Book: Research wise : classroom strategies that build information skills
Roche, N. (2006). Research wise : classroom strategies that build information skills. User Friendly Resources.
Pg 5
About Questions
Students have to learn how to ask questions that are meaningful and that will supply the information they want.
One way to get students using different question formats is to have “question starts” around the room, i.e.
How do…? When does…? How come…? What if…? Why?
…talk about types of questions. For example, “how” questions tell you how something happens.
It is very hard to formulate a question if you are not sure what you already know. Identifying the information that you need is part of the process of asking a question.
Asking questions in a different way (rephrasing) can sometimes help student to better understand what information they need to answer it.
e.g.
These questions are asking for the same information, but they are using different structures to do so.
Pg 6
Keyword questions
What I know about _____
- ___
- ___
- ___
Come up with an many ways to start a question as you can.
What I want to know about ____
- Why ____
- How ____
- What _____
- When ____
- How ____
Pg 11
About Knowledge
…asking students to write down everything they already know about a topic is likely to cause of lot of moaning and groaning…
Knowledge maps [mind maps] can also be valuable assessment tools. Comparing knowledge maps done prior to topic immersion, after topic immersion and then post individual research makes a very visual statement of the student’s deepening knowledge and what aspects of the topic they have understood, learnt and remembered the most.
Have students do their initial map in blue pen and a subsequent map at the complete of their studies either on separate paper or in a different colour pen. Compare the two maps.
Pg 16
About Search Planning
Getting read to research is vital. It’s not uncommon for enthusiastic students to go down a number dead ends when they are searching for information about something. The result of not planning can be two-fold: frustration when accessible information seems elusive, and swamped when there seems to be too much information because the chosen topic is so enormous.
… key questions can be used to shape the planning for a search…
- What do I want to find out about? (pose the topic as a question)
- What keywords do I need to use in my search?
- can I group these keywords in anyway
- what sources of information are best for this search
- what is the best way to put my information together to demonstrate my knowledge and learning.
Pg 21
About Search Recording
Getting into the habit of recording what searches they have made helps student to:
- trace their research path
- save time by not search the same sources over again
- list references accourately
- avoid copying
pg 26
About notetaking