Aaron ClevelandFRIT 7234Summer 2015Georgia Southern
University
Inquiry and Information Fluency Mini-Lessons and Curated
Resources
Mini-Lesson #1: Creating Document Based Question (DBQ) using Web
2.0 Tools
Summary: The students in this mini-lesson will create an
interactive DBQ using Web 2.0 tools. The purpose of the assignment
will be for the students to create an interactive DBQ that asked
the person viewing the online DBQ to theorize a position based on a
question posed to the individual at the beginning of the DBQ while
using subsequent documents. It will be suggested to students that
they use a tool, such as Prezi, that allows them to work on this
assignment outside of class. This assignment could take multiple
classes or be something assigned for outside of class.
Intended audience: Students in Advanced Placement United States
History classes.
Guiding Question: Are the events that affect the United States
today relevant in that they are similar or different from events in
the past?
Content Area Standards*:
*Curriculum Requirements for AP U.S. History via College
Board
1. Creativity and Innovationa. This assignment demonstrates the
creativity component because the students are required to create a
DBQ about a topic of interest using a Web 2.0 tool. Work is
original and is meant to be a personal expression about a topic or
theme. 2. Communication and Collaborationa. A variety of media
formats are used to communicate the DBQ to a large audience.
Students are required to include primary and secondary sources as
well as audio/video. It is the discretion of the teacher as to
whether or not the students work as teams and collaborate inside or
outside of class. If this is an assignment that students are meant
to work on outside of class, then significant amounts of
collaboration should exist.3. Research and Information Fluencya. In
this interactive DBQ, students are required to locate, organize,
synthesize, and ethically use information. 4. Critical Thinking,
Problem Solving, and Decision Makinga. Students use a wide range of
critical thinking skills in order to complete this assignment.
Definition of authentic problems and significant questions for
investigation are also components of this assignment.5. Technology
Operations and Conceptsa. Students are to locate and effectively
use a Web 2.0 tool in order to produce an interactive DBQ.
Digital Information Fluency*
Locating Learners identify key concepts, words, terms, and tools
for their research question. Using Students ethically use the
information found by identifying the author and citing the source
from which the information was retrieved from. Dispositions
Students effectively can confidence in their research skills
Despite the myriad of distractions, students are persistently
engaged in information fluency Students are engaged in
metacognition throughout the entire process by identifying learning
tasks and goals as well as self-assessing through a class created
task-list and rubric created by the instructor.
* To further enhance digital information fluency, the instructor
may consider giving bonus points to students that identify other
sources of primary documents that can be added to the curated list
accompanying this assignment.
Principles of Inquiry-Based Learning
1. Authenticity a. Lesson encourages students to find a
real-world issue and connect it to a past event. Also, encourages
people outside of the topic to answer the question posed by the
student.2. Deep Understandinga. Learning goals involve inquiry and
effective use of technology to curate a topic/theme into one
central idea.3. Assessmenta. Students are to self-assess during the
task and are provided are rubric which details the different
expectations.4. Appropriate uses of Technologya. Students are
encouraged to use technology that will allow them to work on the
assignment outside of the classroom and with other students.5.
Success for all Studentsa. A variety of sources are given to the
students as a tool for completing the assignment. Students are
encouraged to self-organize by generating a list of achievable
tasks in an order of completing that makes the most sense. 6.
Ethical Citizenshipa. Students are required to identify and cite
the appropriate authors of sources.
Mini-Lesson Implementation:
Lesson Preparation make a curated set of resources that help the
student with two sets of tasks. One set of curated resources need
to help the student with determining what the difference between a
primary and secondary source is. The other set of curated resources
needs to be helpful sites for students to find primary sources.
Both of these could be included into the same set of curated
sources, but an obvious distinction should be made between the two.
Two have been linked above the rubric as examples. Have a computer
lab or computer cart available for this lesson. Depending on
whether you want to complete this activity entirely in-class or
out-of-class will depend on the amount of time you sign out a
lab/cart. This lesson does allow for students to work on it outside
of class suggest to students to use a Web 2.0 tool that works at
home as well as in school (Prezi, Google Docs, etc.) Make copies of
the rubric
1. Have written on the board or projected the following guiding
question.
There are many different social, economic, and political issues
facing the U.S. today. Examples of topics include the rights of
individuals, freedom of expression, immigration, and global
interventions to name a few.
