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STAAR History Reading Passages — Grades 4–8

Six Overlooked Scientists Who Changed the World

Expanded Edition — Multi-Level Reading with DOK Framework

 

 

ELA State Standards: CCSS ELA — Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.

 

How to Use This Document

This expanded reading guide includes six detailed passages about overlooked scientists, each written at a progressively higher reading level. Each passage is followed by its target Words Per Minute (WPM) reading rate, which helps teachers and students understand the complexity of that text.

After the passages you will find:

•       A full Tier 2 and Tier 3 Academic Vocabulary section with definitions

•       An explanation of DOK (Depth of Knowledge) Levels 1–4

•       DOK-leveled comprehension questions (including two-part questions at DOK 2–4)

•       Multiple writing extension activities

•       A student study guide

 

Words Per Minute (WPM) Targets by Grade:

•       Grade 4: 80–110 WPM

•       Grade 5: 110–130 WPM

•       Grade 6: 120–140 WPM

•       Grades 7–8: 140–160+ WPM

 

 

 

Passage 1 — Alice Augusta Ball (Beginner Level)

Target Audience: Grade 4 | Reading Level: Lexile 580–650L

 

Section A: Early Life

Alice Augusta Ball was born on July 24, 1892, in Seattle, Washington. She grew up in a family that valued education very much. Her grandfather, James Presley Ball, was a famous photographer, and her father worked as a lawyer and newspaper editor. Alice was curious and hardworking from a very young age. She loved science and spent much of her time reading and learning about chemistry. Her family moved to Hawaii when Alice was still a child, and she quickly fell in love with her new home. The warm climate, the beautiful plants, and the spirit of the Hawaiian islands all stayed with her throughout her life.

Alice was an outstanding student. She finished high school near the top of her class and then studied pharmacy and chemistry at the University of Washington. She earned two degrees from that university. After finishing her studies there, she moved back to Hawaii to continue her education. She enrolled in the College of Hawaii, which later became the University of Hawaii. In 1915, at just 23 years old, Alice Ball earned a master's degree in chemistry. This made her the first woman and the first African American ever to earn this degree from that school. It was a truly remarkable achievement, especially at a time when women and African Americans faced many barriers to higher education.

📖 Reading Level: Grade 4 — Beginner   |   Words Per Minute Target: 80–100 WPM WPM

Section B: The Discovery

While Alice was studying and teaching at the College of Hawaii, she became interested in a serious disease called leprosy. Leprosy is a disease that damages the skin and nerves. At the time, there was no reliable treatment. Doctors had tried using oil from the chaulmoogra tree, which grows in tropical parts of Asia, but the oil was very thick and sticky. When doctors injected it directly into patients, it was painful, caused rashes, and did not work well. When patients tried to swallow the oil, their stomachs could not handle it easily. The oil seemed promising, but no one could figure out how to use it safely and effectively.

Alice Ball worked carefully in the laboratory. She studied the chemicals inside the chaulmoogra oil and discovered a way to change them so they could mix with water. This new form of the oil could be injected into the body without causing severe pain or dangerous reactions. For the first time, doctors had a real medicine they could use to treat leprosy patients. Alice's method became the standard treatment for leprosy for the next 30 years, until a different kind of medicine was invented. During that time, her discovery helped thousands of people around the world live better lives.

📖 Reading Level: Grade 4–5 — Early Intermediate   |   Words Per Minute Target: 90–110 WPM WPM

Section C: What Happened After She Died

Sadly, Alice Augusta Ball died in December 1916 at just 24 years old. The exact cause of her death is not fully known. After she passed away, a scientist named Arthur Dean at the College of Hawaii continued using her method and published articles about it. For many years, people called the treatment the 'Dean Method' and gave Arthur Dean the credit. Alice Ball's name was forgotten. Her contributions were invisible to history.

It was not until 1922 that another doctor, Harry Hollmann, wrote an article that gave Alice Ball proper credit for her discovery. Even then, her name faded from the history books for decades. It was not until the late 1900s and early 2000s that historians and scientists began to tell her story again. In 2000, the University of Hawaii officially honored Alice Ball with a medal of distinction. A plaque in her honor was placed on the university's campus near a chaulmoogra tree. Today, Alice Augusta Ball is recognized as a brilliant chemist whose work saved thousands of lives and whose courage opened doors for women and African Americans in science.

📖 Reading Level: Grade 5 — Intermediate   |   Words Per Minute Target: 100–110 WPM WPM

 

 

 

Passage 2 — Eunice Foote (Early Intermediate Level)

Target Audience: Grade 5 | Reading Level: Lexile 700–780L

 

Section A: Who Was Eunice Foote?

Eunice Newton Foote was born in 1819 in Goshen, Connecticut, and grew up during a time when scientific opportunities for women were extremely limited. Despite these obstacles, she pursued science with dedication and passion. She attended the Troy Female Seminary in New York, a school that offered one of the most advanced educations available to women at the time. There, she studied a wide range of subjects, including natural philosophy — what we would now call physics and chemistry. She also became deeply involved in the women's rights movement and signed the Declaration of Sentiments at the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848, one of the most important documents in the history of women's rights in the United States.

Foote's work as a scientist and as an activist reflected the same core belief: that women should have equal access to knowledge and equal recognition for their contributions. She believed that evidence and careful observation were the foundation of good science, regardless of who was doing the observing.

📖 Reading Level: Grade 5 — Intermediate   |   Words Per Minute Target: 100–115 WPM WPM

Section B: The Greenhouse Gas Experiment

In the 1850s, Eunice Foote conducted a series of experiments that would prove to be remarkably important for the future of climate science. She placed different gases inside glass cylinders and set them in sunlight to observe how much each gas heated up. She tested dry air, moist air, carbon dioxide, and other gases. Her experiments revealed something that no one had formally documented before: carbon dioxide trapped far more heat than regular dry air. When a cylinder filled with carbon dioxide was placed in sunlight, it heated up dramatically, and it also took much longer to cool down afterward.

Foote wrote about her findings in a paper titled 'Circumstances Affecting the Heat of the Sun's Rays,' which was published in the American Journal of Science and Arts in 1857. In this paper, she proposed that changes in the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could affect the temperature of the entire Earth. This was a stunning insight for its time — a full two years before the Irish physicist John Tyndall published similar findings that would earn him lasting fame in the history of climate science. Foote's paper was remarkable not just for its accuracy, but for the simplicity of the tools she used. She did not have access to an advanced laboratory; she relied on glass cylinders, sunlight, and her own careful powers of observation.

📖 Reading Level: Grade 5–6 — Intermediate   |   Words Per Minute Target: 115–130 WPM WPM

Section C: Recognition and Legacy

Despite the quality and significance of her work, Eunice Foote was not present to read her own paper at the scientific conference where it was presented. Instead, a man named Professor Henry read the paper on her behalf — a common practice at the time, since women were often excluded from formal scientific presentations. Her research was published but received little attention compared to Tyndall's later work, which was featured more prominently in scientific literature and was conducted with more sophisticated equipment.

For over 150 years, Tyndall received most of the credit for discovering the connection between carbon dioxide and atmospheric warming. It was not until 2011 that a retired petroleum geologist named Raymond Sorenson rediscovered Foote's original paper and brought it to the attention of the scientific community. Since then, historians of science have worked to restore her rightful place in the history of climate research. Eunice Foote is now recognized as a pioneer in both women's rights and climate science — a scientist who saw the future clearly, even if the world around her was not yet ready to listen.

📖 Reading Level: Grade 6 — Early Advanced   |   Words Per Minute Target: 120–135 WPM WPM

 

 

 

Passage 3 — Lise Meitner (Intermediate Level)

Target Audience: Grade 6 | Reading Level: Lexile 800–870L

 

Section A: Early Career and Collaboration

Lise Meitner was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1878, at a time when women were largely barred from attending university. She persevered through these obstacles and eventually earned a doctorate in physics from the University of Vienna in 1906 — only the second woman ever to do so from that institution. She then moved to Berlin, where she began a long and fruitful collaboration with chemist Otto Hahn. Together they worked on the study of radioactivity, making important contributions to understanding the behavior of radioactive elements. For years, Meitner was forced to work in a basement laboratory because women were not permitted in the main building at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute.

Despite these professional indignities, Meitner earned a strong reputation in the scientific community. She identified the element protactinium alongside Hahn and made important contributions to the understanding of beta decay, a process by which an atom releases energy by converting a neutron into a proton. Her work was widely respected, and she was even nominated for the Nobel Prize on several occasions during her career.

📖 Reading Level: Grade 6 — Intermediate   |   Words Per Minute Target: 120–135 WPM WPM

Section B: Fleeing Persecution and the Discovery of Fission

When Adolf Hitler rose to power in Germany in the 1930s, Meitner's life became increasingly dangerous. Although she had converted from Judaism to Christianity, she was still subject to the Nuremberg Race Laws, which stripped Jewish people and those considered Jewish by ancestry of their citizenship and rights. In 1938, with the help of colleagues and at great personal risk, Meitner fled Germany and eventually settled in Sweden, where she continued her scientific work.

Working from Sweden through letters and occasional meetings with Hahn, Meitner continued to analyze their experimental results. In December 1938, Hahn and his colleague Fritz Strassmann conducted experiments that produced a puzzling result: when uranium was bombarded with neutrons, the resulting elements were far lighter than expected. Hahn wrote to Meitner, uncertain of what to make of this anomaly. During a walk in the woods with her nephew, physicist Otto Frisch, Meitner worked through the mathematics and proposed a groundbreaking explanation. Using Einstein's equation E=mc², she reasoned that the uranium nucleus had actually split into two smaller nuclei, releasing an enormous amount of energy. She and Frisch coined the term 'nuclear fission' to describe this process — a term that would change the world forever.

