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She and her mom were proud that she had done her own research. When she said that she got her information from Wikipedia, I suggested that she might wish to include her source on the project, but she did not want to. She did not know if she would be presenting the project to her classmates.

My concern was not just about the credibility of using Wikipedia for academic purposes. The reading level was too advanced for a typical third-grader. Researchers (Anderson, 2012) have found the overall readability of numerous Wikipedia articles too difficult for many readers.

How is the research process introduced to elementary students, particularly for using the internet? Are learners provided an age-appropriate online tutorial? Is there a standards document indicating skills that students should be developing in elementary grades for using technology to conduct research?  What guidelines/templates are students provided for developing their projects? Are they provided a checklist/rubric for how projects would be graded? Who sees their projects?  How do you make parents aware that their children will be doing internet research and that their children’s “online safety” has been considered?

elementary learners can hop on the Research Rocket at the online portal Kentucky Virtual Library: How to Do Research and find an interactive and engaging tutorial designed just for them. Content might also benefit classroom lessons and discussions, particularly in K–2 when

ibrary media specialists in the School District of New Berlin (WI) developed a series of research guides and templates, organized by grade-bands. Templates for grades 4 to 6 combine a checklist or rubric.  Lankau, Parrish, Quillin and Schilling (2004) developed the Research Project Guide: A Handbook for Teachers and Studentsfor Humble Independent School District in Texas.

Symbaloo, a social bookmarking tool, for this purpose. The Elementary Research Guide focuses on the Super 3 and Big 6 research models for grades K–2 and 3 to 5, respectively. Presentations on the Super 3 and Big 6 models, posted on Slideshare.net, illustrate that educators value both models.  

In terms of making a project feel meaningful to students, the more voice and choice, the better.

A project should give students opportunities to build such 21st century skills as collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and the use of technology, which will serve them well in the workplace and life. This exposure to authentic skills meets the second criterion for meaningful work—an important purpose. A teacher in a project-based learning environment explicitly teaches and assesses these skills and provides frequent opportunities for students to assess themselves.

Formalizing a process for feedback and revision during a project makes learning meaningful because it emphasizes that creating high-quality products and performances is an important purpose of the endeavor. Students need to learn that most people's first attempts don't result in high quality and that revision is a frequent feature of real-world work.

In addition to providing direct feedback, the teacher should coach students in using rubrics or other sets of criteria to critique one another's work. Teachers can arrange for experts or adult mentors to provide feedback, which is especially meaningful to students because of the source.

When students present their work to a real audience, they care more about its quality. Once again, it's "the more, the better" when it comes to authenticity. Students might replicate the kinds of tasks done by professionals—but even better, they might create real products that people outside school use.

teaches online courses

The Tiny House Project

“(When a task is) meaningful to students, and they’re engaged in creative thinking, and they’re solving problems, and it’s hands-on, then in those moments, there’s not an incentive to rebel and act crazy.”

on-demand webinar

3. Start with a sophisticated student-centered culture.

4. Make collaboration as powerful in school as it is in life.

5. Understand that PBL cannot be done alone.

SweetSearch search engine, which weeds out the junk they usually find on Google or Bing and which highlights their keywords and pulls text from the website into the list of search results.

My older students will be using EasyBib to organize their links and their notes. While my third graders will not be doing true citation yet, I will be teaching citation to my seventh graders and requiring all of their projects to be accompanied by a bibliography, which they will create in EasyBib.

The SweetSearch Tutorial: Not only is SweetSearch an amazing search tool for kids, but they have some great resources here for helping digest what research is and how to approach it. Copyright Confusion Wiki: A one-stop shop for all things copyright and fair use. How to Do Research Another take on the research process from the Kentucky Virtual Library. Diigo for Educators A robust social bookmarking tool through which students can bookmark sites, highlight right on the site, share bookmarks with their peers and take notes on webpages. Teachers can create student accounts without needing emails. SweetSearch A kid-friendly search engine. EasyBib A robust online citation and organizing tool. Flickr Find copyright-free images with Creative Commons licenses. Search Creative Commons Find Creative Commons content on popular sites.Filed Under

remember to avoid being overly restrictive. Create a culture of care and learning

Ask three before me” to encourage students to become reliant on each other

Use consistent key phrases to control usage

Make posters that summarize guidelines

Clarify behaviors

“Avoid focusing on apps…focus on what students can create using iPads

Instead, focus on projects that deepen reading and writing using blended media (e.g. video/audio)

One way to accomplish that includes changing the way you teach to present students with projects and problems that require collaboration, communication, and problem-solving.

These are simple, powerful ways to engage students. Use them for everything to get students thinking and making their thinking visible. Looking for more ideas? When you are ready, explore Dr. Wesley Fryer’s iPad Media Camp, Playing with Media video collection, Greg Kulowiec’s app smashing concept, and Lisa Johnson’s (@techchef4u) website. Kathy Schrock has a few resources for you, too. When you’re ready to buy apps, let me know. Green screen is one area you need to investigate more.

Seesaw (Free):

This is the TOP, must-have app to have in your classroom.

they will be lacking the ability to keep track of what they’ve found and (the hugely important task of) determining if the information is reliable

Providing students will print handouts that help walk them through the final stages of Big6™.