For the last few weeks, the 4th grade students have been investigating closely some “facts” as presented by the Snapple Real Facts (printed inside the bottle caps.) We discussed the validity of various forms of sources and discovered that what really matters is the expertise of the person/people responsible for providing the information for these sources: be they books, online databases, blogs, organizations, websites, newspapers or magazines, etc.
The following is the information gathered by Younge House students for an internal “database” residing on the School’s course management site. The 4th Grade Snapple Real Facts Buster is a searchable, sortable, full functioning database — but only accessible for those with valid login IDs and PWs.
| Real Facts #: |
110
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| Real Fact Text: |
Frogs never drink.
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| Conclusion: |
Partially True
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| Explanation of Findings: |
Research shows that frogs do drink, though not directly through their mouths. Frogs absorb water through their skin. To us, drinking is swallowing a liquid. Sammy and I have checked through The American Museum of Natural History. It was simple and easy to find this information. If the people at Snapple meant that frogs don’t drink the way humans do, then they are correct, but they should make it clear that that is what they mean. This is a great source because it is a museum that is for the specific purpose of teaching about the natural world. We can also trust the book Smithsonian Institution Animal The Definitive Visual Guide To The World’s Wildlife because it was published which means it was checked to see if all the information was correct.
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| Source 1: |
Website: http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/frogs/life/skin.php
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| Source 2: |
Book: Smithsonian Institution Animal The Definitive Visual Guide To The World’s Wildlife
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| Source 3: | |
| Student Names: |
Mia and Sammy
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| Real Facts #: |
243
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| Real Fact Text: |
If you put all the streets in New York City in a straight line,they would stretch to Japan.
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| Conclusion: |
All True
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| Explanation of Findings: |
First, I used Google Maps to find that 9,585 miles is the distance from New York City to Japan.The department of transportation says that there is 11,000 miles of local streets. This was a very hard problem.
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| Source 1: |
Google maps
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| Source 2: |
The DOT (Department of Transportation) website
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| Source 3: | |
| Student Names: |
Ryan
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| Additional Sources: | |
| Real Facts #: |
251
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| Real Fact Text: |
There are more French restaurants in New York City than in Paris.
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| Conclusion: |
Partially True
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| Explanation of Findings: |
This fact is VERY hard to verify. We have searched countless sites. According to Zagat.com, there are 608 French restaurants in Paris and 286 French restaurants, in NYC. But on timeout magazine there are 4 French restaurants and 230 French restaurants in NYC. On the about us page on Zagat.com it says that it takes anybody’s contributions. |
| Source 1: |
Zagat.com
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| Source 2: |
Time out NY
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| Source 3: |
Time out PAris
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| Student Names: |
Chloe and Kate
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| Additional Sources: | |
| Real Facts #: |
327
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| Real Fact Text: |
Chewing gum was invented in New York City in 1870 by Thomas Adams
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| Conclusion: |
Partially True
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| Explanation of Findings: |
This fact is hard to verify because they each had two different answers. For our research source we used about.com with the help of google and checked it with a bunch of others including answer.com. Wikipedia also helped us and had basically the same answer. We realized that Thomas Adams did NOT invent chewing gum, he just did experiments from the gum the Native Americans created from sap, and made it better.
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| Source 1: |
Encyclopedia
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| Source 2: |
About.com
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| Source 3: | |
| Student Names: |
Jamie and Kayla
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| Additional Sources: | |
| Real Facts #: |
706
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| Real Fact Text: |
Steel is 100% recyclable.
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| Conclusion: |
All True
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| Explanation of Findings: |
I learned that steel is100% recyclable. From three web sites. 2 said that steel is 100% recyclable and the other said that steel knots are 100% recyclable. So since it is 2 to 1 the 2 wins. It was easy to find the answer. Euofer.org Is a good website that has info on material |
| Source 1: |
http://www.eurofer.org/index.php/eng/content/download/517/3071/file/SteelRecycling.pdf
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| Source 2: |
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| Source 3: | |
| Student Names: |
Nate
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| Additional Sources: | |
| Real Facts #: |
800
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| Real Fact Text: |
Most lipstick contains fish scales
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| Conclusion: | |
| Explanation of Findings: |
It is hard to verify this information.
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| Source 1: | |
| Source 2: | |
| Source 3: | |
| Student Names: |
Zachary W
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| Additional Sources: | |
| Real Facts #: |
838
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| Real Fact Text: |
Cranberries are sorted for ripeness by bouncing them
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| Conclusion: |
All True
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| Explanation of Findings: |
At first Nicky thought it was false and Will wasn’t sure. After, we looked for a reliable source.
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| Source 1: |
Foodsiteoftheday.com
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| Source 2: | |
| Source 3: | |
| Student Names: |
Will and Nicky
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| Additional Sources: | |
| Real Facts #: |
855
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| Real Fact Text: |
Oregon has more ghost towns than any other U.S state.
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| Conclusion: | |
| Explanation of Findings: |
At first it was challenging to find a reliable source that gave us the facts we needed. Then we found a reliable site that gave us the facts we wanted, but then we found another good site and the information is contradicting. So we still don’t know what the real conclusion is.
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| Source 1: |
http://www.ghosttowns.com/
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| Source 2: |
http://www.traveloregon.com/explore-
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| Source 3: | |
| Student Names: |
Younge Kaylen Hunte, and Zachary Love
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| Additional Sources: | |
| Real Facts #: |
858
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| Real Fact Text: |
New Jersey is home to the world’s first drive-in movie theater.
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| Conclusion: |
All True
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| Explanation of Findings: |
This fact is on the harder side to find. The search engine I used was Google. I trust the New Jersey state website the most because it is the official website of New Jersey. As for the words that I searched, I do not remember the exact words that I used to search for the answer of this fact.
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| Source 1: |
http://www.state.nj.us/hangout_nj/200403_driveins_p1.html,
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| Source 2: |
http://www.marshu.com/articles/nj-drive-in-movie-theaters-
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| Source 3: |
http://www.marshu.com/articles/nj-drive-in-movie-theaters-new-jersey-drive-ins.php
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| Student Names: |
Marco
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| Additional Sources: | |
| Real Facts #: |
885
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| Real Fact Text: |
Vultures can fly for six hours without flapping their wings
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| Conclusion: | |
| Explanation of Findings: |
We know that they are excellent soaring birds but we don’t know the exact number hours it can soar. We know it can fly without flapping wings for hours.
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| Source 1: |
Website: http://worldbookonline.com/student/article?id=ar588980&st=vultures
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| Source 2: |
Website/Organization: National Audubon society
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| Source 3: | |
| Student Names: |
Shaan and Henry
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| Additional Sources: | |
| Real Facts #: |
890
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| Real Fact Text: |
The number 1 or the word one appears sixteen times on the dollar bill.
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| Conclusion: |
All True
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| Explanation of Findings: |
We know that the number 1, or the word “one” appears 16 times on the dollar bill because Clio counted.
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| Source 1: |
The 1 dollar bill
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| Source 2: |
experiment
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| Source 3: |
Clio
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| Student Names: |
Clio and Susannah
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| Additional Sources: | |
