Lesson 7 — Reading Health Information and Deciding Together

Summary

Learners apply a five-question test to health claims they hear — who made it, why, for whom, what evidence, what is left out — building on Grade 10’s source-evaluation work. They then learn shared decision-making: a clinician brings knowledge, the learner brings their own life, values, and preferences, and the two decide together — including where traditional medicine fits as a valued tradition to weigh, not a rival to dismiss.

Objectives

• Evaluate a health claim for source and evidence, and describe how a person shares a care decision with a clinician. (D03.S4.11.01)

Connection

Health advice is everywhere — a cure-all in a feed, a supplement behind a counter, a “doctors don’t want you to know” headline. Some of it helps, some is harmless, some is profitable to someone. And even with good information, a decision is not a clinician’s alone: you are the one who has to live with the choice — its cost, its side effects, its fit with your beliefs and daily life. Reading claims and deciding together are two halves of the same skill.

Materials

• Health-claim cards
• Five-questions organizer

Preparation

• Copy the claim cards and five-questions organizer.
• Retrieval: from Grade 10 (D03.S4.10.02), evaluating health information sources. Today we sharpen the question set and add shared decision-making.
• Prepare one worked example: run a single claim through all five questions aloud.

Facilitator note

This lesson is written to the learner (“you”). The ideas to land: any health claim opens with five questions — who made it, why (help, belong, or sell), for whom, what evidence, what is left out (NAMLE’s key questions, S-151; the five core concepts, S-442). Then shared decision-making: a clinician contributes knowledge; the learner contributes their life, values, and preferences; the decision is made together, and a second opinion is always available. Traditional medicine is held respectfully: it is a real, valued knowledge tradition that many people use alongside formal care (S-145) — the lesson weighs it on the same five questions, not as an enemy. Claims-and-evidence structure follows Toulmin’s claim/data/warrant (S-236).

The critical-thinking lens: this is the lesson’s spine — source, motive, evidence, omission. The global lens: different cultures hold different traditions of healing, all worth a fair hearing. The ethics lens: deciding together is an ethical stance — the learner’s life is not a clinician’s to override. Model the five questions explicitly (S-011). Preview: Lesson 8 pivots to living with long-term conditions.

Procedure

1. Recall (5 min). From Grade 10: what made a health source trustworthy? Today we sharpen the questions and add the decision side.
2. Meet the five questions (10 min). Run any health claim through five questions: Who made it? Why — to help, to belong, or to sell? Who is it for, and who is left out? What is the evidence — claim, reasons, proof? What is left out? (S-151, S-442). Notice the claim/evidence/warrant shape: every claim needs reasons and proof (S-236).
3. Test the claims (12 min). In pairs, run three claim cards through the five questions. Mark each: trust, doubt, or “need more.” Notice how often “who made it and why” predicts the rest.
4. Deciding together (10 min). A good decision has two inputs on the scale: the clinician’s knowledge, and your life — your values, your daily routine, what you can afford, what fits your beliefs. When both weigh in, that is shared decision-making. You can always ask for time, bring someone, or seek a second opinion.
5. Traditional medicine, weighed fairly (8 min). Many people use traditional medicine alongside clinics — it is a real, valued knowledge tradition, not a lesser option (S-145). Run a traditional remedy through the same five questions, and ask: what does it offer, what does the evidence say, and how might it sit alongside other care? The point is respectful weighing, not ranking one system above another.
6. Write it (8 min). In your journal: one claim you would trust and why, one you would doubt and why, and one decision you would still want to make with a clinician rather than alone.
7. Close (2 min). Say the five questions from memory, without looking.

Differentiation

• Support: Ask only two questions of each claim (“who made it” and “why”), and name one thing you would want your clinician to know about your life.
• Extension: Take a real advertisement or article, run all five questions in writing, and draft a short “buyer’s guide” a friend could use before trusting a health product.

Assessment

• Formative (peer + self): Can the learner run the five questions on a claim, explain trust or doubt with reasons, and describe shared decision-making with a second-opinion option?
• Portfolio artifact (unit): The five-questions organizer plus the written trust/doubt/decide reflection.

Home connection

Find one health claim your household has heard (a food, a remedy, an app). Run it through the five questions together and write the household’s verdict.

Resources

• On the key questions for analyzing any message (including health claims): NAMLE (S-151); Center for Media Literacy, five core concepts (S-442).
• On claim/data/warrant structure: Toulmin, The Uses of Argument (S-236).
• On traditional, complementary, and integrative medicine as a valued tradition: World Health Organization (S-145).
• On worked examples and guided practice for an evaluation skill: Kirschner, Sweller & Clark (2006) (S-011).