Using+Your+Research

Overview:

I selected Using Your Research as the overall theme for my fourth and eighth grade unit. These units address ILS Standard 3.16, which calls for students to use information and technology ethically and responsibly.

4th Grade:

This lesson will take place during one class session. Students have been assigned a mini-research project in conjunction with their science unit. This lesson will take place prior to the research phase of the science project and will serve as a foundation for both writing and research.

Materials: [|Power Point Presentation] Copies of the two articles found below Overhead transparencies of the two articles found below

Goal: To learn how to quote and paraphrase sources.

Objectives: By the end of the lesson, students will: ·  Identify quotes and paraphrases ·  Write paraphrases ·  Write quotes ·  Summarize articles using quotes and paraphrases

Indiana Grade 4 Standard 4.45 (research process and technology): Quote or paraphrase information sources, citing them appropriately

ILS Standard: 3.16. Use information and technology ethnically and responsibly.

Teacher Instruction: ·  Present Power Point to review citing sources with students and teach them about paraphrasing and quoting. Allow time during presentation for questions and class participation.

Activity 1: ·  Have students read the following article in groups: [|“A Different Way To Wake Up”] ·  After reading the article, have students pick out and highlight paraphrases and quotes in their groups. ·  After the groups have finished, the teacher will call on groups to pick out their paraphrases and quotes on a transparency of the article.

Activity 2 ·  Have students read the following article in groups [|“The Coyote Next Door”] ·  Once they have read the article, have students summarize it using at least 3 quotes and at least 5 paraphrases. ·  Have student representatives of the groups write one quote and one paraphrase on the board.

Once the activities are completed, remind students that they will need to apply these new skills to their upcoming research project. Take this time to introduce the new project.

8th Grade:

This lesson will take place during one class period. Students have been assigned a research paper and have already conducted their research. They will have most of their notes compiled and will be in the “Weaving” stage of Annette Lamb’s 8 W’s model of information literacy (http://eduscapes.com/tap). Upon completing the lesson the students will be able to incorporate paraphrases and quotes with their own ideas into their essays.

Materials: [|Power Point Presentation] Copies of the article below Three large pieces of felt in different colors

Goal: To learn how to balance information found in research with students’ own ideas in an essay.

Objectives: By the end of this lesson, students will: ·  Recall the differences between paraphrases and quotes ·  Identify paraphrases, quotes, and writers’ original ideas ·  Integrate their own original ideas with paraphrases and quotes in an essay

Indiana Grade 8 Standard 8.45: Achieve a balance between researched information and original ideas.

ILS Standard: 3.16. Use information and technology ethnically and responsibly.

Teacher Instruction: ·  Present Power Point: Weaving Ideas and allow time for student participation and questions. ·  Illustrate the idea of weaving ideas with a braid. Use three large felt strips, each a different color. Have the colors correspond with the slide colors in the Power Point and use a different color for paraphrases, quotes, and the students’ own original ideas. Show the class how the braid works and keep it up in the room as a reminder to students to weave the ideas of others with their own for successful papers.

Activity 1: ·  Have students read the following article and highlight paraphrases, quotes, and the author’s original thoughts. Have the students use a different highlighter for each one (paraphrase, quote, original thoughts). [|“Fossil Sea Monster Big Enough to ‘Bite a Car’”] ·  When they are finished, students should share their findings and ideas in groups. Each group will present their information in an all-class discussion.

Activity 2: ·  Have students write the rough drafts for their own research papers over the next two to three days. The paper must contain at least five paraphrases and five quotes, and an equal number of original thoughts and/or conclusions. ·  Once a rough draft is completed students will bring 3 copies to class: one for the teacher and two for peer reviews. ·  The peer reviewers must highlight the writer’s own thoughts, paraphrases, and quotes, each in a different color (as in Activity 1).

Lesson Comparison:

The fourth grade lesson focuses on the basics of citing sources: why students need to cite sources as well as how to paraphrase and quote other works. Daniel Callison states that at this stage, students are able to plan and conduct a simple investigation (176). They may not be ready to conduct complicated research but they can go through with a basic search. Teaching them what to do with the research they have conducted is a logical step.

