Thinking Routines / Fact or Fiction?
Fact or Fiction?
Write three or four statements about a topic — some true, some not — and make the class weigh the evidence before committing to a verdict on each one.
Opens on the whiteboard to model with the class · no sign-up · printing is optional
The sheet it prints — optional
What is the Fact or Fiction activity?
Fact or Fiction is an activity in which a class weighs a statement against the evidence and commits to a verdict. The teacher writes the statements in advance, which means the misconceptions worth examining get examined rather than whichever ones happen to come up.
How do you run Fact or Fiction with a class?
Put one statement up and take a show of hands before any discussion, so everybody commits. Gather evidence for and against. Then vote again and compare. The gap between the two votes is the most useful thing on the board.
How do you write good statements?
Make them plausible. A statement nobody believes teaches nothing, and neither does one everybody knows. The best ones are the half-truths a class has picked up somewhere — widely believed, defensible at first glance, and wrong.
Put one statement in that cannot be decided from the evidence available, and do not tell them. The first few times, a class will vote on it anyway, because school has trained them that every question has an answer. The child who eventually says 'we can't know that' has done something harder than getting the other four right, and it is worth stopping the lesson to say so out loud.
Which subjects does Fact or Fiction suit?
Any topic children have absorbed half-truths about.
- History — the myths that come attached to every popular period.
- Science — the body, space, animals, and what everybody 'knows'.
- Geography — countries and climates they have only seen on television.
- Reading — statements about a text they have to check against it.
What usually goes wrong with Fact or Fiction?
Statements that are too easy. If a class can settle one instantly there is no evidence-weighing to do, and the activity becomes a quiz. Aim for plausible half-truths — the things they have picked up somewhere and never questioned.
Which year groups is Fact or Fiction for?
Fact or Fiction suits Year 2 upwards, grade 1 in the US. Younger children need statements that can be settled from something in front of them. From Year 5, include one statement that genuinely cannot be settled and see who notices.
What do you do with it afterwards?
Keep the statements they got wrong. Those are the misconceptions worth reteaching, and rerunning the same set a few weeks later shows whether anything shifted. Children also enjoy writing their own statements for another class, which is harder than answering them.
How often should you use Fact or Fiction?
Once or twice per topic. Writing good statements takes longer than running the activity, so it rewards preparation rather than spontaneity — and a class that meets it too often starts guessing the pattern of how many are true.
Is Fact or Fiction the same as fact and opinion?
No, and it is worth being clear about the difference. Fact and opinion asks whether a statement can be proved at all. Fact or Fiction assumes it can, and asks the class to go and weigh the evidence for it. One sorts sentences; the other investigates them.
| Year group | US grade | What to change | How long |
|---|---|---|---|
| Years 2–3 | Grades 1–2 | Three statements, settled from a text in front of them. | 10 min |
| Years 4–5 | Grades 3–4 | Four or five. Vote before and after the evidence. | 15–20 min |
| Year 6 and up | Grade 5+ | Include one that cannot be settled. | 20–25 min |
Fact or Fiction compared with Claim, Support, Question
Fact or Fiction starts from statements you chose, so it steers the lesson. Claim, Support, Question starts from the class's own ideas, so it does not. Use this one when you know which misconceptions you are after.
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This activity is our own. It is not a Project Zero routine, and Sage Teachers is not affiliated with Harvard University or Project Zero.