Searching VS. Researching Staff Development | Shawnee Mission Schools.

Searching VS. Researching

Staff Development | Shawnee Mission Schools

GOALSYou will have the skills to:• Ask an essential question to focus research• Evaluate a website • Use alternatives to Google• Use technology for research note taking• Present your research information in a variety of formats

using technology • Document your research sources

After a year long literacy information program, most fifth graders continued to rely entirely on Google and never questioned the

reliability of the websites they accessed.

>Vriji University Netherlands

Electronic Media can overwhelm youth with information that they may not have the skills or experience to evaluate.

Students that may not have a librarian (or teacher) teaching them Web research skills show up at college “beyond hope” ….they

have learned to “get by” with Google.

>University College London

Research in a NY state middle schoolQ: How to you begin a search?A: I type in a question

Q: If you don’t get the results you want, what do you do?A: I use another Search Engine….I use different keywords but If I still can’t find the answer I just think real hard for an answer….I focus on the encyclopedia

Q. How do you know if it’s a good source?A. I don’t know, I just go with it

Q. How often to you check the author?A. It really doesn’t matter to me

Q. How often to check when the article was written or updated:A. ¾ of middle school kids said never

“There’s no denying it. We’re past the point where we can keep doing old things with old tools, or old things with new tools….they [students] are all looking to us to push them, to stretch their thinking, and to teach them to use the tools of the truly literate in a rapidly changing world.”

Sara B. Kajder

4 forces for 21st Century

* 21st Century Skills Learning for life in our times, Bernie Trilling & Charles Fadel

Essential Questions• Are broad in nature.• Are central to the content of the unit or subject.• Have no single correct or obvious answer.• Lead to additional questions.• Invite higher-order thinking skills: analyzing, synthesizing and

evaluating. • Provoke student interest and allow students to draw from

experience.

Common Core State Standards• 3rd : Conduct short research projects that build knowledge about a topic.

• 4th: Conduct short research projects that build knowledge through investigation of different

aspects of a topic.

• 5th: Conduct short research projects that use several sources to build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic.

Common Core State Standards• 6th: Conduct short research projects to answer a question,

drawing on several sources and refocusing the inquiry when appropriate.

• 7th – 12th: Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate ; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.

A New Way to think About an old Assignment – the Research Paper

Students as Infotectives Jamie McKenzie http://fno.org/grazing1.html

What is an Infotective?

Infotective is a term designed for education in an Age of Information.

An Infotective is a student thinker capable of analyzing a question, collecting and analyzing data and information about the

question, developing insight into the question based on data and

informationsolving the problem /question

An Infotective is a skilled thinker, researcher, and inventor.

What to research: The Big QuestionInquiry-Based Learning:

Instead of topics – Essential Questions

Questions worth asking –relevanceQuestions with more than one answerQuestions that provoke critical thinking

Recasting Topics into Essential Questions

Transforming common curricular questions into Essential Questions shifts the emphasis from (what is

often) content-based knowledge to the engagement and development

of cross-discipline critical thinking

skills.

A Common Curricular Topic

“What are the main factors influencing the development of the Abolitionist movement?”

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This may not invite discussion about current issues.

This can be answered directly, concretely. A

student can simply list the factors.

Is this question provocative in

any way?

What core disciplinary concepts

are covered?

How does this evoke debate? Lead to more

questions?

As an Essential Question…

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“How would you convince a slave owner in themid-1800s South to free his slaves, based on

his own needs, desires, and beliefs?”

This evokes more than one possible

answer.

A student needs essential discipline knowledge and

researched data in order to respond.

Students are asked to make evaluations and

judgments.This is a question a

practitioner or historian would investigate.

Another example: Secondary

“Imagine that you and your partners are consultants hired by the states of Washington and Oregon to recommend new policies to stem the decline of the fish harvests in the region during the past decade. Conduct research to identify all useful practices already tested around the globe and then determine the applicability of these practices to the particular conditions and needs of the Northwest. Create a multimedia report for the two governors sharing specific action recommendations as well as the evidence sustaining your proposals.”

Jamie McKenzie http://fno.org/grazing1.html

Example: Elementary• “Imagine that your parents have been given job offers in each

of the following three cities: New Orleans, Seattle, and Chicago. Knowing your research skills, they ask you to help them decide which city will be the best for the family’s relocation. Before gathering your information, discuss and identify with them the criteria for selection a new home city. Create a presentation showing the strengths and weaknesses of each city based on the criteria your family identifies as important.

Jamie McKenzie http://fno.org/grazing1.html

The BIG Six Steps to Research for Students Michael B. Eisenberg and Robert Berkowitz • 1. Task definition• 1.1 Define the problem• 1.2 Identify the information requirements of the question

• 2. Information Seeking• 2.1 Determine sources• 2.2 Evaluate the possible sources to prioritize

• 3. Location and Access• 3.1 Locate and access sources• 3.2 Find information within sources

The BIG Six cont.• 4. Use of Information• 4.1 Read, listen, view information in a sources• 4.2 Record information from each source

• 5. Synthesis [of information]• 5.1 Organize information from multiple sources• 5.2 Present information

• 6. Evaluation• 6.1 Judge the presentation (product)• 6.2 Judge the information problem-solving process (efficiency of

research skills)

Thanks to: http://www.fodey.com/generators/newspaper/snippet.asp