They use the SweetSearch search engine, which weeds out the junk they usually find on Google or Bing and which highlights their keywords and pulls text from the website into the list of search results. When creating search terms, I use a template to help my students in all grades through the process. "Your parents said you can have any pet you want. For instance, rather than having my third regurgitate answers back to me about animals, they will use the information they find to answer the larger question. Each grade will be using their research and applying it to a larger question or problem.
Choosing a Topic, Creating Keywords and Search TermsĪll classes begin with a discussion about what research is and why we do it and how we do it. I have broken the research process up into mini-lessons, which will ultimately culminate in a larger project.Īll of my students in grades three to seven will go through this process, with each lesson meeting them where they are and attempting to fill in gaps.
That being so, all of my students will be researching using the Internet - which has its own special challenges. This approach was informed by my own experiences, my own research, and a deliberate attempt to really break down the individual skills that my kids will need to be successful researchers.įirst, I should mention that my school does not have a library and I have actually never worked in a school here in Philly (I've worked in three buildings) that had a functioning library.
BEST RESEARCH WEBSITES FOR ELEMENTARY STUDENTS HOW TO
If I rail against the way standardized tests have taught kids how to regurgitate facts, then how is what I've been doing any different? This year, I took a different approach. As this year's project approached, I decided that I needed to step it up a notch. In the past, I have done your typical find-information-and-regurgitate-it-to-me kinds of projects, all in the name of teaching students how to locate information. I begin teaching research skills in third grade - just at the time where my students' reading skills are such that they can feel successful and just at the time when they have mounds and mounds of natural curiosity.