Goosebumps: Old Equipment
Why your arms turn to sandpaper in the cold: an original science article on goosebumps — the tiny hair-raising muscles, the two ancient jobs, the fur you no longer own, and the wiring that now answers to violins. Every technical term defines itself in context, making this the Grade 6 lab for word-attack strategies: Latin roots, in-text definitions, and figurative language doing science work.
Common Core standards covered
- RI.6.4Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings.
- L.6.4Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 6 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.
© Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.
Teacher-facing overview
Big idea: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text — figurative, connotative, and technical; use context clues, Latin roots, and in-text definitions to unlock unfamiliar words.
Student target: “I can unlock technical terms using context strategies — in-text definitions, Latin roots, word parts — name the strategy each time, and explain what figurative phrases carry that plain statements can't.”
Success criteria: I can unlock all four technical terms and cite where each opens. · I can name the strategy per term: translation, word parts, root-plus-sentence. · I can explain a figurative phrase's cargo — what it carries beyond the fact. · I can say why science writing uses both languages at once.
Essential question
This article teaches four technical terms and never sends you to a dictionary — every word unlocks from inside the text. What are the strategies that open unfamiliar words, and why does the article need BOTH kinds of language: the technical and the figurative?
Learning target: I can unlock technical terms using context strategies — in-text definitions, Latin roots, word parts — name the strategy each time, and explain what figurative phrases carry that plain statements can't.
Success criteria
- I can unlock all four technical terms and cite where each opens.
- I can name the strategy per term: translation, word parts, root-plus-sentence.
- I can explain a figurative phrase's cargo — what it carries beyond the fact.
- I can say why science writing uses both languages at once.
Why this matters
RI.6.4 covers three kinds of meaning — technical, figurative, connotative — and L.6.4 asks students to choose flexibly among unlock strategies. This article is a working lab for both: four technical terms that each open by a DIFFERENT route (translation, word parts, root-plus-definition), and a crew of figurative phrases doing real explanatory work — the puffy jacket teaching insulation, the memo carrying evolution's indifference, the wolves-to-violins line compressing the whole twist into seven words. The deeper lesson is why science writing runs both languages at once: technical terms make knowledge precise and shared; figures make it understood and kept. Students leave with named strategies and a permanent answer to 'why do scientists talk like that?'
Students should already be able to
- Simile and personification, informally.
- Citing by paragraph number.
- No biology needed — the article carries it.
Where this shows up outside the classroom
Assessment plan
Formative — for feedback during the lesson
- Warm-up — the three triggers polled.
- Sweep check — languages sorted before unlocking.
- Ledger circulation — strategies named per row.
Summative — the graded evidence: Exit ticket (three unlocks + cargo + the bilingual sentence) plus the ledger; the vestigial paragraph and violins survey rank as extension evidence.
The passage: “Goosebumps: Old Equipment”
An original science article written for this lesson (≈540 words). The biology — arrector pili, piloerection, vestigial traits, aesthetic chills — is the documented record. Reproduce freely.
¶1 You step out of the pool into a cold wind, and your arms instantly turn to sandpaper — hundreds of tiny bumps, each one raising a nearly invisible hair. Goosebumps. You've had them your whole life, and here is the strange truth about them: they are equipment. Very old equipment, installed for a body you don't have.
¶2 Here's the machinery. At the base of every body hair sits a muscle so small you could not feel it working alone — the arrector pili, which is simply Latin for 'raiser of the hair.' When you get cold or scared, your nervous system fires all of these micro-muscles at once, and each one yanks its hair upright, puckering the skin around it into a bump. Scientists call the whole event piloerection — 'pilo' meaning hair, 'erection' meaning standing up. The bumps are just the pulling, seen from outside.
🔒 The full text — 6 numbered paragraphs, plus the photocopy-ready handout — ships in the kit. See plans →
The task students work on
The class runs the two-color sweep — technical terms in one color, figurative phrases in the other — then works the unlock ledger: each term opened, with the strategy NAMED (translation / word parts / root-plus-sentence). The figurative crew gets the cargo question: what does each phrase carry that a plain version wouldn't? The synthesis lands the both-languages insight: precision from the terms, understanding from the figures.
The unlock ledger — term, meaning, and the strategy that opened it.
| The word (¶) | What it means (plain words) | The strategy that unlocked it |
|---|---|---|
| arrector pili (¶2) | ||
| piloerection (¶2) | ||
| vestigial (¶4) | ||
| aesthetic chills (¶5) |
Anticipated student strategies
Sweep first for the structure. Strategy naming second — the transferable half. Cargo weighing last — it answers why the figures exist in a science text at all.
