Because it’s difficult to
create authentic, self-driven research experiences for early elementary
students, I’m sharing the last of my ideas for activities that will allow K-2
students to develop research skills, such as visual literacy and information
literacy, without actually doing research. As a result, they’ll be ready to start doing authentic
research in third grade.
After reading today’s post, you may wish to
scroll down and read the earlier ones. I will be grouping them all together on
pinterest soon.
When students have solid
visual literacy and information literacy skills, they’ll be well equipped to evaluate
the accuracy and reliability of websites as they conduct research for reports.
Here are some tips that will guide them in assessing digital resources.
The first thing young
researchers should do is look at a website’s URL and identify its domain name—the final
three-letter abbreviation. The most common ones are .com (company/commercial),
.net (network), .biz (business), .org (organization), .edu (education), and
.gov (government). Then they should ask themselves: “What’s the main goal of
the people who created the website?”
For the most part, websites that end with
.com, .net, and .biz are businesses and their main goal is to sell products or
services so they can make money. Then ask, "Is this your main goal when you are writing a report?" No, of course not. A student's goal is to gather accurate, up-to-date information. Then explain because a student's goal and a company's goal is not the same, a company's website is
usually not the best sources of information for a report.
On the other hand, websites that end with
.org, .edu, or .gov often have the goal of sharing carefully vetted, up-to-date
information, which makes them great resources for students. For example, if a
student is doing a report on the circulatory system, the American Heart
Association’s website is the perfect place to gather information. And if a student
is doing a report on the history of his/her town, the local historical society’s
website is an excellent resource.
As students look at a
website’s homepage, they should ask themselves: “What is the first thing my eye
notices when I look at this website?”
By drawing on their visual
literacy skills, students can judge the usefulness and reliability of the site.
If their search for “hippopotamus” leads to a website with a prominent logo for
a well-respected university or a world-renowned zoo, students can be confident
that they will find reliable information. But if the most dominant features are
stuffed animals and dangly hippo earrings for sale or a sad-looking hippo and a
donate button, students should be suspicious.
Young researchers should
also think about efficient use of their time. If they find that evaluating a
website is difficult at first glance and will take a lot of time and clicking
around, they may want to skip the site and look for resources that are clearly
good choices. It's important to stress that they don't always have to make a "yes" or "no" decision. They can say, "I don't know." and then move on.
Using the activities I’ve
described over the last five weeks, students should be ready to begin doing
meaningful research on their own in grade 3, but that doesn’t mean they will
always make the right choices. Today, information is literally at our
fingertips, but learning to effectively evaluate, compile, collate, and
synthesize it takes time and practice.
Do you have other fun activities that will help students develop important research skills--visual literacy, critical thinking, information literacy, digital literacy? I'd love to hear them.