The goal is to get students so comfortable asking higher-level questions
that they do it almost by reflex. Once
they’re confident asking under-the-surface questions, we can apply that
skill to research.
Developing Search Skills
The beauty of a student-designed
research question is that it will lead
to a more meaningful research project
because students are able to focus on
a topic that interests them. Any time
teachers give students the autonomy
to make choices and steer their own
learning, the learning becomes more
relevant.
Once students feel confident writing
research questions, we dive into what I
call Research Reboot. I want to retrain
students who have poor research
habits so they know how to find infor-
mation quickly and effectively. We
discuss tips and tricks for searching
online. Most of my students begin
their searches at Google’s homepage,
but very few know how to narrow
their search with a variety of simple
strategies. To help them become savvy
online researchers who know their
way around a search engine, I share
tips like these:
n Limit searches to a specific
domain using “site:” plus domain (for
example, site:.edu or site:.org).
n Eliminate a word or website from
your search using a hyphen directly
in front on the word or URL (for
example, -en.wikipedia.org).
n Find related pages using
“related:” plus URL (for example,
related: scientificamerican.com).
Students also need to know what
questions to ask to evaluate the cred-
ibility of an online resource once they
find it. At the start of the year, we talk
at length about website credibility. I
don’t want my students to assume that
everything they read online is true; I
want them to think critically about the
information that pops up in a search.
However, most of my incoming 9th
grade students have no idea what
questions to ask to evaluate whether a
site is credible.
Three years ago, I designed a “Got
Credibility?” Google Form that stu-
dents must complete for each online
resource they want to reference in a
research paper, infographic, or project.
I want to train their brains to ask the
right questions when assessing online
sources. The form asks them questions
like these:
n Is there an author? Does the
author have education, experience, or
expertise in the field he or she is pro-
viding information about?
n Is the author or website associated
with an institution, organization, or
company? Could that association
create a bias?
n Is the information current? Is that
important given the topic?
n Does this resource have a “works
cited” section or list of references that
are credible?
When I first ask students to com-
plete this form, I typically hear a
barrage of complaints: “Mrs. Tucker,
how am I supposed to know if the
author has education, experience,
or expertise on this topic?” “Mrs.
Tucker, I’ve never even heard of this
company, so how do I know if there
is a bias?” “Mrs. Tucker, this takes
forever!” I always respond the same
way: “Have you asked a classmate for
help?” “Have you done a search to
find out more about that person or
company?” Students begin to realize
that I’m not going to give them any
answers. Instead, I simply present
Students were no
longer just consumers
of information, but
were also generators
of information.
P. DAVID PEARSON and
ELFRIEDA H. HIEBERT, Editors
MERCEDES K. SCHNEIDER
H
DAVID ALLEN AND TINA BLYTHE
SUSAN OCHSHORN
TEACHERS COLLEGE PRESS
800.575.6566
WWW.TCPRESS.COM
Pantone 300U + K
4/C
92C 55M
Grayscale
100% + 70%
Grayscale
100 + 70%