📖 Reading Level: Grade 6–7 — Intermediate-Advanced   |   Words Per Minute Target: 130–145 WPM WPM

Section C: Recognition Denied and Legacy Restored

When the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded in 1944, it went to Otto Hahn alone. Meitner received no share of the recognition, despite having been the one to provide the theoretical explanation that made sense of the experimental results. Many scientists and historians consider this one of the greatest oversights in the history of the Nobel Prize. Some suggest that her exile from Germany, her gender, and anti-Semitism all played roles in her being passed over. Albert Einstein himself reportedly referred to her as 'the German Marie Curie' — a comparison that acknowledged her brilliance but also reflected how women in science were so often evaluated by comparison to one another rather than on their own terms.

In her later years, Meitner became an outspoken opponent of nuclear weapons, refusing to participate in the Manhattan Project even when she was invited to do so. She died in 1968, just days before her 90th birthday. Since her death, her contributions have been increasingly recognized. Element 109 on the periodic table was named meitnerium in her honor in 1997. Today, Lise Meitner is rightfully remembered not only for her role in discovering nuclear fission, but as a symbol of intellectual courage and scientific integrity.

📖 Reading Level: Grade 7 — Advanced   |   Words Per Minute Target: 135–150 WPM WPM

 

 

 

Passage 4 — Rosalind Franklin (Advanced Intermediate Level)

Target Audience: Grade 7 | Reading Level: Lexile 890–960L

 

Section A: The Science of X-Ray Crystallography

Rosalind Franklin was born in London, England, in 1920 into a prominent Jewish family that placed a strong emphasis on education. From an early age she demonstrated exceptional skill in the natural sciences. She studied chemistry at Newnham College, Cambridge, and after graduating worked as a research scientist, first in Britain and then in Paris, where she developed highly refined skills in X-ray crystallography. X-ray crystallography is a technique used to determine the molecular structure of a substance by firing X-rays at a crystallized sample and analyzing the resulting diffraction patterns. The patterns of dots and rings produced by the X-rays reveal how atoms are arranged within the crystal, much like a shadow reveals the shape of an object it cannot be seen directly.

Franklin's expertise in this technique was unmatched. She developed methods for precisely controlling the moisture levels of her samples, a critical factor in producing clear and interpretable X-ray images. Her skill and systematic approach to her work were qualities that would eventually lead to one of the most important scientific images ever produced.

📖 Reading Level: Grade 7 — Intermediate-Advanced   |   Words Per Minute Target: 130–145 WPM WPM

Section B: Photo 51 and the Structure of DNA

In 1951, Franklin joined King's College London, where her work focused on using X-ray crystallography to study the structure of DNA — deoxyribonucleic acid, the molecule that carries the genetic instructions for the development and functioning of all known living organisms. Franklin worked meticulously, often spending long hours in the laboratory to produce precise images. In May 1952, she captured what has become known as Photo 51, an X-ray diffraction image of the B-form of DNA. The clarity and detail of the image were extraordinary. It clearly showed that DNA had a helical structure — meaning it twisted like a spiral staircase.

Without Franklin's knowledge or consent, Photo 51 was shown to James Watson by her colleague Maurice Wilkins. Watson and Francis Crick, working at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge, were also attempting to determine the structure of DNA, largely using model-building techniques rather than direct experimental analysis. When Watson saw Photo 51, he recognized immediately that it provided critical evidence for a double helix structure. The measurements and information encoded in the image helped Watson and Crick complete their famous model of DNA, which they published in the journal Nature in April 1953. Franklin's own paper, which independently confirmed the helical structure, was published simultaneously but was overshadowed by the attention given to Watson and Crick's model.

📖 Reading Level: Grade 7–8 — Advanced   |   Words Per Minute Target: 140–155 WPM WPM

Section C: A Legacy Denied and Then Reclaimed

In 1962, James Watson, Francis Crick, and Maurice Wilkins were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their work on the structure of DNA. Rosalind Franklin had died in 1958 of ovarian cancer at the age of 37, and the Nobel Prize is not awarded posthumously. Her role in the discovery was barely mentioned in Watson's acceptance speech. Watson's later memoir, 'The Double Helix,' portrayed Franklin in a dismissive and condescending manner that sparked decades of controversy among scientists and historians.

Today, Franklin's contribution is widely acknowledged as indispensable to the discovery of DNA's structure. Her image, Photo 51, has been called one of the most important photographs ever taken. Beyond her DNA work, Franklin went on to make significant contributions to the understanding of the structure of viruses, including the tobacco mosaic virus and the polio virus, before her early death cut her career short. She is now celebrated as one of the most important scientists of the twentieth century — a woman whose extraordinary ability and diligence deserved recognition she never received in her own lifetime.

📖 Reading Level: Grade 8 — Advanced   |   Words Per Minute Target: 145–160 WPM WPM

 

 

 

Passage 5 — Chien-Shiung Wu (Advanced Level)

Target Audience: Grade 8 | Reading Level: Lexile 980–1050L

 

Section A: Education and Early Brilliance

Chien-Shiung Wu was born in 1912 in Liuhe, China, in a province near Shanghai. Her father, a progressive thinker for his era, founded a school for girls in their community — an almost unheard-of act in early twentieth-century China — and insisted that his daughter receive a rigorous education. Wu excelled in mathematics and the sciences and eventually earned admission to the National Central University in Nanjing, where she studied physics. Recognizing that her ambitions surpassed what opportunities China could offer at the time, she traveled to the United States in 1936 with plans to study in Europe. After arriving in San Francisco and visiting the University of California, Berkeley, she was so impressed with the research being conducted there that she enrolled immediately. She earned her doctorate in physics from Berkeley in 1940.

Wu's laboratory skills were legendary among her peers. She developed a reputation for exceptional precision and methodological rigor, qualities that would define her career and make her one of the most trusted experimental physicists of the twentieth century. During World War II, she joined the Manhattan Project at Columbia University, where she worked on methods for separating uranium isotopes — a crucial technical contribution to the development of nuclear technology. After the war, she remained at Columbia and built one of the most distinguished research careers in the history of American physics.

📖 Reading Level: Grade 8 — Advanced   |   Words Per Minute Target: 140–155 WPM WPM

Section B: Disproving the Law of Conservation of Parity

In 1956, theoretical physicists Tsung-Dao Lee and Chen-Ning Yang proposed that the law of conservation of parity — a foundational principle of physics that held that nature behaves identically in mirror images of itself — might not apply to the weak nuclear force, one of the four fundamental forces of nature. This was a radical and controversial suggestion that challenged decades of established physics. Lee and Yang could propose the idea theoretically, but they could not prove it experimentally. They approached Wu and asked her to design and conduct the experiment that would test their hypothesis.

Wu worked with scientists at the National Bureau of Standards to conduct an extremely difficult experiment using cobalt-60 atoms cooled to temperatures near absolute zero. The experiment examined whether electrons emitted during radioactive beta decay were distributed symmetrically in all directions or showed a preference for one direction over another. If nature truly behaved symmetrically — that is, if the law of parity held — the electrons should spray out in all directions equally. Wu's results were definitive and shocking: the electrons showed a clear directional preference. The law of conservation of parity did not hold in weak nuclear interactions. A fundamental assumption of physics had been overturned, and it was Wu's meticulous experimental work that made this conclusion possible.

📖 Reading Level: Grade 8 — Advanced   |   Words Per Minute Target: 150–165 WPM WPM

Section C: Recognition Withheld

In 1957, Lee and Yang were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for their theoretical prediction. Wu, whose experimental work had provided the essential empirical confirmation of their theory, was not included. The scientific community's reaction was mixed. Many physicists expressed outrage at what they perceived as a glaring omission. Wu herself was gracious in public, but she spoke openly in later interviews about the ways in which women in science faced systemic barriers that their male counterparts did not.

Over the course of her career, Wu accumulated an extraordinary array of honors. She was the first woman to serve as president of the American Physical Society. She received the National Medal of Science from President Gerald Ford in 1975 and the inaugural Wolf Prize in Physics in 1978. Columbia University awarded her a professorship, and she remained active in research and education well into her later years. She died in New York City in 1997. Today, Chien-Shiung Wu is celebrated as one of the greatest experimental physicists who ever lived — a scientist whose work reshaped our understanding of the physical laws governing the universe.

📖 Reading Level: Grade 8 — Advanced   |   Words Per Minute Target: 150–165 WPM WPM

 

 

 

Passage 6 — Tu Youyou (Advanced Level)

Target Audience: Grade 8 | Reading Level: Lexile 1000–1080L

 

Section A: The Malaria Crisis and the Mission

Tu Youyou was born in 1930 in Ningbo, China, and spent her early childhood during a period of tremendous political and social upheaval. She studied pharmacology at Peking University Medical School, and after graduating in 1955 she joined the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences. Her career would be shaped by one of the most pressing medical crises of the twentieth century: malaria. Malaria is a life-threatening disease caused by a parasite transmitted through the bites of infected mosquitoes. By the 1960s and 1970s, the malaria parasite had developed widespread resistance to chloroquine, the leading antimalarial drug at the time, creating an urgent global health emergency that was particularly acute in Southeast Asia.

In 1967, during the Vietnam War, the North Vietnamese government asked China for help in developing a new malaria treatment, as their soldiers were suffering devastating losses from the disease. The Chinese government launched a secret military research initiative known as Project 523, bringing together hundreds of scientists to search for a solution. In 1969, Tu Youyou was appointed to lead a research group within the project. She was 39 years old and had no postgraduate degree and no experience working abroad — qualifications that her male colleagues possessed in abundance. Nevertheless, she approached the task with extraordinary determination.

