1. Beware of reading level
When I teach reading I am careful to select texts at an instructional level. Instructional level texts provide the right amount of challenge so students may grow. But, what about early attempts at digital research?
Digital research innately provides a high level of challenge to students by requiring them to utilize a number of skills at once. When we research information we must locate information, actively comprehend the material, think critically about our sources, and synthesize what we have found. Because of this I would much rather have my students working with easy, independent level texts. In fact, I am not afraid to use digital materials made for much younger students when students are gathering their first few facts.
2. Preview student searches to understand what they will find
If your students' research is open to the whole wide world of the Internet they will have to sift through sources that are far above their reading level and may not have access to all information needed for their work.
Prepare for this by previewing student searches. Gather your students' research topics and go through the steps they will ultimately go through to make sure they will find what they need.
From there you will know how to properly scaffold the research for your students. Instead of using a search engine like Google, you may require students to only use certain databases or provide a list of appropriate digital sources. You might determine that you need to read certain websites together, summarizing and rewording the text for them to help their comprehension. If nothing digital will do, you may decide you need to bring in print-based resources.
3. Teach students how to search and what to do with search results
If your students will be using search engines for all or part of their research, it is essential to include a lesson on using quality search terms and previewing search results. Here are some key topics to hit on:
- Use specific search terms to find specific information (e.g., African elephant diet)
- Preview your search results: Read titles, URLs (web address), and the preview text before clicking any links.
- Google is not a "source." It searches for sources. The information in the knowledge panels did not come from Google. It often comes from Wikipedia.
- Do not gather facts from the search results page. Click into the websites themselves.
4. Teach students to identify quality sources
Website creation and online participation and has never been easier. This is great for content creators, but challenging for students looking for credible sources. Here are a few tips:
- Beware of spammy websites with tons of ads, lists of keywords and little/no content.
- Beware of open or Q&A websites where anyone can create and edit (blogs, wikis, forums, Quora, Yahoo Answers, etc.)
- Look for .org, .gov, and .com websites from companies you know and trust
- Confirm facts by finding them on more than one website
5. Teach students to find information quickly
When completing digital research we are often looking for specific information. This task necessitates a different type of reading than we would employ when reading for pleasure. Teach students to use the site or app's navigation and section headings to skip straight to the section that is most likely to hold the information they are looking for.
My favorite tip that few know to use is to teach students to use ctrl+F. This trick will open a search box and let you search the page for a word or phrase. The word or phrase will be highlighted on the page for you to find quickly. For example, if I want to find out which planets are gas giants I could search for that phrase and quickly find the information.
6. Teach note taking
Students need to be taught to take quick notes. Otherwise, they will write down information verbatim from their sources. This often leads students to include whole sentences directly from the source when they go to present their findings. Even worse, I have seen many cases where students copied down information verbatim from their digital sources because they did not understand the text.
I model this for students with a text similar to ones they will be using. I copy down just the most important words and phrases in a bullet pointed list to help my memory.
7. Scaffold using multiple sources
Before you let students run with their digital research it is worth structuring their early experiences. I like to start with everyone using the same website or database that I have previewed and already know what they will find. Then I check the information they have gathered from it. I correct misunderstandings and let them know when they've missed important information.
When their work is checked from round one, I open up another resource and challenge them to add to the information they have gathered. This helps focus their energy and prevents the research process from dragging on.
If you are working with a group that will be using search engines to gather their information you can still have them report back to you after each source or after they found specific pieces of information. Have students fill out a quick form to report their results. You can look through the form responses to identify teachable moments and make sure everyone is on track.
8. Scaffold organization
Even the most saavy students need help organizing the information they have gathered when they are new to researching. Scaffolding organization is especially important when students have used multiple sources to gather their information.
You can do this the same way you would for a writing lesson. Students need to categorize the facts they found by putting like ideas together. It also helps if they start with general information before moving to specific information and to use time order if the facts have a set sequence. Students need to be taught this and will not automatically do it on their own.
9. Teach students to credit their sources
Many sets of education standards require students to be able to credit their sources, but do not outline the method. New Jersey's standards require students to have mastered this by 5th grade. The most basic way to accomplish this is to simply have students provide links to the websites where they found their information. If you work with older children or have a set way you need their references to appear then by all means go beyond the basics.
This, of course, means that they will need a way to track their sources. You can have them create bookmarks or bookmark folders in their web browser, copy/paste websites they use onto a form or digital worksheet, or use web tools like Diigo to help keep track. Just be ready to remind them to save their sources over and over again because it likely won't be natural to them.
10. Scaffold rewording
When it comes time to present the information they found they will need help learning how to reword the information. If they took true notes their challenge is to expand the notes into sentences and combine appropriate ideas together with conjunctions or in paragraphs.
If they copied down entire sentences from their sources their challenge is to think of a new way to say the same idea.
This process of synthesizing the ideas into a coherent whole is the final step of the research process and can be the most challenging for students.
Photo by Julia M Cameron from Pexels
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