This text set includes two articles and a video on this HOT TOPIC! See further below for cheat notes on similar details in the sources. Probably most appropriate for 4th-7th grades.

Source 1 VIDEO “Why don’t we have self-driving cars yet?” by Business Insider This is about five minutes. The details I suggest using begin at 2:21. The first part is super interesting, describing five levels of autonomous cars. This part (as well as the rest) could be helpful in responding to higher level thinking questions like “In the first two minutes, how does the narrator help you understand just how far driverless cars have come and how far they have to go?”

Source 2 ARTICLE “Domino’s will deliver pizza using autonomous vehicles this year” by delish.com

Source 3 ARTICLE “ ‘Walking car’ could aid people with disabilities and during emergencies” Washington Post, adapted by Newsela staff (See video of this walking car at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQ5Xib6sFp4)

CHEAT NOTES: Colored key details that support three main ideas. (This list of main ideas is not exhaustive.) You might refer to this as you read students’ written responses to prompts like, “What was a main idea in all three sources that jumped out at you? What are details you learned that support that idea?” For some students, you might provide the main ideas and let them focus on identifying key details.

A VOCABULARY suggestion: Teach students how to use qualifiers like some day, may be able to, might possibly be able to to help them distinguish between what these cars are already doing and what they might be able to do.

For additional teaching suggestions—including how to integrate this into the three phase plan for learning and how to model for students, see my last blog entry “Space Junk: Two Sources + Cheat Notes.” And there’s another entry with easy sources for comparing/contrasting animals.

Hope this helps.

S