📖 Reading Level: Grade 8 — Advanced   |   Words Per Minute Target: 150–165 WPM WPM

Section B: Ancient Texts and Modern Science

Tu Youyou's research strategy was distinctive and historically creative. Rather than focusing exclusively on modern pharmacological databases, she began systematically reviewing ancient Chinese medical texts, some of which were more than two thousand years old, searching for references to treatments that might be effective against fever and malaria-like symptoms. She and her team screened more than 2,000 traditional herbal remedies and identified hundreds of candidate substances. One reference caught her attention: a recipe in a fourth-century text by the physician Ge Hong that described using sweet wormwood — known in Chinese as qing hao, and in scientific nomenclature as Artemisia annua — to treat intermittent fevers.

Initial extractions from Artemisia annua showed some promise, but the results were inconsistent. Tu realized that the problem lay in the extraction process: the standard method used boiling water, which destroyed the active compound. Returning to Ge Hong's ancient text, she found a crucial detail she had initially overlooked — the original recipe specified soaking the plant in cold water rather than boiling it. She redesigned the extraction process using low-temperature techniques, and the resulting compound, which she named artemisinin, showed near-total effectiveness against the malaria parasite in laboratory tests. She then personally volunteered, along with several of her colleagues, to be the first human subjects tested, to ensure the compound's safety before broader clinical trials began.

📖 Reading Level: Grade 8 — Advanced   |   Words Per Minute Target: 155–170 WPM WPM

Section C: A Nobel Prize and a Global Legacy

The development of artemisinin-based combination therapies has transformed global public health. The World Health Organization now recommends artemisinin-based treatments as the first-line therapy for malaria worldwide. According to estimates from global health researchers, these therapies have saved millions of lives, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, where malaria transmission is most intense. The compound has been especially critical in reducing child mortality from malaria, one of the leading causes of death for young children in tropical regions.

Despite the profound impact of her discovery, Tu Youyou spent decades largely unrecognized outside of China, in part because Project 523 was a classified military research program, which made it difficult to trace individual contributions. It was not until 2011 that she received the Lasker Award, a prestigious American medical research prize, and the scientific community began to understand the full scope of her achievement. In 2015, Tu Youyou was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, becoming the first female citizen of China to receive a Nobel Prize in any scientific discipline. In her acceptance speech, she spoke of the complementary relationship between traditional medicine and modern science, and dedicated her discovery to the people of China and to malaria patients everywhere.

📖 Reading Level: Grade 8+ — Advanced   |   Words Per Minute Target: 155–170 WPM WPM

 

 

 

Academic Vocabulary — Tier 2 and Tier 3

Academic vocabulary is divided into tiers that describe how words are used across different contexts.

 

Tier 1 Words

Everyday words that most students already know. They do not require explicit instruction (e.g., book, water, run, small).

 

Tier 2 Words — General Academic Vocabulary

High-frequency words that appear across many subject areas and disciplines. These are the words used in test questions, essay prompts, and comprehension checks. They are important for reading academic texts in any subject.

 

Tier 3 Words — Domain-Specific Vocabulary

Specialized words tied to a specific field or discipline such as science, history, or mathematics. They appear less frequently in everyday speech but are critical for deep understanding of subject matter.

 

Word	Tier	Definition
contribution	Tier 2	Something important that a person adds to a larger project or field
recognition	Tier 2	Being acknowledged or credited for an achievement
persistence	Tier 2	Continuing to work toward a goal even when things are very difficult
overlooked	Tier 2	Not given enough attention or credit; ignored
evidence	Tier 2	Facts, details, or examples from a text that support a claim or conclusion
conclude	Tier 2	To form an opinion or judgment based on evidence and reasoning
significant	Tier 2	Very important or meaningful in some way
advocate	Tier 2	A person who publicly supports a cause or another person
acquire	Tier 2	To gain or obtain something over time
analyze	Tier 2	To examine something carefully and in detail to understand it better
synthesize	Tier 2	To combine ideas or information from multiple sources into one understanding
bias	Tier 2	An unfair preference for or against a person or group
systemic	Tier 2	Existing as a pattern throughout an entire system or society
chemist	Tier 3	A scientist who studies the composition, structure, and properties of substances
leprosy	Tier 3	A long-term bacterial disease that damages the skin and nerves
chaulmoogra oil	Tier 3	An oil from a tropical tree historically used to treat leprosy
carbon dioxide	Tier 3	A gas produced by burning fuels and breathing; associated with climate change
greenhouse effect	Tier 3	The process by which gases in the atmosphere trap heat from the sun
nuclear fission	Tier 3	The process of splitting an atom's nucleus, releasing a large amount of energy
radioactivity	Tier 3	The emission of energy from unstable atomic nuclei
beta decay	Tier 3	A type of radioactive decay in which an atom releases a beta particle
crystallography	Tier 3	The science of studying the arrangement of atoms in crystalline materials
DNA	Tier 3	Deoxyribonucleic acid; the molecule that carries genetic instructions for life
double helix	Tier 3	The shape of a DNA molecule — two intertwined spiral strands
parity	Tier 3	In physics, the idea that nature behaves the same in mirror-image situations
particle physics	Tier 3	The branch of physics that studies the smallest building blocks of matter
artemisinin	Tier 3	The active compound from sweet wormwood used to treat malaria
pharmacology	Tier 3	The science of drugs, their composition, and their effects on the body
malaria	Tier 3	A life-threatening disease caused by a parasite spread through mosquito bites

 

 

 

Understanding DOK Levels (Depth of Knowledge)

The Depth of Knowledge (DOK) framework was developed by educator Norman L. Webb to describe the level of thinking required to answer a question or complete a task. The DOK framework has four levels. As the level increases, the complexity of thinking required also increases.

IMPORTANT: Higher DOK questions (Levels 2, 3, and 4) are almost always written as TWO-PART QUESTIONS. Part A typically requires identifying, explaining, or analyzing something from the text. Part B requires citing specific evidence that supports the answer from Part A. Both Tier 2 and Tier 3 vocabulary are deliberately embedded in higher-level DOK questions.

 

DOK Level	Name	Grade Target	WPM	What Students Do	Example Question	Vocabulary
DOK 1	Recall & Reproduction	Beginner (Grades 4–5)	80–110 WPM	Students recall facts directly stated in the text. Questions use Tier 2 general academic words like recall, identify, define, list, and locate. Single-step questions with one correct answer.	What did Alice Augusta Ball develop?	Tier 2: identify, develop. Tier 3: chemist, leprosy, chaulmoogra oil
DOK 2	Skills & Concepts	Intermediate (Grades 5–6)	110–140 WPM	Students use learned skills to interpret the text. Questions often have a two-part structure: first identify evidence, then explain what it means. Tier 2 words: explain, compare, describe, summarize, analyze. Tier 3 domain words appear in context.	Part A: How did Eunice Foote's experiment work? Part B: What does her discovery tell us about climate science?	Tier 2: compare, explain. Tier 3: carbon dioxide, greenhouse effect, cylinder
DOK 3	Strategic Thinking	Advanced (Grades 6–8)	130–160 WPM	Students must reason, analyze, and support claims with text evidence. Questions are almost always TWO-PART: Part A asks for analysis or inference; Part B requires citing specific evidence from the passage. Both Tier 2 and Tier 3 vocabulary are embedded in the question itself.	Part A: What conclusions can you draw about how gender and race affected the recognition of these scientists? Part B: Cite at least two pieces of evidence from the passage that support your conclusion.	Tier 2: conclusions, evidence, recognition, affect, support. Tier 3: nuclear fission, crystallographer, pharmaceutical, particle physics
DOK 4	Extended Thinking	Extension (Grade 8+)	150–180 WPM	Students connect ideas across multiple texts or subjects and create, design, or evaluate. Two-part and multi-step questions require synthesizing information, making judgments, and applying academic vocabulary at both Tier 2 and Tier 3 levels across contexts.	Part A: Synthesize the stories of at least three scientists from this passage to argue whether systemic bias or historical timing was the greater obstacle to recognition. Part B: Design a timeline or graphic organizer that illustrates this argument using specific evidence from the text.	Tier 2: synthesize, argue, systemic, obstacle, illustrate. Tier 3: bias, nuclear physics, X-ray crystallography, pharmaceutical chemistry

 

 

 

Comprehension Questions — All DOK Levels

DOK Level 1 — Recall and Reproduction

DOK 1 questions ask students to remember specific facts from the text. There is one correct answer. These questions use Tier 2 words such as identify, recall, list, and define.

 

1.    What did Alice Augusta Ball develop?

•       a. A new telescope for observing stars

•       b. The first effective treatment for leprosy using chaulmoogra oil

•       c. A theory about nuclear fission

•       d. The model of DNA's double helix structure

 

1.    What did Eunice Foote discover in her experiments with gases?

•       a. That uranium could be split into smaller atoms

•       b. That carbon dioxide trapped more heat than dry air

•       c. That sweet wormwood could cure malaria

•       d. That DNA had a helical structure

 

1.    What is Lise Meitner best known for contributing to science?

•       a. Developing a vaccine for influenza

•       b. Helping explain the process of nuclear fission

•       c. Discovering a new element in the periodic table

•       d. Inventing the electron microscope

 

1.    What was significant about Rosalind Franklin's Photo 51?

•       a. It was the first photograph of the Moon's surface

•       b. It showed the structure of a virus

•       c. It provided critical evidence that DNA had a helical structure

•       d. It proved that carbon dioxide traps heat in the atmosphere

 

1.    What did Chien-Shiung Wu's experiment prove?

•       a. That malaria could be treated with plant extracts

•       b. That the law of conservation of parity did not hold in weak nuclear interactions

•       c. That DNA was structured as a double helix

•       d. That chaulmoogra oil could be safely injected

 

1.    What was the name of the compound Tu Youyou extracted from Artemisia annua?

•       a. Chloroquine

•       b. Chaulmoogra extract

•       c. Artemisinin

•       d. Protactinium

 

DOK Level 2 — Skills and Concepts

DOK 2 questions require students to use skills and knowledge to interpret, compare, explain, or describe information. These questions often have two parts. Part A identifies or explains a concept; Part B asks for supporting details or evidence from the text. Both Tier 2 and Tier 3 words are used.