- Two-color sweeping. The student sorts technical from figurative before unlocking anything.
The established entry — the sort makes the both-languages structure visible. Share first.
🔒 2 more anticipated strategies with select-and-sequence guidance are in the full lesson. See plans →
Lesson script
Poll the triggers (the song-chills hands are the fun ones — ask for the songs). Set the reading job: this article will teach you four scientific terms and never once send you to a dictionary — your second job today is catching HOW it pulls that off.
Listen for: Park predictions — ¶5 answers it, and comparing guesses to the wiring-for-wolves line is half the fun.
The full article is in the workbook and the handout. The sweep reveals the design: every technical term (¶2, ¶4, ¶5) arrives WITH figurative escort — the terms bring precision, the figures bring the understanding. Model the first unlock together: arrector pili, opened by the article's own translation. Name the strategy out loud; the ledger wants it named every time.
- Two languages, one article — sort before unlocking.
- Every unlock gets its strategy NAMED.
Listen for: Shared precision — scientists worldwide need one name per thing, and Latin doesn't change under anyone's slang. The plain version is for understanding; the term is for exactness. Both jobs are real.
🔒 The remaining 4 steps — fully scripted with teacher-says lines, discourse questions, look-fors, and interventions — are in the full lesson. See plans →
Misconceptions and how to respond
- “Technical words are there to make science hard.” They're there to make it EXACT and shared — arrector pili means the same muscle in every country. And this article shows the payment plan: every term arrives with its unlock built in. Hard words in good writing come with keys.
- “The jokes and comparisons make the article less scientific.” — the teacher response is in the full lesson.
- “Goosebumps are useless, so the article is about nothing.” — the teacher response is in the full lesson.
- “If I don't know a word, I need a dictionary.” — the teacher response is in the full lesson.
🔒 Every misconception ships with a tested classroom response. See plans →
Scaffolded practice
The workbook follows gradual release rather than a page of blank prompts: 2 fully worked, 2 partially completed, then 4 independent.
- I doLiteral first — the mechanism. Explain what happens in your skin when goosebumps fire, using BOTH technical terms correctly.
🔒 7 more prompts across all three release tiers are in the full lesson. See plans →
Worked solutions and scaffolds for every prompt are in the downloadable kit, included with membership. See plans and pricing.
Exit ticket
- Three terms unlocked, strategies named.
🔒 2 more exit-ticket questions are in the full lesson. See plans →
Worked answers, the completed answer tables, and the scoring rubric are in the downloadable kit, included with membership. See plans and pricing.
Printable handouts in the kit
All handouts are in Printable_Handouts.pdf inside the kit download.
Materials and classroom resources
Student experience
Students enter through a low-floor prompt, build or sketch a model, test a strategy, revise their thinking, collaborate, and present a final solution. The task remains accessible while allowing for sophisticated reasoning.
Detailed facilitation notes
- Step 1: First read: the article straight through — enjoy the weirdness. Ask: “What do you notice?”, “What could you try next?”, and “How can you prove that?”
- Step 2: Second read: two colors — technical terms in one, figurative phrases in the other. Ask: “What do you notice?”, “What could you try next?”, and “How can you prove that?”
- Step 3: Unlock each technical term and NAME the strategy that opened it. Ask: “What do you notice?”, “What could you try next?”, and “How can you prove that?”
- Step 4: Study the figurative crew: what do the puffy jacket, the memo, and the footprint each carry? Ask: “What do you notice?”, “What could you try next?”, and “How can you prove that?”
Differentiation and inclusion
Support: Every term self-defines — no prior science needed; extend with the moonlighting metaphor and the roots-collection challenge.
Language support: “I started by…”, “My model shows…”, and “I know my answer is reasonable because…”.
Extension: Require a second solution, alter a condition, or have students write a challenge for another group.
Accessibility: Manipulatives, enlarged visuals, oral response choices, partner reading, and reduced-copy student pages.
Assessment plan
Formative checks: Strategy choice, accuracy, representation, collaboration, and explanation.
End evidence: Three unlocked terms with strategies named, plus one figurative phrase explained: what it carries that a plain version wouldn't.
Mastery: The student completes the task accurately and explains the strategy with limited prompting.