Youre guiding question involves historical argumentation. That
is, are the events that affect the United States today relevant in
that they are similar or different from events in the past?
(Examples) Is there a civil rights movement today and is it similar
or different from the past? Are there issues that involve
immigration that are similar or different than the past?
Your task involves you creating an interactive DBQ using a Web
2.0 tool (such as Prezi or Google Docs using your Barrow County
Google issued ID). Your DBQ needs to include six primary sources
and two secondary sources. It is suggested that the Web 2.0 tool
that you use allows you to work on the assignment outside of
class.
Remember that DBQs have a question posed to the reader and
documents that help the reader support a thesis.
Topic Ideas (Not Limited):
ImmigrationCivil RightsForeign Policy
(Intervention/Isolationist)EnvironmentalForeign
TradeMilitaryEconomyFreedom of Speech/ CensorshipGovernment
DeadlockEducationUnemployment/Jobs
2. Pass out the rubric. Make sure to discuss with students the
need to review the curated resources (suggestion link the resources
to a classroom website for easier access).
http://www.livebinders.com/play/play?id=1743953 (Primary Sources
and Secondary Sources)
http://www.livebinders.com/play/play?id=1743971 (Primary Sources
in American History)
If possible, click on the websites and help show the students
around and how to use them. A really great resource for primary
documents is the last tab of the Primary Sources in American
History binder.
3. As a class, have students discuss how to approach this task.
Students need to identify various components of the project that
should be met then as a class discuss which components should be
completed in a suggested order. a. From the list generated and
ranked as a class, have the students copy down the agreed order for
how the task should be completed.b. As the students are working
through the assignment, have them check off what part they have
completed so as to self-assess their completeness. Also, encourage
them to refer to the rubric so that the students can self-assess
their accuracy.
Example of class-created task list:1. Identify topic/theme2.
Create question linking present day topic to similar past topic3.
Find Web 2.0 tool that would best complete assignment 4. Locate
primary sources5. Locate secondary sources6. Link or share
resources on Web 2.0 page. 7. Organize page in a way that is
presentable to a reader8. Cite sources
Rubric (Maximum of 24 points):
Criteria0123
DBQ Theme
(x2)No theme or topic idea appeared to be coveredOnly 2-4
documents were related and covered past and present
topic/theme.Only 5-7 documents were related and covered past and
present topic/theme.
All 8 documents were related and covered past and present
topic/theme.
Primary Sources(x2)No primary sources were used1-3 Primary
Sources were used4-5 primary sources were used6 or more primary
sources were used
Secondary sourcesNo secondary sources were used1 secondary
source was used2 secondary sources were used2 secondary sources
were used and one of them was a video, which was less than 5
minutes in length
Web 2.0 ToolAssignment was not completed using a Web 2.0
tool-----------------------------------Assignment was completed on
a Web 2.0 tool.
PresentationThe interactive DBQ is not submitted in a
presentable way DBQ has limited flow or some of the links to
primary & secondary documents/ images/ video/ audio dont
work.DBQ has only a couple of mistakes in terms of flow or some of
the links to primary & secondary documents/ images/ video/
audio dont workThere is a flow to the DBQ and the reader is able to
search through the primary and secondary source documents without
problems.
CitationsNo documentation of cited sources in APA style. 3 or
less of the documents are cited in APA style.6 or less of the
documents are cited in APA style.All documents are cited in APA
style.
Mini-Lesson #2: Research Assignment Were the Conquistadors
immoral?
Summary: Students are required to research as a class the
question Were Conquistadors immoral? The question is posed in a way
that requires the students to answer using their beliefs coinciding
with research as to why conquistadors were immoral or not. First,
as a class discuss the different parts of the question the students
need to know in order to answer it correctly. Then the activity
involves the students researching the topic as a class. This
requires the teacher to set up a Google Doc. The students must be
able to ethically use the information they find and summarize it in
their own words. To do this, have the students complete an activity
that requires them to use a curated set of resources on
plagiarism/ethical use of information after they have completed the
activity, they may conduct research. All research will be put into
a Google Doc so that everyone can use it. After the research period
is over, the students will type or write their essays. A rubric is
provided to assist the students with how/what theyre being assessed
on.
Intended audience: Students in Advanced Placement United States
History classes.