 

1.	Part A: Explain why Alice Ball's method for treating leprosy was an improvement over the earlier uses of chaulmoogra oil. | Part B: Identify at least two specific details from the passage that describe the problems with the original treatment method.
2.	Part A: Describe how Eunice Foote's experimental method worked. | Part B: Using evidence from the passage, explain why her findings were significant for the field of climate science.
3.	Part A: Explain what made Lise Meitner's contribution to the discovery of nuclear fission different from Otto Hahn's contribution. | Part B: Identify specific evidence from the passage that supports your explanation.
4.	Part A: Summarize the role that Photo 51 played in the discovery of DNA's structure. | Part B: Explain, using evidence from the passage, why Franklin did not receive equal recognition for her contribution.
5.	Part A: Describe what Chien-Shiung Wu's parity experiment tested and what the results showed. | Part B: What Tier 3 scientific terms from the passage help the reader understand the significance of her experiment? Explain how each term is used.
6.	Part A: Explain how Tu Youyou used both ancient medical texts and modern scientific methods to discover artemisinin. | Part B: Why was the extraction process a critical factor in her success? Use evidence from the passage to support your answer.

 

DOK Level 3 — Strategic Thinking

DOK 3 questions require students to reason, analyze, and support their thinking with text evidence. Questions are almost always two-part. Part A asks for analysis, inference, or comparison. Part B requires citing specific evidence from the text. Both Tier 2 and Tier 3 vocabulary appear within the question prompt.

 

1.	Part A: What conclusions can you draw about the systemic barriers — including gender bias, racial discrimination, and political circumstance — that prevented these scientists from receiving full recognition? | Part B: Select evidence from at least three of the six passages that best supports your conclusion.
2.	Part A: Compare and contrast the ways in which Alice Augusta Ball and Tu Youyou were each overlooked by the scientific community. | Part B: What similarities and differences do you find in the evidence the passages provide about how each scientist's contribution was treated after her death or retirement?
3.	Part A: Analyze how Lise Meitner's experience as a refugee from Nazi Germany affected both her scientific work and her recognition. | Part B: What specific details from the passage provide evidence that her political circumstances influenced her legacy?
4.	Part A: What inferences can you make about the relationship between a scientist's access to resources and the recognition she receives? | Part B: Cite at least two pieces of evidence from the passages about Rosalind Franklin and Eunice Foote that support your inference.
5.	Part A: Evaluate whether the overlooking of these scientists can be attributed primarily to intentional discrimination or to cultural and institutional norms of the time. | Part B: Use evidence from at least two passages and Tier 2 vocabulary (such as systemic, bias, contribution, and evidence) to defend your position.
6.	Part A: How does Tu Youyou's synthesis of traditional Chinese medicine with modern pharmacological methods represent a unique scientific approach? | Part B: What evidence from the passage demonstrates that this combination was essential to her discovery of artemisinin?

 

DOK Level 4 — Extended Thinking

DOK 4 tasks require students to synthesize information from multiple passages, apply ideas to new contexts, design products, and evaluate complex arguments. These questions require extended writing responses and often incorporate both Tier 2 and Tier 3 academic vocabulary.

 

1.	Synthesize the stories of all six scientists to write an argumentative essay answering the following question: Was the greatest obstacle to these scientists' recognition gender, race, timing, or institutional structure? You must use evidence from at least four of the six passages, and your essay must incorporate at least five Tier 2 vocabulary words and three Tier 3 vocabulary words used correctly in context.
2.	Design a timeline or graphic organizer that tracks both the scientific discoveries and the recognition events (or lack of them) for all six scientists. Annotate each entry with a brief explanation of why recognition was delayed or denied, using vocabulary from the Tier 2 and Tier 3 word lists in this document.
3.	Imagine you are a science journalist writing in the year 2040. Write a feature article titled 'The Scientists History Forgot — And Then Remembered.' Your article should discuss at least four of the scientists from this reading guide, analyze the patterns of oversight, and propose systemic changes to ensure that future scientists receive equitable recognition. Use both Tier 2 and Tier 3 vocabulary throughout.
4.	Compare the scientific contributions of Rosalind Franklin and Chien-Shiung Wu. Analyze how the specific nature of each scientist's contribution — one primarily experimental and structural (crystallography), the other primarily experimental and theoretical (particle physics) — may have affected how each was evaluated by the scientific community. Cite evidence from both passages and synthesize your findings into a coherent argument.

 

 

 

Writing Extensions

1. The 55-Word Mini Biography

Write a biography of exactly 55 words about one scientist from this passage. Your biography must have a beginning, a middle, and an end. You must use at least 15 key words or academic vocabulary terms from the passage. Count every word carefully. This exercise teaches precision, word choice, and the skill of summarizing complex information in a very limited space.

 

2. Ten Tweets

Write ten tweets of 140 characters or fewer about one scientist's discovery and why it mattered. Each tweet should stand on its own as a complete idea. Try to use at least one Tier 2 or Tier 3 vocabulary word in each tweet. This exercise practices concise writing, audience awareness, and selecting the most important details from a longer text.

 

3. Imaginary Interview

Write an imaginary interview in which you interview one of the six scientists. You must write at least eight questions and the scientist's full responses. Your questions should move from simpler (DOK 1) topics such as the scientist's childhood or early education to more complex (DOK 3) topics such as the scientist's feelings about recognition, fairness in science, or what she would say to young scientists today. Include at least five Tier 2 and five Tier 3 vocabulary words across your questions and answers.

 

4. Proust Questionnaire as a Scientist

Answer a Proust Questionnaire from the perspective of one of the six scientists. A Proust Questionnaire is a series of personal questions about values, beliefs, likes, and dislikes. Your answers should be historically accurate and reflect what you have learned about the scientist from the passage. Sample questions include: What is your greatest achievement? What quality do you most admire in a colleague? What do you consider your greatest failure? What would you like your legacy to be?

 

5. Letter to History

Write a letter from one of the six scientists to a future scientist who has been overlooked for recognition of her work. The letter should offer advice, share personal experience, and encourage persistence. Use at least eight Tier 2 academic vocabulary words and four Tier 3 vocabulary words. The letter should be at least three paragraphs long and should demonstrate understanding of the historical and scientific context from the passage.

 

 

 

Student Study Guide for Test Preparation

Key Ideas to Know

•       Credit and recognition in science are not automatic — they must be given fairly and deliberately.

•       Some discoveries were overlooked because of gender bias, racial discrimination, political circumstances, or historical timing.

•       Scientific contributions can affect medicine, climate science, nuclear physics, chemistry, and global public health.

•       Many important discoveries were made through persistence, careful observation, and systematic testing.

•       Higher DOK questions require you to use evidence from the text to support your reasoning — not just recall facts.

 

Important Tier 2 Vocabulary for Test Questions

•       Overlooked — not given enough attention or credit

•       Contribution — something helpful or important that a person adds to a field

•       Recognition — being acknowledged for an achievement

•       Persistence — continuing even when things are difficult

•       Evidence — facts from the text that support your answer or claim

•       Analyze — to examine something carefully to understand it better

•       Conclude — to form a judgment based on evidence and reasoning

•       Synthesize — to combine ideas from multiple sources into one understanding

•       Systemic — existing as a pattern throughout a whole system or society

•       Bias — an unfair preference for or against a person or group

 

Important Tier 3 Vocabulary by Scientist

•       Alice Augusta Ball: chemist, leprosy, chaulmoogra oil, injection, pharmacy

•       Eunice Foote: carbon dioxide, greenhouse effect, atmospheric warming, cylinder, diffraction

•       Lise Meitner: nuclear fission, radioactivity, beta decay, neutron, nucleus, periodic table

•       Rosalind Franklin: X-ray crystallography, DNA, double helix, diffraction pattern, deoxyribonucleic acid

•       Chien-Shiung Wu: particle physics, parity, weak nuclear force, beta decay, cobalt-60, isotope

•       Tu Youyou: artemisinin, pharmacology, malaria, Artemisia annua, antiparasitic, antimalarial

 

How to Answer Two-Part DOK Questions

1. Read Part A carefully. Identify what kind of thinking is required: Are you comparing? Analyzing? Inferring? Making a conclusion?

2. Look back at the passage and locate the relevant section.

3. Write your answer to Part A in your own words, using Tier 2 vocabulary in your response.

4. Read Part B. Part B always asks for evidence. Find one to three specific details, quotes, or facts from the passage that directly support your Part A answer.

5. Write Part B using phrases like: 'According to the passage...', 'The text states that...', 'Evidence from the passage shows that...'

