• Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Is the evidence relevant and sufficient?). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
• Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.

1. Judge the evidence for this claim. Claim: Cycling to school is safe in our town. Evidence: Police data shows no serious cycling accidents near local schools in five years, after new cycle lanes were built. (relevant and sufficient / relevant but not sufficient / not relevant) → relevant and sufficientPrompt: Relevant: is the evidence actually about the claim?
2. Which claim and evidence pair matches this judgement: relevant and sufficient? (Claim: Our school should switch to LED lights. Evidence: A council energy audit of our building found LED lights would cut the lighting bill by 60% and pay for themselves in two years. / Claim: Our school should switch to LED lights. Evidence: LED stands for light-emitting diode. / Claim: Cycling to school is safe in our town. Evidence: I cycled to school last Tuesday and nothing happened.) → Claim: Our school should switch to LED lights. Evidence: A council energy audit of our building found LED lights would cut the lighting bill by 60% and pay for themselves in two years.Prompt: Relevant: is the evidence actually about the claim?
3. Judge the evidence for this claim. Claim: The beach needs more bins. Evidence: Seagulls are noisy birds. (relevant and sufficient / relevant but not sufficient / not relevant) → not relevantPrompt: Relevant: is the evidence actually about the claim?

• Read the first lines of a short text aloud and ask what students predict will happen and why.
• Share the objective: Spotting faulty reasoning: bandwagon, slippery slope, ad hominem…. Read the success criteria together.

• Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
• Example: Which fallacy matches this description? Presenting only two options when more exist.
• Step 1: A fallacy is a flaw in reasoning that can make a weak argument sound convincing.
• Step 2: false dilemma: Presenting only two options when more exist.
• Step 3: So the answer is: false dilemma
• Answer: false dilemma
• Pause after each step and ask a student to say what comes next.

• Do these together. Students try each step on whiteboards before you reveal it.
• Use the hints as prompts rather than giving the answer.

1. Which fallacy matches this description? Presenting only two options when more exist. (slippery slope / false dilemma / bandwagon / ad hominem) → false dilemmaPrompt: Think about what each kind of faulty argument does wrong.
2. Which fallacy is used here? Why listen to Sam's ideas about the budget? He can't even keep his bedroom tidy. (slippery slope / false dilemma / ad hominem / bandwagon) → ad hominemPrompt: Does it attack a person, follow the crowd, offer only two options, generalise from a few cases, or predict a chain of disasters?

• Students work on the student sheet. Circulate and check the first two answers of every student early.
• Students who finish: write a question of their own for a partner, with the answer.

The 6 questions are on the student sheet below, with answers in the key.

• Two questions on their own. Sort answers into got it / nearly / not yet to plan the next lesson.

1. Which fallacy is used here? My first two maths tests were hard, so all maths tests are impossible. (hasty generalisation / false dilemma / ad hominem / slippery slope) → hasty generalisationPrompt: Does it attack a person, follow the crowd, offer only two options, generalise from a few cases, or predict a chain of disasters?
2. Type the fallacy (in English) that matches this description. Drawing a big conclusion from too few examples. → hasty generalisationPrompt: Think about what each kind of faulty argument does wrong.

Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/english/grade-8.