Guiding Question: Were the conquistadors immoral?
Content Area Standards:
*Curriculum Requirements for AP U.S. History via College
Board
1. Communication and Collaborationa. Students engage with
collaboration as a class to successfully accomplish the task. Also,
the students are contributing to research as a group to ultimately,
solve a problem presented.2. Research & Information Fluencya.
Students are required to locate, organize, synthesize, and
ethically use information. Furthermore, they are to evaluate the
information in order to decide if it will help the class with the
completion of the assignment.3. Digital Citizenshipa. Students are
to responsibly use the information they find. They must also
exhibit a positive attitude toward the use of technology that
supports learning, collaboration, and productivity about
conquistadors.
Digital Information Fluency
Locating Learners identify key concepts in the research question
by breaking down what the question means and how to best research
as a class before actively researching it online. The strategies
discussed as a class will help with effectively and efficiently
locating reliable digital information to achieve their academic
learning goal, which is to answer the question posed Were the
Conquistadors immoral? Evaluating The students will need to
evaluate the quality of the research and results, as well as the
quality of the author(s). This is demonstrated by the students
answering those three points under their summarization of a source
that they post to the Google Doc. Using Learners cite the sources
using APA style formatting. Universal Dispositions Confidence in
finding a solution to the question posed while engaged in the
digital information fluency process will be demonstrated by the
learners evaluating the resources (discussed above). Students will
demonstrate an open-mindedness because the research conducted will
be from the two viewpoints the prompt engages the learner in.
Despite what beliefs the leaner has, they will be shown research
that may have a different belief. Students are engaged in
metacognition throughout the assignment because they will engaging
with the rubric presented in the beginning of the lesson. The
rubric will allow the learner to understand the expectations of the
assignment and effectively exhibit them.
Principles of Inquiry-Based Learning
1. Authenticity a. In this assignment, the students are
conducting themselves similar to the way an expert in the
discipline would. This assignment has the students conducting
research on a question that is relevant to this day and certainly
debatable. By researching the topic thoroughly, coming to a
conclusion, and expressing that conclusion in a thoughtful and
formal way is what many history researches do.2. Deep
Understandinga. The inquiry leads to students to build a deep
knowledge structured around a clearly stated controversy.3.
Performancea. Learners are engaged in a collective inquiry with
their classmates and come to a deeper understanding about the
morality of decisions made in American history. The questioning and
dialogue of this assignment will continue to be built upon for the
duration of the course, because this is a lesson that should be
implemented in and around the beginning of the course.4.
Assessmenta. Students will be assessed on a rubric provided in the
beginning of the assignment, but will also be assessing each other
through dialogue about the research they conducted as a class.5.
Technologya. Effective technology integration allows for the
students to research and collaborate outside of the classroom. The
document will be student-created and can be accessed at any time
throughout the remainder of the course.6. Ethical Citizenshipa.
Before conducting research, the students must engage in a
plagiarism/ethical use module.
Mini-Lesson Implementation:
Lesson Preparation make a curated set of resources that help the
students with understanding the different components of plagiarism
and ethical use. A sheet has been made to accompany this lesson,
but one can be tailored to whatever learning goal an instructor may
have for learners in regards to ethical use. Have a computer lab or
computer cart available for this lesson. Depending on whether you
want to complete this activity entirely in-class or out-of-class
will depend on the amount of time you sign out a lab/cart. This
lesson does allow for students to work on it outside of class as
long as they have access to the class-created Google Doc. Make
copies of the rubric
1. As the students enter the class, have them read the guided
question the front board Were the conquistadors immoral?2. After
the students have had time to give thought (maybe the first few
minutes of class), ask them what the question means:a. Who are
conquistadors?b. What does it mean to be moral?c. What evidence do
you have about what morality means, other than your own opinion?d.
What specific evidence do you have about the conquistadors do you
have that support your argument?
These questions posed are meant to be difficult to answer and
will require research, explain to the students that those questions
werent meant to trick or frustrate you, but rather demonstrate what
a researcher in history is confronted with and that the lesson will
involve you as a student participating in what historical
researchers do frequently.
Also explain that before someone conducts research, they must be
able to know how to do so ethically and responsibly. Introduce the
assignment for the beginning of this lesson, which requires the
students to go through a module of curated resources pertaining to
digital citizenship. Pass out a sheet with the accompanying
questions, which can be answered by having the students going
through the curated resources. Explain to them that students must
be able to accurately answer the questions on the sheet before they
can conduct research because we dont want to have irresponsible
examination about the question posed.
