The Tikkun Project
Lesson
5
Filling the Gaps
Concept
Returning deliberately to the questions we posted at the start of research rather than assuming we've naturally covered everything is what catches the gaps a less structured research process would miss.
Focus Question
Looking back at the questions we posted when we chose our product, what do we still not know — and which of those gaps actually matter?
Knowledge & Understanding Goals
Science and Technology, Skills and Connections Strand A, Grade 7: Use a research process to identify questions requiring further investigation.
Thinking & Learning Skills
ATL — Thinking Skills: Auditing accumulated research against a standing set of framing questions; identifying genuine knowledge gaps rather than assuming completeness.
Learner Profile: Inquirers, Thinkers.
Context
This lesson is RINA Step 2 Gather Information and Identify Connections. It's not where "Clarify the Problem" gets introduced (that happened in Lesson 2) it's where the class returns to those posted questions with real research now in hand, does the strategy's gap-analysis half, and fills in whatever's still missing before finalizing a research plan. It leads directly into Lesson 6, which builds the substances-and-mixtures background many students will need for their own product's harms.
Lesson Outline
REVISITING OUR POSTED QUESTIONS
Return to the class's posted "Clarify the Problem" questions from Lesson 2. For each, ask: have we actually answered this through our research so far, or have we been assuming we did?
AUDITING WHAT WE KNOW AND DON'T
Work through the strategy's second half: examine what you already know, then think honestly about what you don't. What further information do you need to understand the problem? What questions might reveal more — try to consider multiple dimensions of the problem, not just the one already explored in depth. Then review what you're proposing to find out, and check that it would genuinely uncover something important, not just something easy to search for.
TARGETED GAP-FILLING RESEARCH
Based on the audit, students conduct focused additional research specifically aimed at the diverse dimensions of the problem that haven't yet been explored — not a repeat of earlier research, but a deliberate pursuit of what's still missing. Example gaps this process might surface: How much do average consumers know about this problem? Are there practical alternatives that achieve the same outcome with less harm? What are the ways we could modify habits or behaviours to minimize potential harms?
A FIRST FEASIBILITY CHECK
As gaps get filled and ideas start to firm up, ask of each emerging idea: is it feasible? This is an early flag, not a final judgment — a chance to catch ideas that may need serious rethinking before the research plan is built in later lessons.
Notes for Teaching and Evaluation
Auditing against the same posted questions from Lesson 2 — rather than generating a fresh list — is what makes this a genuine gap-check rather than a new brainstorm; students should be able to point to a specific question that's still thin and explain why.
The early "is it feasible?" flag stays deliberately lightweight here — a first gut-check ahead of the rigorous feasibility test built into the research plan in later lessons.