Children And Research
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Resources for Young Researchers An Opening Caveat Research is an ever-changing field. The resources our parents had to perform research were different from the resources many of us had. Our children have or will have different avenues yet. When we teach research, it’s not about concrete concepts that will always hold true. It’s about giving our children the tools they need to work independently as research and digest data in meaningful and discerning ways. Whatever physical or digital resources we provide today will be obsolete tomorrow. Rather, whatever we provide now will be a foundation upon which future resources will be built.
Information will change. Media formats will change. Think of the card catalogue system around which libraries used to revolve. We don’t teach students how to use card catalogues anymore because they are obsolete. However, those of us who were taught good research skills can apply what we know from working with card catalogues to searching the Internet. In turn, our students will take Internet search skills, and, when they are grown, apply them to the next big thing. The avenues of learning change. Solid skills last forever.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at some research opportunities our students have.
Analog Sources Physical research sources represent the backbone of academia. Even online academic journals find origin in physical media.
Encyclopedias are the old guard of research. While useful, their relevance is fading. One primary detraction from encyclopedias is how quickly information become obsolete. For example, an early 2005 article in Encarta on philosopher John Rawls listed his dates as “1921-” inferring he had not yet died. John Rawls died in 2002. Furthermore, encyclopedia publishers often charge for the periodic updates of their materials, which can be a costly prospect for many financially burdened schools and libraries. Much of the material may also be above the children’s heads.
Prepared by Robert Smelser • http://homepage.mac.com/crysnrob
Encyclopedias fare best when used for an overview of a given topic, but date-specific or rapidly changing material should always be double-checked. Be aware of how old the specific edition of the encyclopedia is. Encyclopedias should never be the sole source of research on a topic, but they can give you a good scaffold upon which to build further research and through which to discover related topics and relevant breakdowns of a given topic.
Bookrooms and Leveled Readers provide a great source of level-appropriate material on a given topic. The Media Center will also feature a treasure of books and videos regarding various topics. The media center specialist may even know of relevant periodicals and articles, expanding research opportunities even more. These locations feature knowledgeable staff to help you on your search, and it is a collection of resources on premises. School budgets will always provide some limit to what is available, but teachers should always keep in mind the resources kept on campus when considering research opportunities for their children.
Public Libraries provide many of the same benefits as your bookrooms or school media centers, and they will often have additional material the school may not own. The natural downside is that students and teachers will have to take extra care of these materials, and they will only be available to the classroom for a limited time. Additionally, the teacher will need to do more of his or her own legwork to find resources in the public library, but the additional material is often worth the effort.
Visual Dictionaries do not provide a venue for finding resources as much as they are an example of a unique resource for which to look. A visual dictionary, as its name implies, presents its entires primarily through imagery. Every page is filled with labeled charts, diagrams, schematics, and cross-sections of the world around us. They provide immediate context to information, and they provide a foundation for necessary skills in reading charts, illustrations, and diagrams that will come in useful later in life. The material in many visual dictionaries, while somewhat limited by nature, is surprisingly complex yet engaging to young minds.
Digital Resources For digital resources, concentrate on what you can obtain online. While there are encyclopedias and other resources available on CD- and DVD-ROM, a teacher will be out his or her own money if it is not an application
Prepared by Robert Smelser • http://homepage.mac.com/crysnrob
licensed by the school district. More and more information is becoming available online, so quantity is not the problem. Quality is.
Kid-Friendly Search Engines and Directories are a good place to start – at least better than just letting young students loose on Google. Search engines like Ask Kids, Ithaki for Kids, and Fact Monster search a directory of approved sites, allowing students to more easily find material that is appropriate both in terms of content and reading level. Other sites like Linkopedia and Dmoz Kids provide links to kid-friendly sites, and a teacher can browse their directories for sites they would like their students to visit.
Wikipedia is commonly known as the open-source encyclopedia. It is built upon the philosophy that we are wiser than I. Many educators cite concerns over the accuracy of this resource due to the fact that anyone can edit the articles. Fortunately, while anybody can edit articles, not everybody does. Furthermore, Wikipedia moderators are constantly improving the safeguards in place to prevent and remove informational vandalism or fraudulent reporting. In 2005, the journal Nature found Wikipedia to be nearly as accurate as Encyclopedia Britannica when comparing several entries.