6. Check that both parts connect logically to each other.

 

Reading Boot Camp 2.0 — Expanded Edition | Grades 4–8

Reading Boot Camp 2.0 — Texas History Edition

Six Events That Shaped the Lone Star State | Grades 4–8

Articles + DOK-Leveled Questions with Tier 2 & Tier 3 Academic Vocabulary

 

 

Article 1 — The Battle of the Alamo (1836)

Target Grade: 4–5

 

In the winter of 1836, a small group of Texan fighters made a decision that would shape the history of an entire nation. They chose to defend a crumbling old Spanish mission on the edge of San Antonio — a place known as the Alamo — against an army many times larger than their own. Their stand lasted thirteen days and ended in defeat. Yet the Battle of the Alamo became one of the most powerful symbols of courage and sacrifice in American history.

 

By the early 1830s, thousands of settlers from the United States had moved into Texas, which at the time was part of Mexico. These settlers, called Texians, clashed frequently with the Mexican government over laws, taxes, and the practice of slavery, which Mexico had banned. When General Antonio López de Santa Anna rose to power and ruled Mexico as a dictator, tensions reached a breaking point. In October 1835, Texian colonists and their Tejano allies — Mexican citizens who also opposed Santa Anna — began an armed revolution.

 

By December 1835, Texian forces had captured the town of San Antonio and taken control of the Alamo, an old mission the Spanish had originally built in 1718. The Alamo had thick stone walls and could serve as a fort. However, the garrison — the soldiers stationed there — was small and poorly supplied. Lieutenant Colonel William Barret Travis and Colonel James Bowie commanded the defense. On February 8, 1836, the famous frontiersman and former U.S. Congressman David Crockett arrived with a small group of volunteers from Tennessee.

 

Santa Anna crossed the Rio Grande with an army of roughly 1,800 men and reached San Antonio on February 23, 1836. He demanded immediate and unconditional surrender. Travis responded with a cannon shot — a clear refusal to give in. The siege began that day. For thirteen days, the Mexican army bombarded the Alamo's walls while Travis sent urgent messages requesting reinforcements. Only thirty-two volunteers from the town of Gonzales managed to slip through the Mexican lines to join the defenders, bringing the garrison to approximately 189 men, according to the official record, though some historians believe as many as 257 may have been inside.

 

Before dawn on March 6, 1836, Santa Anna ordered a massive infantry assault. Four columns of Mexican soldiers charged the Alamo from different directions. The defenders fired cannons loaded with scrap metal and nails, temporarily slowing the attack. But the Mexican forces regrouped and surged forward. Travis was killed defending the north wall. Bowie, who had become ill during the siege, died in his room. The fighting lasted approximately ninety minutes. When it was over, all of the Alamo's defenders were dead. Santa Anna's army also suffered heavy casualties, estimated at 600 or more soldiers killed and wounded.

 

A few survivors — mostly women, children, and enslaved individuals — were released and told to spread the story of what had happened. That story ignited outrage across Texas. Just weeks later, on April 21, 1836, General Sam Houston led approximately 800 Texian soldiers in a surprise attack against Santa Anna's force at the Battle of San Jacinto. Shouting 'Remember the Alamo!' and 'Remember Goliad!', Houston's men routed the Mexican army in just eighteen minutes. Santa Anna was captured the next day. He signed treaties recognizing Texas as an independent republic. The Republic of Texas was born.

 

The Alamo itself has become one of the most visited historic sites in the United States. Located in downtown San Antonio, it draws more than two million visitors each year. The battle continues to be a subject of historical study and debate, as scholars examine the complex roles of Tejanos, enslaved people, and the political causes behind the revolution. What remains clear is that the sacrifice made at the Alamo altered the course of Texas history and, eventually, the history of the United States.

Reading Level: Grade 4–5 | Beginner–Intermediate   |   WPM Target: 80–105 WPM

 

Vocabulary — Article 1

Word / Phrase	Tier	Definition
garrison	Tier 3	A body of soldiers stationed in a fortified place to defend it
siege	Tier 3	A military operation in which forces surround a fortified place and cut off supplies to force a surrender
unconditional surrender	Tier 3	Giving up completely with no conditions or agreements; total defeat
dictator	Tier 2	A leader who rules with absolute power and often by force, without the consent of the governed
colonist	Tier 2	A person who settles in a new land that is under the control of another country or government
revolution	Tier 2	An attempt, often violent, to overthrow a government or ruler and replace it with a new one
reinforcement	Tier 2	Additional troops or support sent to strengthen an already existing force
sacrifice	Tier 2	Giving up something valuable, including one's life, for the good of others or a cause
republic	Tier 2	A form of government in which elected representatives make decisions for the people
infantry	Tier 3	Soldiers who fight on foot, as opposed to soldiers who fight on horseback or in vehicles

 

DOK Questions — Article 1

DOK 1 — Recall

DOK 1 Questions

1. On what date did the final assault on the Alamo take place?

2. Who were the three most well-known defenders killed at the Alamo?

3. What words did Texian soldiers shout at the Battle of San Jacinto?

4. How long did the siege of the Alamo last?

 

DOK 2 — Skills and Concepts

DOK 2 Questions

1. Part A: Explain why the Texian defenders chose to stay at the Alamo despite being heavily outnumbered. Part B: Identify at least two specific details from the article that support your explanation.

2. Part A: Describe how the outcome of the Battle of the Alamo affected the overall Texas Revolution. Part B: What evidence from the article shows that the defeat at the Alamo ultimately contributed to Texan victory?

3. Part A: What role did Tejanos play in the Texas Revolution, according to the article? Part B: How does the article use the Tier 2 word 'revolution' to connect the Alamo to the larger political conflict?

 

DOK 3 — Strategic Thinking

DOK 3 Questions

1. Part A: Analyze how Santa Anna's decision to order no survivors at the Alamo was a strategic miscalculation. Part B: Using evidence from the article, explain how this decision contributed to the outcome of the Battle of San Jacinto and Texan independence.

2. Part A: What conclusions can you draw about the relationship between military defeat and political motivation? Part B: Cite specific evidence from the article that demonstrates how the fall of the Alamo — a tactical defeat — became a long-term source of strength for the Texian cause.

3. Part A: The article states that scholars continue to examine 'the complex roles of Tejanos, enslaved people, and the political causes behind the revolution.' What does this tell you about how historical narratives can be incomplete? Part B: What details in the article support the idea that the Alamo's story is more complicated than the simple legend of heroic sacrifice?

 

 

 

Article 2 — Juneteenth: Freedom Comes to Texas (1865)

Target Grade: 5–6

 

On June 19, 1865, a Union Army general named Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, and read aloud a military order. The order stated that all enslaved people in Texas were free. It had been more than two years since President Abraham Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which had declared enslaved people in Confederate states free as of January 1, 1863. But in Texas — the westernmost Confederate state — the news had not been enforced. On that June day in Galveston, the announcement finally reached the quarter million enslaved people still living in bondage in Texas. The day became known as Juneteenth, a name combining the words 'June' and 'nineteenth.' It is now a federal holiday in the United States.

 

To understand why the news took so long to reach Texas, it is important to understand the conditions of the Civil War. The Emancipation Proclamation was issued by President Lincoln on January 1, 1863, during the war. However, it could only be enforced in areas under Union Army control. Texas, far to the south and west, had very little Union military presence during the war. Enslavers in the state continued to force people into labor, and some historians report that slaveholders from other Southern states deliberately moved their enslaved workers to Texas to keep them in bondage, knowing that the Union Army had not yet penetrated that far.

 

The Civil War officially ended in April 1865 when Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia on April 9. Yet even that news traveled slowly. On May 13, 1865 — more than a month after Lee's surrender — the very last land battle of the Civil War was fought near Brownsville, Texas, at the Battle of Palmito Ranch, because Confederate forces in the area had not yet received word that the war was over.

 

When General Granger and his 2,000 Union soldiers arrived in Galveston on June 19, 1865, he read General Order No. 3. The order proclaimed that all enslaved people were free and that the relationship between former enslaved people and their enslavers would thereafter be one of employer and paid laborer. Reactions varied widely. Some formerly enslaved people immediately celebrated, wept with joy, and began journeys to find separated family members. Others were cautious, unsure of what freedom would truly mean in a state where the old power structures remained largely intact.

 

In the years that followed, Juneteenth became a meaningful day of celebration for African American communities across Texas and eventually across the country. Families gathered, traditional foods were prepared, and communities reflected on the long road from slavery to freedom. The color red — seen in red soda water, red velvet cake, and hibiscus drinks — became associated with Juneteenth celebrations, a tradition some historians connect to West African cultural practices brought to the Americas by enslaved people.

 

For most of the twentieth century, Juneteenth was primarily observed within African American communities, particularly in Texas. The holiday received little national recognition. That changed dramatically in recent decades. In 1980, Texas became the first state to make Juneteenth an official state holiday. The holiday gradually spread to other states. Then, on June 17, 2021, President Joe Biden signed legislation making Juneteenth a federal holiday — the first new federal holiday established in nearly forty years. Juneteenth is now recognized as a day to celebrate African American freedom, culture, and the ongoing struggle for full equality in the United States.

Reading Level: Grade 5–6 | Intermediate   |   WPM Target: 100–125 WPM

 

Vocabulary — Article 2

Word / Phrase	Tier	Definition
Emancipation Proclamation	Tier 3	The executive order signed by President Lincoln on January 1, 1863, declaring enslaved people in Confederate states free
emancipation	Tier 2	The act of setting someone free from slavery, imprisonment, or oppression
Confederacy	Tier 3	The alliance of eleven Southern states that seceded from the United States from 1861 to 1865
enforce	Tier 2	To make sure a law or order is obeyed; to put a rule into effect
proclamation	Tier 2	An official public announcement made by a person in authority
bondage	Tier 2	The state of being held as a slave; captivity and forced labor
commemorate	Tier 2	To honor or remember an important event or person, often through a ceremony or celebration
enslavers	Tier 3	People who held other human beings as enslaved persons and profited from their forced labor
federal holiday	Tier 3	A national holiday officially recognized by the United States government, on which most federal employees do not work
cultural practice	Tier 2	A tradition, custom, or activity shared and passed down within a specific community or group

 

DOK Questions — Article 2

DOK 1 — Recall

DOK 1 Questions

1. What is the date of Juneteenth, and how did it get its name?

2. What did General Order No. 3, read by General Granger, announce?

3. When did Texas make Juneteenth an official state holiday?

4. In what year did Juneteenth become a federal holiday?

 

DOK 2 — Skills and Concepts

DOK 2 Questions

1. Part A: Explain why the Emancipation Proclamation did not immediately free enslaved people in Texas. Part B: Identify at least two details from the article that explain why the proclamation could not be enforced in Texas right away.

