🧪 Phase 3 - Investigation
🧪 Lab · Path A
⏱ 10 minutes
Task 4 - Path A: The Scientist
How strong is a piece of evidence, really?
Choose your path (you can only fully complete one)
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A: The Scientist
🕵️
B: The Fact-Checker
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C: The Media Detective
Not all evidence is equal. A tip from a friend and a review of 40 clinical trials are both "evidence" - but one is far more reliable. Investigate how to rank evidence by strength.
Step 1 - Build your Evidence Ladder
Tap a chip, then tap the rung you think it belongs on - weakest at the bottom, strongest at the top.
Personal testimonial
Anecdote from a friend
Observational study
Randomised controlled trial
Systematic review / meta-analysis
STRONGESTRank 5
Rank 4
Rank 3
Rank 2
WEAKESTRank 1
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Wonder Learning AI
"Can I trust a personal testimonial as much as a clinical trial?"
"A testimonial and a clinical trial are both forms of evidence, but they carry very different weight. A testimonial describes one person's experience, which could be due to chance, placebo effect, or other factors. A well-designed randomised controlled trial controls for these factors across many participants. Since both come from real people's experiences, a single celebrity testimonial is just as reliable as a peer-reviewed clinical trial."
Tap the highlighted sentence, then fact-check it:
Good fact-check - this is incorrect. The AI's own first two sentences explain exactly why they aren't equally reliable - a testimonial can't control for chance or placebo effect the way a controlled trial can. The highlighted sentence directly contradicts the reasoning that came right before it.
Step 2 - Save your Evidence Ladder
Your ladder, weakest to strongest
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One reason evidence strength matters when reading health claims
Strong evidence is one piece of the puzzle - now let's meet the other investigators.
What happens in Task 4
A 10-minute Phase 3 - Investigation activity (Path A of 3 - choose one). Students rank five types of evidence from weakest to strongest on an Evidence Ladder, ask the Wonder Learning AI about testimonials vs. trials, fact-check one claim, answer a check question, then save their ladder.
🎯 Learning objectives
To understand that evidence exists on a hierarchy of reliability, and that not all "evidence" carries equal weight.
♿ SEN Adaptations
- Pre-sorted ladder option available to check against; voice-to-text; flexible pacing
🖨️ No-Tech Format
- Lab Booklet pages 4-5: five evidence cards to physically order on a printed ladder