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Claim Bucket Sorter

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About This MicroSim

Claim verification compares each planned poster claim with what its sources actually say and sorts it into one of four buckets:

Bucket Meaning On the poster
VERIFIED A specific number matches a specific paper, with a quoted passage Use the exact number
DIRECTIONAL The direction is well established but the number differs across studies Use a range or the best-supported single study
QUALITATIVE-ONLY The effect is supported but not reliably quantified Use a word such as "lower", with no invented percentage
REJECTED No credible source Remove it, or replace it with a verified claim

Each card shows one evidence record: a planned claim, the type of source (peer-reviewed article, meta-analysis, marketing page, or blog post citing unnamed studies), and a quoted passage. Drag the card into a bucket, or press the keys 1 to 4. Feedback appears at once and names the rule that decides the case, for example "a marketing page with no primary paper cannot verify a number."

The twelve records are invented practice items and contain no real statistics. They are built around the traps the chapter describes: a meta-analysis cited for a number that belongs to one of its studies, the top of a range printed as if it were the result, a qualitative claim that cannot be VERIFIED because it has no number, and a peer-reviewed source that contradicts the claim it is cited for. A meta-analysis's own pooled estimate, by contrast, can be VERIFIED.

A correct sort earns 10 points. Show rule reveals the question that decides the record, but halves its points to 5. After the last record, a summary lists the missed records grouped by pattern. The records live in data.json, so the same sketch can sort a different record set.

Learning objective: The learner will classify evidence records for a planned claim as VERIFIED, DIRECTIONAL, QUALITATIVE-ONLY or REJECTED, and will justify each choice from the quoted passage and the source type.

Bloom's taxonomy level: Evaluate (verb: classify)

How to Use

  1. Read the claim, the source type and the quoted passage on the card.
  2. Drag the card into the bucket you choose, or press 1, 2, 3 or 4.
  3. Read the feedback and the rule. The bucket you chose turns red if it was wrong, and the correct bucket turns green.
  4. Press Next record. If you are unsure before sorting, press Show rule first.
  5. After the twelfth record, press See summary, then Restart for a new shuffled round.

The bucket definitions sit in a side panel on wide screens. Below 700 pixels the panel is hidden and each bucket shows a short definition, and below 500 pixels the buckets reflow into a two-by-two grid.

Iframe Embed Code

You can add this MicroSim to any web page by adding this to your HTML:

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<iframe src="https://dmccreary.github.io/microsims/sims/claim-bucket-sorter/main.html"
        height="552px"
        width="100%"
        scrolling="no"></iframe>

Lesson Plan

Audience

Teachers, instructional designers, learning-technology developers and learning-analytics practitioners (college undergraduate and professional development).

Duration

15-20 minutes

Prerequisites

  • The Finding and Verifying Sources section of Chapter 11
  • The difference between a primary study and a review or meta-analysis

Activities

  1. Sort (10 min): Sort all twelve records. Before each drop, say aloud which words in the passage and which source type decide the bucket.
  2. Justify (5 min): For every missed record in the summary, write one sentence that names the rule you should have applied.
  3. Extend (5 min): In pairs, write one new record for a pattern you missed, with a claim, a source type, a passage and the correct bucket, and trade it with another pair.

Assessment

  • Score out of 120 and the number of rules shown.
  • Written justifications for missed records, each naming the passage evidence and the source type.
  • A learner-written record that is sorted correctly by another learner.

References

  1. Meta-analysis - Wikipedia - How a meta-analysis pools results across studies, and why its pooled estimate differs from any one study's number.
  2. Primary source - Wikipedia - The distinction between original research and sources that report on it.
  3. Fact-checking - Wikipedia - Background on verifying claims against sources.
  4. p5.js loadJSON() reference - The function that loads the practice records from data.json.