2. Part A: Describe how the meaning and recognition of Juneteenth changed over time. Part B: What evidence from the article shows that Juneteenth grew from a local community celebration into a national federal holiday?

3. Part A: What does the article imply about the relationship between legal freedom and actual lived freedom for formerly enslaved people in Texas after June 19, 1865? Part B: Which specific details from the article support this interpretation?

 

DOK 3 — Strategic Thinking

DOK 3 Questions

1. Part A: The article explains that some enslavers deliberately moved enslaved people to Texas to keep them in bondage longer. What does this action reveal about the relationship between legal proclamations and actual enforcement of the law? Part B: Using evidence from the article and the Tier 2 vocabulary word 'enforce,' explain how the gap between the Emancipation Proclamation and Juneteenth illustrates this problem.

2. Part A: Analyze why the commemoration of Juneteenth matters beyond its historical origin. What does the article suggest about why freedom must be actively remembered and celebrated? Part B: Cite specific evidence from the article, using at least two Tier 2 or Tier 3 vocabulary words in your response.

3. Part A: The last Civil War battle was fought at Palmito Ranch on May 13, 1865, more than a month after Lee's surrender. What does this fact suggest about how information, power, and geography intersect in history? Part B: Connect this detail to the broader argument that the article makes about why Juneteenth did not happen sooner.

 

 

 

Article 3 — Spindletop: The Gusher That Changed the World (1901)

Target Grade: 5–6

 

On the morning of January 10, 1901, a drilling crew in southeastern Texas was lowering pipe into a hole nearly 1,100 feet deep when the ground began to shake. Mud bubbled up from below. Then, with a thunderous roar, six tons of drilling pipe shot out of the earth and into the sky. The drillers ran for their lives. A few moments later, a column of black oil erupted more than 150 feet into the air. The Lucas Gusher at Spindletop Hill, just south of the city of Beaumont, had come in. It produced an estimated 100,000 barrels of oil per day — more oil in a single day than the entire state of Texas had produced in all of 1900. Nothing like it had ever been seen before. The modern petroleum age had begun.

 

The story of Spindletop begins with a self-taught geologist and brick manufacturer named Pattillo Higgins. In the early 1890s, Higgins noticed that a low hill south of Beaumont had bubbling natural gas seeps — places where gas escaped from the ground — and sulfur springs. He became convinced that a massive oil reserve lay beneath the hill, trapped inside a dome of underground salt. Nearly everyone in the oil industry told him he was wrong. Higgins drilled three test wells between 1893 and 1896, and all three failed to penetrate the difficult underground sand layers. His investors lost confidence and walked away.

 

Higgins eventually teamed up with a mining engineer named Anthony Francis Lucas, who was the leading American expert on salt dome geology. Lucas agreed that the underground salt formation beneath Spindletop Hill could hold oil. After struggling to find financial backing — because the idea of finding oil near salt domes was considered unproven — Lucas partnered with a Pittsburgh oil company and hired the skilled Hamill brothers as drillers. Beginning in October 1900, the Hamills developed new drilling techniques to push through the difficult underground formations that had stopped previous efforts. Inch by inch, they drilled deeper.

 

The explosion of oil on January 10, 1901, lasted nine days before the crew finally brought the gusher under control using a special valve device. By the time it was capped, an enormous pool of oil had formed around the site. Word spread rapidly, and within weeks thousands of speculators, investors, workers, and journalists flooded into Beaumont. The city's population grew from approximately 10,000 people to roughly 50,000 within months. Land prices skyrocketed. One small plot that had been listed for sale at $150 sold for $20,000, and the buyer resold it within fifteen minutes for $50,000. By the end of 1901, more than $235 million had been invested in Texas oil — and that was just the beginning.

 

The consequences of Spindletop extended far beyond Texas. For the first time in history, oil was available in quantities large enough to fuel an entire industrial economy. Before Spindletop, oil was used primarily to make kerosene for lamps. After Spindletop, oil became the foundation of modern transportation and industry. Coal-burning trains and steamships across the United States began switching to oil fuel. The rise of the automobile, which required gasoline refined from crude oil, accelerated rapidly. Several of the most powerful oil companies in American history were founded as a direct result of the Spindletop discovery, including the Texas Company — later known as Texaco — and the company that eventually became Gulf Oil, now part of Chevron.

 

Spindletop also transformed Texas economically and demographically. In the 1870s, more than 95 percent of Texans lived on farms or ranches. The oil boom changed all of that. Houston and Dallas — cities built on oil and related industries — grew rapidly to become two of the largest cities in the United States. Texas shifted from a rural agricultural economy to an urban industrial one. The influence of petroleum can still be seen throughout the state today, from the refineries along the Gulf Coast to the oil industry jobs that support millions of Texas families. The gusher that exploded from the earth near Beaumont on January 10, 1901, did not just change Texas — it changed the world.

Reading Level: Grade 5–6 | Intermediate   |   WPM Target: 105–130 WPM

 

Vocabulary — Article 3

Word / Phrase	Tier	Definition
petroleum	Tier 3	A naturally occurring liquid found underground, made of hydrocarbons, used to make gasoline, kerosene, and other fuels
gusher	Tier 3	An oil well from which oil flows abundantly upward without needing to be pumped
salt dome	Tier 3	A large underground formation of salt that pushes upward through surrounding rock, often trapping oil and gas beneath it
speculator	Tier 2	A person who invests money in risky ventures hoping to make a large profit quickly
refinery	Tier 3	A factory where crude oil is processed and converted into usable products such as gasoline, diesel, and kerosene
crude oil	Tier 3	Petroleum in its natural, unrefined state, as it comes out of the ground before processing
infrastructure	Tier 2	The basic physical systems of a community or country, such as roads, pipelines, and power lines
demographics	Tier 2	The characteristics of a population, including its size, growth, age, and distribution across an area
formation	Tier 2	A natural structure or arrangement of rock, sediment, or earth layers beneath the ground
consequence	Tier 2	A result or effect that follows from an action or event, often significant or far-reaching

 

DOK Questions — Article 3

DOK 1 — Recall

DOK 1 Questions

1. On what date did the Lucas Gusher erupt at Spindletop?

2. Who first believed that oil was trapped beneath Spindletop Hill?

3. Approximately how much oil did the Spindletop gusher produce per day?

4. Name two major oil companies that were founded as a result of the Spindletop discovery.

 

DOK 2 — Skills and Concepts

DOK 2 Questions

1. Part A: Explain why it was difficult to find financial backing for the Spindletop drilling project before 1901. Part B: Identify at least two details from the article that describe the obstacles Higgins and Lucas faced before the gusher came in.

2. Part A: Describe the immediate economic consequences of the Spindletop discovery for the city of Beaumont and the surrounding region. Part B: What evidence from the article shows how quickly and dramatically conditions changed after January 10, 1901?

3. Part A: Explain how the discovery of oil at Spindletop changed the primary uses of petroleum in the United States. Part B: Use evidence from the article and the Tier 3 vocabulary word 'refinery' to explain the connection between crude oil and the growth of the automobile industry.

 

DOK 3 — Strategic Thinking

DOK 3 Questions

1. Part A: The article argues that Spindletop 'changed the world.' Using evidence from the article, evaluate whether this claim is well-supported or exaggerated. Part B: Which specific consequences — economic, demographic, or industrial — provide the strongest evidence for or against this claim? Use at least two Tier 2 vocabulary words (such as consequence, infrastructure, or demographics) in your response.

2. Part A: Analyze the role that persistence and unconventional thinking played in the discovery of the Spindletop oil field. Part B: Drawing on evidence from the article, compare how Pattillo Higgins and Anthony Lucas each contributed to the eventual success, despite facing rejection and failure early on.

3. Part A: The article describes a dramatic shift in Texas from a rural agricultural economy to an urban industrial one. What does this transformation reveal about how a single discovery can alter an entire society? Part B: Use specific evidence from the article and at least one Tier 2 or Tier 3 vocabulary word to support a claim about the long-term significance of the Spindletop gusher.

 

 

 

Article 4 — The Great Galveston Hurricane of 1900

Target Grade: 6–7

 

On September 8, 1900, the deadliest natural disaster in United States history struck the Gulf Coast city of Galveston, Texas. A massive hurricane made landfall with winds estimated at 145 miles per hour and drove a wall of seawater over the entire island on which the city was built. When the storm had passed, between 6,000 and 12,000 people were dead — the estimates vary because so many bodies were swept into the Gulf of Mexico and never recovered. At the time of the storm, Galveston was one of the most prosperous and modern cities in Texas, home to approximately 38,000 residents. The hurricane left much of it in ruins within a single night.

 

Galveston sits on a long, narrow barrier island on the Texas Gulf Coast. In 1900, it was one of the busiest ports in the United States and a hub of trade and commerce. The city was wealthy, sophisticated, and proud. It had electric streetcars, telephone lines, and well-established medical and educational institutions. However, Galveston had a significant geographical vulnerability: the entire island sat only about eight and a half feet above sea level at its highest point. For years, some scientists and civic leaders had warned that a powerful hurricane could flood the entire island. Those warnings were largely dismissed.

