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Mike Accorsi Exploring Research Bias Program Title: Neanderthals on Trial Subject(s): Social Studies Grade Level: 11

Mike Accorsi and students review materials related to the John F. Kennedy assassination case.

Eleventh grade students at Junipero Serra High School in San Mateo, California, are learning how to write a convincing and persuasive argument. In January of each year, Accorsi assigns each of his U.S. History classes a case to investigate, such as the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the effectiveness of the Vietnam War, or the conditions of coal miners in nineteenth-century Pennsylvania.

Each class is divided into two teams, which adopt opposing positions. Students then choose a subtopic for study. For example, when the class topic was the assassination of JFK, subtopics included the crime scene, ballistics evidence, autopsy, and single shooter vs. multiple shooter theory. Within each team, students work in pairs to research evidence that supports their team's point of view.

Leading into the final project, Accorsi introduces the idea that bias can influence research and data interpretation. To illustrate this, he shows a part of "Neanderthals on Trial," in which an anthropologist notes: "We delude ourselves into believing that the variations that we can measure, those bumps, those grooves, those little nodules coming out of a skull, that those actually give us information that answer the questions we're asking in the first place. And ... they may not." Accorsi then shows the film "12 Angry Men" to help students think about how making convincing arguments can influence how others view data.

As the spring semester unfolds, students work independently to gather evidence and conduct an expert interview. In May, team members debate for five consecutive days, spending each day on one subtopic. Students also turn in a research paper on the day they present. At the end of the week, each side writes a one-page conclusion that is given to school administrators who provide feedback about which argument they feel is the most persuasive.

Accorsi, who has been teaching for five years, says that often during the spring semester students change their minds as they do their research. In a concluding activity, Accorsi asks students if the viewpoint they presented also represents their own belief. He said that these two were often not the same.

For more information about Accorsi's project, you can e-mail him at: MAccorsi@serrahs.com —Kristina Ransick