Wikimedia Commons is a great location to find royalty-free images, bypassing some copyright concerns that could arise from using services such as Yahoo! of Google Images. Furthermore, most Wikipedia articles end with a collection of links and citations that older students could use as a springboard for independent research. Finally, like traditional encyclopedias, Wikipedia can help provide structure to the research and help students discover and explore related content.
Fresh Air Sources No research is complete without hands-on experiences. Study trips and visiting experts can help students connect to their research better and provide a wider context to the information. Study trips can take your class across town or across the street, and resident experts can come from farms, businesses, military bases, fire stations, or across the hall. Like any other resource, a visiting expert may have a hard time speaking to the level of your students, but, if the kids are prepared with questions to ask, students will be able to explore the expert’s knowledge in a way they can’t with written or online resources.
Prepared by Robert Smelser • http://homepage.mac.com/crysnrob
Hints and Suggestions 1.
Integrate research into Readers’ and Writers’ Workshops when possible. Remember, research does not have to be confined to Project time. Workshop time is a great opportunity for children to immerse themselves into Project both in their leveled readers and in what they are journaling.
2.
Keep a research area in the classroom. Research materials may not leave the designated research area. Students would bring sticky notes to the area for note-taking purposes. This also can reduce the occurrences of children simply copying what a resource says on a given topic.
3.
Filter content ahead of time. Look for resources your kids can use on the Web, and create a set of links for your kids to access ahead of time. This cuts down on the need for the kids to spend time filtering through search engine results and reduces teacher stress over what results may come back.
4.
Be the summarizer. Some great resources will be over your students’ comprehension or reading levels. If this is the case, but the resource is valid and valuable, summarize the information in a way your students will be able to digest.
Some Useful Links Searching and Browsing •
Wikipedia (older grades): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
•
Awesome Library: http://www.awesomelibrary.org/
•
Ask Kids: http://www.askkids.com/
•
Ithaki for Kids: http://ithaki.net/kids/
•
Fact Monster: http://www.factmonster.com
Link Lists •
Open Directory - Kids and Teens: http://www.dmoz.org/Kids_and_Teens/
•
Linkopedia - Kid Friendly Websites: http://www.linkopedia.com/kids.html
Visual Dictionaries Online •
The Visual Dictionary: http://www.infovisual.info/
•
Merriam-Webster Visual Dictionary: http://visual.merriam-webster.com/index.php
Prepared by Robert Smelser • http://homepage.mac.com/crysnrob
Information will change. Media formats will change. Think of the card catalogue system around which libraries used to revolve. We don’t teach students how to use card catalogues anymore because they are obsolete. However, those of us who were taught good research skills can apply what we know from working with card catalogues to searching the Internet. In turn, our students will take Internet search skills, and, when they are grown, apply them to the next big thing. The avenues of learning change. Solid skills last forever.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at some research opportunities our students have.
Analog Sources Physical research sources represent the backbone of academia. Even online academic journals find origin in physical media.
Encyclopedias are the old guard of research. While useful, their relevance is fading. One primary detraction from encyclopedias is how quickly information become obsolete. For example, an early 2005 article in Encarta on philosopher John Rawls listed his dates as “1921-” inferring he had not yet died. John Rawls died in 2002. Furthermore, encyclopedia publishers often charge for the periodic updates of their materials, which can be a costly prospect for many financially burdened schools and libraries. Much of the material may also be above the children’s heads.
Prepared by Robert Smelser • http://homepage.mac.com/crysnrob
Encyclopedias fare best when used for an overview of a given topic, but date-specific or rapidly changing material should always be double-checked. Be aware of how old the specific edition of the encyclopedia is. Encyclopedias should never be the sole source of research on a topic, but they can give you a good scaffold upon which to build further research and through which to discover related topics and relevant breakdowns of a given topic.
Bookrooms and Leveled Readers provide a great source of level-appropriate material on a given topic. The Media Center will also feature a treasure of books and videos regarding various topics. The media center specialist may even know of relevant periodicals and articles, expanding research opportunities even more. These locations feature knowledgeable staff to help you on your search, and it is a collection of resources on premises. School budgets will always provide some limit to what is available, but teachers should always keep in mind the resources kept on campus when considering research opportunities for their children.
Public Libraries provide many of the same benefits as your bookrooms or school media centers, and they will often have additional material the school may not own. The natural downside is that students and teachers will have to take extra care of these materials, and they will only be available to the classroom for a limited time. Additionally, the teacher will need to do more of his or her own legwork to find resources in the public library, but the additional material is often worth the effort.