 

The storm originated in the Atlantic Ocean and moved westward through the Caribbean before entering the Gulf of Mexico. Weather forecasters of the era had limited tools and no satellite technology. The United States Weather Bureau, a forerunner of today's National Weather Service, had issued warnings that a tropical storm was approaching, but officials underestimated its strength. On the morning of September 8, the skies in Galveston began to darken and winds picked up. Galveston's chief meteorologist, Isaac Cline, rode his horse along the beach warning residents to move to higher ground. Many did not listen or did not have time to escape.

 

By early afternoon, seawater had begun flooding the streets from the bay side. By evening, the storm surge — a rise in sea level caused by the hurricane's winds pushing ocean water onto land — had overwhelmed the entire island. Waves up to fifteen feet high swept through streets and buildings. Wooden structures were demolished and swept away. Brick buildings collapsed under the force of the water. Survivors clung to debris, rooftops, and trees through the night. The hurricane made landfall as what would today be classified as a Category 4 storm. It remains the deadliest hurricane ever to strike the United States.

 

In the aftermath of the disaster, Galveston faced an extraordinary challenge: how to rebuild and how to prevent such devastation from happening again. The city's leaders made two bold decisions. First, they constructed a massive seawall along the Gulf shoreline, stretching seventeen feet high and eventually extending more than ten miles along the coast. Second, engineers raised the elevation of the entire city — a process called grade raising — by dredging sand from the Gulf of Mexico and pumping it under buildings throughout Galveston. More than 2,000 buildings were lifted on jacks while the sand was poured beneath them. It was one of the most ambitious civil engineering projects in American history up to that point.

 

The Galveston Hurricane of 1900 had lasting consequences for the entire Gulf Coast. It accelerated the growth of Houston, which sat safely inland and had better access to the new oil fields being discovered in the region. Galveston never fully regained its former status as Texas's leading city. The storm also contributed to significant advances in hurricane preparedness and forecasting across the United States. The seawall that Galveston built helped protect the city from later storms, most notably during the powerful Hurricane Ike in 2008. Today, Galveston's seawall stands as both an engineering achievement and a monument to one of the most catastrophic events in Texas history.

Reading Level: Grade 6–7 | Intermediate–Advanced   |   WPM Target: 120–140 WPM

 

Vocabulary — Article 4

Word / Phrase	Tier	Definition
storm surge	Tier 3	An abnormal rise in sea level caused by a hurricane's winds pushing seawater onto land; often the deadliest part of a hurricane
meteorologist	Tier 3	A scientist who studies the atmosphere and weather patterns in order to forecast weather conditions
barrier island	Tier 3	A long, narrow strip of sand or land that runs parallel to the coast, separated from the mainland by a bay or lagoon
seawall	Tier 3	A wall or embankment built along the coast to protect land and buildings from erosion and flooding caused by waves
civil engineering	Tier 3	A branch of engineering that deals with the design and construction of public infrastructure such as bridges, roads, and flood barriers
catastrophic	Tier 2	Causing enormous damage, suffering, or destruction; disastrous in scale
elevation	Tier 2	The height of a location above sea level; how high a place is compared to the ocean's surface
vulnerability	Tier 2	The quality of being exposed to danger or harm; weakness that makes something or someone susceptible to damage
aftermath	Tier 2	The period of time following a disaster or difficult event; the consequences that follow
infrastructure	Tier 2	The basic physical systems of a city or region, including roads, utilities, and public buildings

 

DOK Questions — Article 4

DOK 1 — Recall

DOK 1 Questions

1. On what date did the Galveston Hurricane strike Texas?

2. Approximately how many people were killed in the hurricane?

3. What two major construction projects did Galveston undertake after the hurricane?

4. What is a storm surge?

 

DOK 2 — Skills and Concepts

DOK 2 Questions

1. Part A: Explain what made Galveston particularly vulnerable to a hurricane. Part B: Identify at least two specific details from the article — using the Tier 2 word 'vulnerability' — that describe Galveston's geographic and structural weaknesses before the storm.

2. Part A: Describe the two major engineering responses that Galveston undertook after the 1900 hurricane. Part B: What evidence from the article suggests these responses were effective in protecting the city from future storms?

3. Part A: Explain how the Galveston Hurricane contributed to the rise of Houston as the dominant city in Texas. Part B: Use evidence from the article and the Tier 2 word 'aftermath' to connect the hurricane to Houston's growth.

 

DOK 3 — Strategic Thinking

DOK 3 Questions

1. Part A: The article states that warnings about Galveston's vulnerability 'were largely dismissed' before the 1900 hurricane. What does this reveal about how societies often respond — or fail to respond — to scientific warnings about natural disasters? Part B: Using evidence from the article and at least two Tier 2 or Tier 3 vocabulary words, explain what lessons the Galveston disaster offers about disaster preparedness and civic responsibility.

2. Part A: Analyze how the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 functioned as both a catastrophe and a catalyst for technological and civic progress. Part B: Cite at least three specific consequences from the article — using the Tier 2 word 'consequence' and the Tier 3 term 'civil engineering' — to support your analysis.

3. Part A: Compare the immediate human cost of the 1900 hurricane with its long-term impact on the Gulf Coast region, including both losses and gains. Part B: Which long-term consequence described in the article do you consider most significant, and why? Support your argument with specific evidence and academic vocabulary from the article.

 

 

 

Article 5 — LULAC: Fighting for Civil Rights in Texas (1929)

Target Grade: 7

 

On February 17, 1929, representatives from several Texas-based Mexican American civil rights organizations gathered in Corpus Christi to form a new organization that would become one of the most influential Latino civil rights groups in American history. They called it the League of United Latin American Citizens, known by the acronym LULAC. Founded at a time when Mexican Americans and other Latinos in Texas faced widespread segregation, discrimination, and denial of basic legal rights, LULAC set out to fight for equal treatment under the law through legal challenges, civic advocacy, and education. Its founding marked a turning point in the long struggle for civil rights in the American Southwest.

 

In the 1920s and 1930s, Mexican Americans in Texas lived under conditions of severe and systemic discrimination. They were subjected to school segregation — in many Texas counties, Mexican American children were required to attend separate, under-resourced schools, sometimes called 'Mexican schools,' that received far less funding than schools serving Anglo-American students. Mexican Americans were frequently denied the right to vote through the use of poll taxes and whites-only primary elections. They were excluded from juries, denied service at restaurants and public facilities, and faced violence and intimidation from law enforcement with little recourse. Despite many Mexican Americans having lived in Texas for generations — in some cases far longer than Anglo settlers — they were often treated as foreigners in their own homeland.

 

The founders of LULAC believed that the most effective path to equality was through legal and civic engagement rather than confrontation. They emphasized American citizenship, proficiency in the English language, and active participation in the democratic process. LULAC's founding constitution declared its commitment to the principle that all people were created equal and entitled to equal protection under the law. Members paid dues, organized local councils across Texas and other states, and worked through the courts to challenge discriminatory laws and practices. This approach was deliberate and strategic: by emphasizing their status as American citizens and taxpayers, LULAC members sought to hold the government accountable to its own stated constitutional values.

 

One of LULAC's earliest and most impactful legal victories came in the area of school desegregation. In 1930, LULAC challenged the practice of segregating Mexican American students in Independent School District v. Salvatierra in Del Rio, Texas. Although the court ruled against full desegregation in that case, it established an important legal precedent by acknowledging that Mexican Americans were not a separate racial group under the law. LULAC continued pressing for educational equity in the courts. In 1947, the Mendez v. Westminster case in California — which LULAC supported — became a landmark ruling that found school segregation of Mexican American children to be unconstitutional. This ruling contributed directly to the legal arguments that led to Brown v. Board of Education in 1954.

 

Beyond education, LULAC worked to expand voting rights, challenge employment discrimination, and improve living conditions in Mexican American communities across the Southwest. During World War II, LULAC advocated for the recognition of Mexican American military service, as tens of thousands of Texas Latinos served in the armed forces. After the war, LULAC fought against the discriminatory treatment of Mexican American veterans, including incidents in which families of fallen soldiers were denied burial in Anglo-only cemeteries — a cause that brought national attention and outrage.

 

Today, LULAC is the oldest and largest Latino civil rights organization in the United States. It operates more than 1,000 councils in 42 states and the District of Columbia, and continues to work on issues including immigration reform, education equity, voting rights, and economic opportunity. Its founding in Corpus Christi in 1929 represented a pivotal moment not only for Mexican Americans in Texas but for the broader civil rights movement in the United States — a movement that drew strength from many communities, in many places, fighting for the same fundamental principles of dignity and equal justice under the law.

