Block 7: Defenses + Unit Close
Define 'disclosure' as we use it in this course. Write one sentence using it about your own dossier.
Task: Pre-teach handout is your reference.
Answer in your Field Notebook, dated.
I can deliver my defense in the format I chose, answer at least one panelist question, and name one thing about my AI use I would change next time.
I can defend a claim under questioning, cite my evidence, and revise when someone shows me better reasoning.
"Engaging in Argument from Evidence"
Where this runs:
- U0 B6: Dossier Work Day 3 + Defense Rehearsal
- U0 B7: Defenses + Unit Close ← you are here
- U3 B10: Defense Rehearsal + Optional Final Iteration
- U3 B11: Final Defenses Day 1
- U3 B12: Final Defenses Day 2 + Unit Reflection
- U4 B11: Climate Brief Final Drafting + Panel Rehearsal
- U4 B12: Briefs Submitted + Policy Panel Q&A
Assessed:
Every defense (C strand): U0 Block 7 onward
On track looks like:
In Q&A you use the five moves, and 'I don't know, here's what would settle it' when true.
I choose when to use AI and when to think it through myself, and I can defend either choice.
In brief: "Decide whether AI is the right tool for a task before using it (paraphrased)"
Where this runs:
- U0 B3: AI as a Source + Documentation Protocol
- U0 B5: Source Dossier Work Day 2: AI Source + Documentation
- U0 B7: Defenses + Unit Close ← you are here
- U1 B8: Goldilocks Report Drafting: Substantive Writing Block
- U1 B10: NASA Committee Q&A + Unit Reflection
- U2 B8: Landscape Reading Drafting + Peer Feedback
- U4 B10: Climate Brief Work Day + Worked-Example Brief + Peer Feedback
- U4 B11: Climate Brief Final Drafting + Panel Rehearsal
Assessed:
AI-use log across the year; the defended not-using-AI reflection
On track looks like:
You can name a step where you chose NOT to use AI, and your reason survives a 'why?'
What today is about
First defense of the year. The room is on your side.
Dossier and AI Documentation due at the start of this block, in Google Classroom. Defenses run for the rest of the period. Submit to "S - Unit 0 Source Dossier", which stays open until Tuesday 1 September. Use the Dossier Assembly Checklist as your cover sheet: it is in Classroom.
Submit via Google Classroom (link posted in August)Today is the first of the eight defenses you'll give across the year. 5-minute pitch + 2-minute Q&A; 8–10 students defend live; the rest submit the written essay defense, which Ms. Jayanthi/Mr. Ignash reviews after class. The point isn't perfection; it's the rep, one practice round of many. Seven more defenses follow this one. Use today to learn what you sound like under questioning.
The unit closes with a reflection on what you learned about how you think (not what you learned about contested topics) and a preview of Unit 1. Unit 1 will use the OPVL muscle you just built: same framework, applied to planetary science sources.
Before you start the work
Start with the Watch: projected at the start for everyone. The Read is there if you want to settle nerves before going up.
Today's work: the defenses themselves
No choice board today. The block runs on a roster: 8–10 students defend live; everyone else either delivers in alt format (asynchronous review) or sits as panelist-observer for at least one live defense.
Open your Class Notebook and type today's entry header as Heading 2:
A: Sep 1 | U0 B7 | Defenses + Unit CloseB: Aug 31 | U0 B7 | Defenses + Unit Close
What you're submitting today
Two things, on top of the dossier that came in at the start of the block: the defense itself and a one-paragraph AI Doc reflection.
The defense (live recording or written response) is captured by end of class. The AI Doc reflection (one paragraph: "what would I do differently next time I use AI on a dossier-scale task?") gets appended to your dossier.
Submit via Google Classroom (link posted in August)One question before you leave
Three to five minutes. Your answer is saved to your reflection journal, where you can read back everything you have written this year.
Unit-close reflection. This one matters: it's about how YOU think, not about the topic.
Today's reflection is in Google Classroom, under Reflection Journal.
Link posted in AugustSign in with your school account. Your teacher can see what you write here.
Where we go next
Unit 1 asks: what makes a planet habitable? Same OPVL muscle, applied to planetary-science sources (NASA data, exoplanet detection papers, atmospheric chemistry textbook chapters). You'll write the Goldilocks Report and defend your habitability framework against a NASA-committee panel. Same defense format you just survived, just with a new topic and slightly more technical sources.
The framework you built this unit (OPVL + AI Documentation Protocol) doesn't get retaught. It gets used. Lovelock (1965) (the life-detection paper you OPVL'd in Blocks 2 + 3) is also still relevant: U1 Block 1 picks it up again as the bridge into habitability work, because "how would we recognize life elsewhere?" is the same question as "what makes a planet habitable?" If something feels shaky from Unit 0, the Foundations pages stay live all year.