The eighth graders, on the other hand, will already know these basics so their unit focuses on effectively using researched information in conjunction with their own original ideas to write a quality research paper. Callison notes that by this age, students can “think critically and logically to make the relationships between evidence and explanations” (176). Students can take what they have found through research and explain it. They can now connect it to their own ideas and begin to draw overarching conclusions.

There is an obvious difference in maturation and a great deal of growth from fourth grade to eighth grade. The lesson I have prepared for the fourth-graders has two parts: one in which they identify paraphrases and quotes and one in which they paraphrase and quote their own research sources. I will introduce these ideas with a Power Point presentation that covers an introduction to citing sources, paraphrasing, and quoting. At this level, the students are simply getting used to the idea of citing sources. They are learning different ways to reproduce information that they have learned through their research.

The lesson I prepared for eighth graders, however, takes this process further. At this level students know how to paraphrase and quote; the Power Point presentation I prepared gives a few slides of “refresher” materials on these topics. The focus in these lessons, however, is how to effectively use paraphrasing and quotes in conjunction with students’ own original thoughts and ideas. It is also divided into two activities, in which the students will first identify paraphrases, quotes, and original ideas and then apply these concepts to their own research papers. The focus here is the ratio of outside ideas to students’ own thoughts. At this level the students are learning how to use their research to weave well-written and well-balanced essays.

Not only does the role of the student differ at each grade level, but the instructor takes on a different role as well. The fourth-grade instructor must teach the students the basics of citing sources. The focus here is on how and why to cite sources and how and why to use paraphrasing versus quoting. The teacher must involve him or herself in much more instruction. Also, the instruction here comes prior to beginning a research assignment. It acts more as a foundation for research. With the eighth-graders, though, the instructor takes on a role that is more like a guide. The students already know the basics of citing sources: how and why. The instructor’s role is to guide the students in effectively integrating the skills they already have into a well-written essay. The activities are much more student-led and apply directly to the paper that they have already begun (research-wise). There is less instruction because the students know how and why to cite sources and more guidance as the instructor shows the students how to use what they already know.

While both lessons address the same ILS Standard, which is to use information and technology responsibly and ethically, the standard takes on a different tone for each grade level. The fourth graders are just learning what it means to use information responsibly and ethically: it means giving others credit for their ideas. The eighth graders know this though and “responsibly” takes on a different connotation. The students know to be responsible and give others their credit; however, they are now using information more maturely. They are not simply spouting out information that others have given. Instead, they are weaving the ideas of others into their own to support, argue, and overall strengthen their work. This shows the maturation and growth between fourth and eighth graders.

Callison, Daniel. & Preddy, Leslie. // The blue book on information age inquiry, instruction and literacy //. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2006. “Citing Sources.” __How To Do Research__. 2 July 2004. Kentucky Virtual Library. 28 February 2008. <[|http://www.kyvl.org/html/tutorial/research/whatneeds.shtml>.] Doyle, Alister. “Fossil Sea Monster Big Enough to “Bite a Car.” __MSNBC.com__. 27 February 2008. < [|http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23371549/>. Fox, Catherine Clark. “A Different Kind of Alarm Clock.” __National Geographic Kids__. 28 February 2008. <[|http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/Stories/WackyStories/New-alarm-clock>.] Krautwurst, Terry. “The Coyote Next Door.” __National Geographic Kids__ 375 (2007): 24-27. EbscoHost. 28 February 2008.< http://web.ebscohost.com.proxy.ulib.iupui.edu/ehost/detail?vid=1&hid=104&sid=528f56dd-018b-41a9-a077-f38b3e3153e2%40sessionmgr106>. Lamb, Annette. //The 8 Ws: Information Literacy//. 2001. <[|http://eduscapes.com/tap>.]

“Quoting and Paraphrasing Sources.” __The Writing Center__. 2006. University of Madison-Wisconsin. 28 February 2008. <[|http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/QuotingSources.html>.]