Research can be a very effective teaching tool if done correctly. Many teachers immediately shy away from doing research projects with students due to either horror stories from colleagues, or to being unsure about the whole research process. Here are some tips to help you introduce the research project and implement it on a regular basis in your classroom.
1. Don't make assumptions and know what you want
Don't immediately assume that your students know what they are doing. In fact, the best course of action is to assume that they've never done a research project before entering your classroom. This will offer you and your students the best chance of success.
The process begins way before you ever introduce the idea of research to your students. You need to decide what you ultimately want from your students when they turn in their research project. What elements do you want to see? What will be graded? Here are a few sample elements in a research project:
Sources - books, magazines, internet, etc.
Notes
Bibliographic information
Pre-writing and drafts of paper
Visual presentation
Oral presentation
Once you've determined exactly what you want from students, then decide how you want them to present it. Do you want their final copy in a folder with note-cards and drafts in the side pockets? Do you only want the final copy in a nice presentation folder? Can they be creative in their writing style? What do you want to see in the way of visual presentations - posters, models, dioramas?
No matter what you decide, always expect the best from your students. Let them know this expectation from the beginning so that they have the chance to meet it. Also, show them an example of what you want to see.
2. Start Slowly
Make your first research project simple and take students through the process step-by-step. Create a checklist to help students keep track of what they have done and what needs to be completed for the project. With primary students, the first project should be no more than finding the answer to a question. With intermediate students, the final product should include one to two paragraphs of information. Middle school and High school students should write two to four paragraphs for their first project. If you are working with older students on a lower level, start with one to two paragraphs.
I usually like to assign a final product for their visual. This can be anything from a pop-up book which illustrates the answer to their topic question to a paper-bag essay in which one paragraph and illustration is on the front of the bag and one paragraph and illustration is on the back of the bag. Students place notes and bibliographic information inside the bag. Younger students can write the one to three sentence answer on a sheet of paper and draw a picture to illustrate it. Older students can create a web page with their information (if school technology allows) or teach a mini-lesson to the rest of the class.
3. Teach the steps one at a time
Topic - Give students the overall theme or topic. Have students choose sub-topics (ex: Space -- moon, solar system, etc.) and develop a topic question to answer. I spend one to two days on how to write a question. The question should have more than a one-word answer (What color are blue whales?), should not have a yes/no answer (Do whales live in the ocean?), and should have a definite answer (How are whales different from sharks?).
Taking notes - Take the time to teach your students (even middle and high school students) how to take notes from a source. I like to introduce note-taking with Ranger Rick Big Books. I've used this lesson with students up through high school. Yes, it seems a bit babyish for older students, but I've never seen an easier way to get them to grasp the note-taking concept immediately. I read through a Ranger Rick Big Book one page at a time. Each page has a topic sentence and details that support the main idea. When I read the page, I stop and ask students to give me the main idea. We write it down as the main heading. Then I ask students to identify the supporting details. These are written down as bullets under the main heading.
On the second day I have students work in groups with a passage from a magazine article. The group works together to read the article and take notes just as we learned the day before. Next, students practice with a passage from a book (photocopied) as pairs. Lastly, I have them find sources for their research project and take notes individually. Not only does this provide me with extra grades for the grade book, but it also gives students a chance to practice and receive feedback on their note-taking skills. It is very important to provide immediate feedback and correction for each practice session.
Writing the paper - With primary students, your focus should be on sentence writing. With intermediate students you want to work on the elements of a paragraph (opening/main idea, supporting sentences, closing). Those of you who teach upper grades will want to really focus on introduction first, then the body, then the conclusion. I like to spend a lot of time on graphic organizers and the introduction. With my students, I try to impress upon them the importance of capturing the reader's interest immediately. We really practice this and then students write their own introduction for homework. During class, while they are continuing their research, I try to read the introductions and provide feedback/corrections.
After working with student writing for so many years, I have discovered that the more feedback, suggestions, and corrections I offer during the drafting process, the better student writing becomes. It doesn't happen immediately, but by the end of the year my students are writing clear concise papers.
Lastly, have students create a visual product to go along with their project. This visual should help them illustrate the information they are presenting to the rest of the class. I encourage my students to complete their visual at home unless everyone is making the same thing as part of their project.