QUESTIONS:
**
The following questions can be answered by going through the
resources found at the following location on the internet
(http://bit.ly/1eK5NFi):
Step 1: View video created by Rutgers University library (Paul
Robeson Library. Watch video #1 of 3 and answer the following
questions:
What is plagiarism?
What are penalties at Rutgers University for plagiarism?
Are you guilty of plagiarism if you use a paper you wrote for
another class?
Step 2: Visit plagiarism.org, click on Citing Sources and answer
the following questions:
Define what a citation is and what are the components of a
correct citation?
When do you need to cite a source?
Step 3: Watch the video found at the following address
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNg94ebLGzY
Can words and ideas be stolen? Explain.
The majority of your work should be what?
Step 4: Look over the resource 5 Common Plagiarism Myths that
College Students Believe.
List the five myths presented in the article.
Step 5: Look over the study Internet Plagiarism Among College
Students. Answer the following questions:
Analyze the tables from the study. Give a brief summary of table
4-7 (discuss this with others if necessary)
[Step 5 may be a topic that is discussed as a class]
**If possible, or if has not already been done, create a Google
Doc to be shared with the students in class. Collect e-mail
addresses the students will use (many have school issued e-mail
addresses through Google) so that they can access the document.
3. When students have finished with the questions associated
with ethical use and plagiarism, they can move on to the research.
Pass out the following sheet, which is a detailed rubric outlining
what the students need to do for this assessment.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Assignment (Rubric included):
The learning goals of this assignment are to conduct authentic
historical research, collaborate, and synthesize information into a
meaningful historical argument. You are to write a short research
paper based on the following question Were the Conquistadors
immoral? Before writing the paper, research will be conducted as a
class. All research will be put onto a Google Doc, which
individually you will use to write your paper. The components of
the research aspect of this assignment are located in the rubric
below.
Rubric:
Criteria0123
Research (X2)
Student doesnt complete any research. Student included research
to the Google Doc, but it was limited to 1 primary or secondary
source. The resource is summarize into the students own
words.Student included 1 primary source and 1 secondary source into
the Google Doc. The resource is summarize into the students own
wordsStudent included 1 primary source and 2 secondary sources into
the Google Doc. The resource is summarize into the students own
words
Citation
- Citations need to be in APA styleStudent doesnt cite sources
in APAStudent cited 1 resource in APAStudent cited 2 resources in
APAStudent cited 3 sources in APA
Quality of source
No statement is made under research summarization about quality
of website, quality of the research, and quality of the author.
Statement is made about the quality of website, quality of the
research, and quality of the author for only 1 source.Statement is
made about the quality of website, quality of the research, and
quality of the author for only 2 sources.Statement is made about
the quality of website, quality of the research, and quality of the
author for only 3 sources.
The written section will be based off the rubric College Board
has. The following criteria will be graded in the written section.
Max 6 pts (X2)
Rubric was taken for academic purposes from the following:
http://media.collegeboard.com/digitalServices/pdf/ap/ap-course-exam-descriptions/ap-us-history-course-and-exam-description.pdf
Mini-Lesson #3: Historical Figure Blog about Current Issues
Summary: Students will create a blog for a historical figure
that will discuss the current event issues of the day. The students
will need to research their historical figures perceptions and
beliefs and give a first-person narrative (from the historical
figures point of view) about a list of current events. Students
will justify their figures response by supplying a brief summary
after the blog post with evidence and proper citations. The current
events will be generated by the students at the beginning of the
lesson. Then, the students will conduct research and on their own
time, answer to the current events using a free blog or Google Doc
service.
Intended audience: Students in Advanced Placement United States
History classes.
Guiding Question: What would be the perception that certain
historical figures would have about contemporary issues?
Content Area Standards*:
*Curriculum Requirements for AP U.S. History via College
Board
1. Creativity and Innovationa. Students will create a blog using
a curated list of Web 2.0 tools of their choice. Students will use
the blog of their historical figure to predict what that figure
would have believed about contemporary issues.2. Research and
Information Fluencya. Students are required to locate, organize,
synthesize, and ethically use information. Also, they will need to
evaluate the information to in order to make logical inferences of
current events.b. Students will need to evaluate the digital tools
for the purpose of blogging. They will need to self-assess based on
their level of skills.3. Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and
Decision Makinga. Learners will identify and define authentic,
contemporary issues, and investigate what a historical figure would
have perceived or thought about the issue.4. Digital Citizenshipa.
