the topic areas you will examine in order to prove your thesis.

Essay Outline Guide

Working Title

Paragraph #1

Grabber

Background

Stating the question with key terms defined

Thesis and road map

Paragraph #2

Baby Thesis for bucket one

Evidence: Supporting details from documents with document citation

Argument: connecting evidence to the thesis

Paragraph #3

Baby Thesis for bucket two

Evidence:

Argument:

Paragraph #4

Baby Thesis for bucket three

Evidence:

Argument:

Paragraph #5

Conclusion: Restatement of main idea along with possible insight.