Reading Level: Grade 7 | Advanced–Intermediate   |   WPM Target: 130–150 WPM

 

Vocabulary — Article 5

Word / Phrase	Tier	Definition
segregation	Tier 3	The enforced separation of groups of people by race, ethnicity, or other characteristics, especially in public places, schools, or housing
discrimination	Tier 2	The unjust treatment of individuals based on characteristics such as race, ethnicity, gender, or religion
civil rights	Tier 3	The rights of citizens to equal social opportunities and treatment under the law, regardless of race, gender, religion, or national origin
acronym	Tier 2	A word formed from the first letters or parts of a series of words, such as LULAC for League of United Latin American Citizens
precedent	Tier 2	A legal decision or action that serves as an example or rule to be followed in similar situations in the future
advocacy	Tier 2	The act of publicly supporting a cause, policy, or person, especially to bring about change
civic engagement	Tier 2	Active participation in the democratic process and community affairs, such as voting, organizing, or attending public meetings
desegregation	Tier 3	The process of ending policies that forcibly separate people by race in schools, public places, or other institutions
constitutional	Tier 2	Relating to or authorized by the constitution; consistent with or permitted by the fundamental laws of a government
equity	Tier 2	Fairness and justice in the distribution of resources, opportunities, and treatment, recognizing that different needs may require different support

 

DOK Questions — Article 5

DOK 1 — Recall

DOK 1 Questions

1. When and where was LULAC founded?

2. What does the acronym LULAC stand for?

3. What were three forms of discrimination that Mexican Americans in Texas faced in the 1920s and 1930s?

4. What was the name of LULAC's first major school desegregation court case?

 

DOK 2 — Skills and Concepts

DOK 2 Questions

1. Part A: Explain the strategy that LULAC's founders chose to fight discrimination. Part B: Why did LULAC emphasize American citizenship and civic engagement rather than direct confrontation? Use evidence from the article and the Tier 2 word 'advocacy' to support your explanation.

2. Part A: Describe how the Mendez v. Westminster ruling was connected to the later Brown v. Board of Education decision. Part B: What evidence from the article shows that LULAC's legal work in school desegregation had national consequences beyond Texas?

3. Part A: Explain what the article means when it states that Mexican Americans were 'treated as foreigners in their own homeland.' Part B: Which details from the article about the history of Mexican Americans in Texas most strongly support this claim?

 

DOK 3 — Strategic Thinking

DOK 3 Questions

1. Part A: Analyze why LULAC's emphasis on legal and civic strategies — rather than direct protest — was particularly effective in the political climate of 1929 Texas. Part B: Using evidence from the article and Tier 2 vocabulary words such as 'precedent,' 'constitutional,' and 'advocacy,' explain how this approach produced concrete legal outcomes over time.

2. Part A: The article argues that LULAC's work in Texas contributed directly to the broader national civil rights movement. What conclusions can you draw about the relationship between local civil rights struggles and national legal change? Part B: Cite at least two specific pieces of evidence from the article — including the Tier 3 terms 'segregation,' 'desegregation,' and 'civil rights' — to support your conclusion.

3. Part A: Evaluate whether the founding of LULAC should be considered a turning point in Texas history. What criteria would you use to define a 'turning point,' and does LULAC's founding meet those criteria? Part B: Support your evaluation with specific evidence from the article and at least three Tier 2 or Tier 3 vocabulary words used correctly in context.

 

 

 

Article 6 — Texas Joins the Union: Annexation and Its Consequences (1845)

Target Grade: 7–8

 

On December 29, 1845, Texas officially became the twenty-eighth state of the United States of America. The annexation of Texas — the process by which the independent Republic of Texas was formally absorbed into the United States — was one of the most consequential and controversial political events of the nineteenth century. It resolved a nine-year-old debate about whether the United States should take in a large, slaveholding republic that sat on the border of Mexico. It also directly triggered the Mexican-American War, a conflict that reshaped the borders of North America and set the stage for decades of political conflict over the expansion of slavery.

 

Texas had declared independence from Mexico in 1836 and had spent the following nine years as an independent republic. During those years, the Republic of Texas was financially unstable, constantly threatened by Mexico (which never formally recognized Texan independence), and home to a rapidly growing population of Anglo settlers who had brought enslaved African Americans with them from the American South. Texas had applied for annexation to the United States shortly after winning independence, but Congress repeatedly delayed action. The primary reason for the delay was the fierce political debate over slavery. Admitting Texas as a state would add a vast new slaveholding territory to the United States, upsetting the fragile balance between free and slave states that dominated American politics in the 1840s.

 

The annexation debate was finally resolved during the presidency of James K. Polk, who was elected in 1844 on a platform that included the expansion of U.S. territory — a policy often described using the phrase 'Manifest Destiny.' Manifest Destiny was the widespread belief, particularly popular among Anglo-American settlers and politicians, that the United States was divinely destined to expand its territory westward across the entire North American continent. Texas was seen as a critical piece of this expansion. In February 1845, before Polk had even taken office, Congress passed a joint resolution offering Texas annexation. Texas voters approved the annexation in October 1845, and Texas formally joined the Union that December.

 

Mexico had never recognized Texas as an independent nation and considered the annexation an illegal seizure of Mexican territory. There was also a specific border dispute: Texas claimed its southern border was the Rio Grande, while Mexico insisted the border was the Nueces River, about 150 miles to the north. President Polk ordered American General Zachary Taylor to march troops into the disputed territory between the two rivers. When Mexican soldiers crossed the Rio Grande and attacked a small American patrol in April 1846, Polk declared to Congress that Mexico had 'shed American blood on American soil.' Congress declared war on May 13, 1846.

 

The Mexican-American War lasted approximately two years, from 1846 to 1848. American forces invaded Mexico on multiple fronts, eventually capturing Mexico City itself in September 1847. The war ended with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed on February 2, 1848. Under the terms of the treaty, Mexico ceded — gave up — more than half its national territory to the United States. This cession included the present-day states of California, Nevada, Utah, most of Arizona and New Mexico, and parts of Colorado and Wyoming. The United States paid Mexico $15 million and agreed to pay the claims of American citizens against Mexico up to $3.25 million. In exchange, Mexico lost more than 500,000 square miles of territory.

 

The consequences of Texas annexation and the Mexican-American War extended far into the future. The enormous new territory acquired from Mexico reignited the political conflict over whether slavery would be permitted to expand into new states. This conflict intensified throughout the 1850s and contributed directly to the sectional crisis that led to the Civil War in 1861. The war with Mexico also produced military leaders — including Ulysses S. Grant, William Tecumseh Sherman, and Robert E. Lee — who would play central roles in the Civil War fifteen years later. Critics of the Mexican-American War, including a young Illinois congressman named Abraham Lincoln, argued at the time that the war had been manufactured by Polk to seize territory from Mexico under false pretenses. These debates about the war's justification have continued among historians ever since.

Reading Level: Grade 7–8 | Advanced   |   WPM Target: 145–165 WPM

 

Vocabulary — Article 6

Word / Phrase	Tier	Definition
annexation	Tier 3	The process by which a country or government formally incorporates territory that previously belonged to another entity into its own borders
Manifest Destiny	Tier 3	The nineteenth-century belief that the United States was destined — by providence or divine will — to expand its territory across the entire North American continent
cession	Tier 3	The formal giving up of territory, rights, or property by one nation to another, usually through a treaty
joint resolution	Tier 3	A formal legislative decision that must be approved by both chambers of Congress and typically has the force of law
sectional crisis	Tier 3	A period of intense political conflict between different regions of the United States — primarily the North and South — over issues such as slavery and states' rights
controversial	Tier 2	Causing strong disagreement or debate among people; relating to a subject on which many different and opposing opinions are held
sovereignty	Tier 2	The full right and power of a governing body to rule itself without interference from outside powers
expansion	Tier 2	The process of increasing in size, scope, or territory; in U.S. history, often refers to the growth of the nation's geographic borders
consequence	Tier 2	A result or effect, especially an important or long-lasting one, that follows from an action or decision
ceded	Tier 2	Past tense of 'cede'; formally gave up or surrendered territory or rights to another party

 

DOK Questions — Article 6

DOK 1 — Recall

DOK 1 Questions

1. On what date did Texas officially become the twenty-eighth state of the United States?

2. What was the primary reason Congress delayed the annexation of Texas for nine years after Texan independence?

3. What treaty ended the Mexican-American War, and on what date was it signed?

4. What is Manifest Destiny?

 

DOK 2 — Skills and Concepts

DOK 2 Questions

1. Part A: Explain why Mexico refused to recognize Texas as an independent republic and considered its annexation illegal. Part B: What specific details from the article — using the Tier 2 word 'sovereignty' and the Tier 3 term 'annexation' — support Mexico's position?

2. Part A: Describe how the border dispute between Texas and Mexico contributed to the start of the Mexican-American War. Part B: Identify specific evidence from the article about how President Polk used the border conflict to build political support for declaring war.

3. Part A: Explain the connection between the Mexican-American War and the growing political conflict over slavery in the United States. Part B: What evidence from the article shows that the territorial gains from the war actually worsened the division between Northern and Southern states?

 

DOK 3 — Strategic Thinking

DOK 3 Questions

1. Part A: The article describes the belief in Manifest Destiny as 'widespread among Anglo-American settlers and politicians.' Analyze what this phrase reveals about whose perspective defined U.S. expansion policy in the 1840s, and whose perspectives were excluded. Part B: Using evidence from the article and Tier 2 and Tier 3 vocabulary — including 'sovereignty,' 'annexation,' 'cession,' and 'expansion' — explain how the doctrine of Manifest Destiny affected the rights and lands of other peoples.

2. Part A: Congressman Abraham Lincoln argued that the Mexican-American War was 'manufactured' to seize territory under false pretenses. Based on evidence from the article, evaluate whether this criticism is well-supported. Part B: Identify at least two specific details from the article that either support or challenge Lincoln's argument, and explain how they do so using precise Tier 2 vocabulary.

3. Part A: The article argues that the annexation of Texas was 'one of the most consequential and controversial political events of the nineteenth century.' Synthesize evidence from across the entire article to evaluate whether this claim is justified. Part B: Rank the three most significant consequences of Texas annexation described in the article, explain your ranking, and support each choice with specific textual evidence and at least three Tier 2 or Tier 3 vocabulary words.

 

 

 

Reading Boot Camp 2.0 — Texas History Edition | Grades 4–8