Visual Dictionaries do not provide a venue for finding resources as much as they are an example of a unique resource for which to look. A visual dictionary, as its name implies, presents its entires primarily through imagery. Every page is filled with labeled charts, diagrams, schematics, and cross-sections of the world around us. They provide immediate context to information, and they provide a foundation for necessary skills in reading charts, illustrations, and diagrams that will come in useful later in life. The material in many visual dictionaries, while somewhat limited by nature, is surprisingly complex yet engaging to young minds.
Digital Resources For digital resources, concentrate on what you can obtain online. While there are encyclopedias and other resources available on CD- and DVD-ROM, a teacher will be out his or her own money if it is not an application
Prepared by Robert Smelser • http://homepage.mac.com/crysnrob
licensed by the school district. More and more information is becoming available online, so quantity is not the problem. Quality is.
Kid-Friendly Search Engines and Directories are a good place to start – at least better than just letting young students loose on Google. Search engines like Ask Kids, Ithaki for Kids, and Fact Monster search a directory of approved sites, allowing students to more easily find material that is appropriate both in terms of content and reading level. Other sites like Linkopedia and Dmoz Kids provide links to kid-friendly sites, and a teacher can browse their directories for sites they would like their students to visit.
Wikipedia is commonly known as the open-source encyclopedia. It is built upon the philosophy that we are wiser than I. Many educators cite concerns over the accuracy of this resource due to the fact that anyone can edit the articles. Fortunately, while anybody can edit articles, not everybody does. Furthermore, Wikipedia moderators are constantly improving the safeguards in place to prevent and remove informational vandalism or fraudulent reporting. In 2005, the journal Nature found Wikipedia to be nearly as accurate as Encyclopedia Britannica when comparing several entries.
Wikimedia Commons is a great location to find royalty-free images, bypassing some copyright concerns that could arise from using services such as Yahoo! of Google Images. Furthermore, most Wikipedia articles end with a collection of links and citations that older students could use as a springboard for independent research. Finally, like traditional encyclopedias, Wikipedia can help provide structure to the research and help students discover and explore related content.
Fresh Air Sources No research is complete without hands-on experiences. Study trips and visiting experts can help students connect to their research better and provide a wider context to the information. Study trips can take your class across town or across the street, and resident experts can come from farms, businesses, military bases, fire stations, or across the hall. Like any other resource, a visiting expert may have a hard time speaking to the level of your students, but, if the kids are prepared with questions to ask, students will be able to explore the expert’s knowledge in a way they can’t with written or online resources.
Prepared by Robert Smelser • http://homepage.mac.com/crysnrob
Hints and Suggestions 1.
Integrate research into Readers’ and Writers’ Workshops when possible. Remember, research does not have to be confined to Project time. Workshop time is a great opportunity for children to immerse themselves into Project both in their leveled readers and in what they are journaling.
2.
Keep a research area in the classroom. Research materials may not leave the designated research area. Students would bring sticky notes to the area for note-taking purposes. This also can reduce the occurrences of children simply copying what a resource says on a given topic.
3.
Filter content ahead of time. Look for resources your kids can use on the Web, and create a set of links for your kids to access ahead of time. This cuts down on the need for the kids to spend time filtering through search engine results and reduces teacher stress over what results may come back.
4.
Be the summarizer. Some great resources will be over your students’ comprehension or reading levels. If this is the case, but the resource is valid and valuable, summarize the information in a way your students will be able to digest.
Some Useful Links Searching and Browsing •
Wikipedia (older grades): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
•
Awesome Library: http://www.awesomelibrary.org/
•
Ask Kids: http://www.askkids.com/
•
Ithaki for Kids: http://ithaki.net/kids/
•
Fact Monster: http://www.factmonster.com
Link Lists •
Open Directory - Kids and Teens: http://www.dmoz.org/Kids_and_Teens/
•
Linkopedia - Kid Friendly Websites: http://www.linkopedia.com/kids.html
Visual Dictionaries Online •
The Visual Dictionary: http://www.infovisual.info/
•
Merriam-Webster Visual Dictionary: http://visual.merriam-webster.com/index.php
Prepared by Robert Smelser • http://homepage.mac.com/crysnrob
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