Journal #2

Improving Students Research
Learning & Leading with Technology
September/October 2007
By Catherine Tannahill and Leslie Ricklin

I found this article very interesting and timely because it is clear that the nature of research in schools has changed with the use of the internet. There are many more resources available and those options can be overwhelming for a student, even an adult. Proper techniques need to be taught to ensure that students are using good resources from primary sources. This article breaks down the research process into 4 stages: investigation, preparation, presentation, and summation.

During the investigation stage, students should work towards identifying the type of information that they will need to help them with their projects. A teacher can assist by offering ideas for established sites to give them a jump-start. It is important to teach advanced research methods like Boolean searches so the students can narrow down their options.

The author also mentions the use of Inspiration software as a helpful tool to build a graphical organizer to assist with categorizing the information while doing the research during the preparation stage. An internet search log is also helpful so that the students can identify their search strategies like using certain key words and the search engine that was used.

Students can start to build their bibliography by listing sites that they think may be helpful to their research. The evaluation of the quality of the sites is highly important and teacher monitoring is essential. Students can use a webliography that continually updates reference information and the teacher can easily verify this when provided with the URL links. In addition to these points, ethical use of technology such as copyright and plagiarism should be discussed.

Also during the preparation stage, students can make use of online discussion groups, blogs, or wikis to facilitate sharing of information, although they may need to be teacher monitored. Technology is an important tool, but it needs to be communicated that the content is what is important.


Finally in the summation stage, we want the students to look back and reflect critically on their work- what they did well and what could have been done better. What did they learn and what do they still want to learn are other questions to ask. QuizStar and ProfilerPro are online tools that can help with this objective.

Questions:

What techniques can be used to ensure that your students stay on track, instead on wandering off on tangents or being distracted with personal interests?
I think monitoring is going to be the key when they are in a computer lab setting and perhaps establishing some small working groups to self monitor each other. When working independently, setting milestones to help them manage time could be effective. For instance by such and such a date, you will have accomplished this much of your project. Periodic meetings for a lengthy project could also help out.

2. It sometimes seem difficult especially for small children to separate someone’s opinion from fact, especially when something is on the internet, they perceive it to be factual. How can they be taught to make those distinctions? I think this is a something that needs to be worked on across curriculum, starting in literature and across other subject areas that require research and/or discussion. Activities could be used to promote this awareness. Hopefully those skills will transfer to technology research, but will constantly need to be enforced.