Students will need to responsibly use information they find on the
internet (as well as text) and properly cite the information in a
brief summary after each blog post. 5. Technology Operation and
Conceptsa. Students will use programs and applications that will
make the blog appear to be one which reflects the historical
figures beliefs and interests. b. If necessary, students will
troubleshoot the blog application they choose.
Digital Information Fluency:
Locating Students will locate tools for blogs as well as use
search tools such as Galileo and primary source document websites.
Learners will identify key concepts in their research relevant to
the current events and perceptions of the historical figure.
Evaluating Students will need to self-assess and evaluate the
resources for accuracy, reliability, and relevance. Using Students
will need to cite sources used for description in blog.
Principles of Inquiry-Based Learning:
1. Authentic Tasks for Learninga. Assignment makes past people
relevant to real-world problems and issues of the present. Since
the current events.b. Assignment engages the personal emotions of a
student because they will blog about a current event (among many)
that interest them.2. Deep Understandinga. The nature of the
guiding question implores the learner to have a deeper
understanding about the world they live in and various subject
matter in history that involved a historical figure.3. Assessmenta.
The learning goals and tasks will be evident to the students in the
form of a rubric that will be provided to them for the
assignment.4. Technologya. Technology used allows the students to
extend their learning beyond the classroom walls in terms of both
research and blog. The assignment will allow students to share with
others their historical figure blog.5. Success for all Studentsa.
The students will be provided with a curated set of resources that
will enable them to understand how blogging works and what a blog
should look and feel like. 6. Ethical Citizenshipa. Students will
be required to justify and cite their use of sources for the blog.
That way, students cant simply state their opinions, but rather
provide context.
Mini-Lesson Implementation:
1. Have students do a chalk talk by coming up to the board in
the front of the room and writing down a current event. Limit it to
one current even per student so that many people can participate.
2. Introduce the lesson by asking the guiding question What would
be the perception that certain historical figures would have about
these contemporary issues?3. Give the students time to think of a
historical figure that has been studied at this point that they
would like to write a blog about. Have them write it down on an
index card and turn it in.4. Pass out the assignment description
and rubric, which is located below.
Assignment (Max 15 points): You are going to create a blog for a
historical figure from U.S. history that has been studied thus far.
A blog is a regularly updated website or web page, typically one
run by an individual or small group that is written in an informal
or conversational style, (Google, 2015). To get a better
understanding of what a blog is, what it looks like, and services
blog creation have been curated for you via the following link:
http://www.scoop.it/t/blogging-resources-and-info
You are to create your blog and use knowledge (that you can
justify and cite) about a historical figure to blog about the
issues that we have written down on the board. Please see me if
there are other issues that are not listed on the board that you
would like to have your historical figure discuss.
Criteria0123
Blogging website and posts Student did not make a historical
figure blog or posts about any current events.Student made blogging
website but only posted 2 or less current events.Student made
blogging website but only posted 3-4 current eventsStudent made
blogging website and made 5 posts about current event items.
Blog Posts Historical FigureNo Blog posts madeBlog posts werent
written from the point-of-view of the historical figure, but rather
the student. Some, but not all of the blog posts were written from
the historical figures point-of-view.All blog posts were written
from the historical figures point-of-view and written in prose that
would resemble the figure in their time period. (No racial slurs,
foul language, etc.)
Summary after each post (x2)Students lacked a summary for any
blog post made that justified the point of view made in the
post.Summary justified the post, but lacked evidence and was simply
too general.Summary had historical justification for the post with
specific evidence, but lack proper citation.Summary had historical
justification for the post with specific evidence that was cited
correctly.
CreativityBlog has no images or characteristics of the
historical figures personal interests. Blog has images and
characteristics of historical figures personal interests, but none
are connected directly to any of the blog posts.Blog has images and
characteristics of historical figures personal interests, but they
are only directly connected to 1-3 blog postsBlog has images and
characteristics of historical figures personal interests and they
are directly connected to 4-5 blog posts.