Inquiry Based Research Project

Technology Integration Planning Model TIP

By: Angela Bockino

Unit: Inquiry Based Research Project Grade: 3rd grade, Can be applied to numerous

grade levels. Skills: Students will use skills acquired in

reading, writing, and researching to complete this project.

Overview: This inquiry based research project allows students to explicitly see how inquiry works in reading and writing. As the unit progresses they will gain a lot of independence to continue the research with the guidance of the teacher, parent and/or caregiver.

INQUIRE

Guided Inquiry: Allow students to become independent in their leap for knowledge

“I wonders” and KWL’s The lessons will include explicit modeling as

well integration of technology to complete the research.

Think MAIN FOCUS: Time to think, wonder and discover

Using the internet and Web 2.0 applications is a great way for students to think, wonder and discover.

Technology Integration Planning Model TIP

Goal of guided inquiry: Independence with drawing conclusions, asking questions, writing, determine importance of activities and/or texts, researching, organizing, publishing and presenting information using visuals and synthesizing.

This will be assessed by their final projects which will be presented by creating an animoto.

Outcomes for Unit

Giving students the opportunity to choose their own topic will foster an interest in learning.

Lesson 1: Will introduce students to inquiry based learning. They will be taught to narrow down their topics, by taking part in a think pair and share activity.

Lesson 2: The students will learn to put these topics in a form of an essential question.

Many times students may pick a topic that is relevant to their cultures like a topic on war, the Holocaust; you’d be surprised.

Design Integration Strategies

Lesson 3: Using their essential questions the students will now begin the research process.

The students will use the World Wide Web, Library database and interviews to gain information about their topic.

The teacher will provide the student with a list of user friendly websites that they should use on the World Wide Web.

Design Integration Strategies

 

The following are a list of approved search engines for use on the World Wide Web. You are to use these tools in the presence of a parent or caregiver.

  KidsClick Boolify   Yahooligans Searchcloud   Searchasaurus Searchme

AP Photo Archive TagGalaxy   Awesome Library Timefork   Fact Monster FactBites   SearchEduWideExplorer   National Geographic Viewzi

Inquiry Based Project Websites

 Objective: Students will demonstrate their understanding of research

by finding information from three to four sources of differing types.   New York State Standard: Standard 5: Students read to locate, select, and make use of relevant

information from a variety of media, reference, and technological sources. In order to meet this standard, students will

select relevant material for reading, writing, and speaking purposes; understand the structure, organization, and use of various media, reference, and technological sources as they select information for their reading and writing; paraphrase, summarize, organize, and synthesize information; give credit for others' ideas, images, or information; and use information to produce a quality product.  

Grouping: Students will work in the library, walking around the school, and in the computer lab in alternating groups depending on class size.  

Materials: ComputersClipboardsWorksheet on WebsitesBooks from the library

 

Essential Questions: How do researchers find resources that will provide them with more information?

Motivational Hook: Their topic of interest will keep them motivated. Students also love using the computers so at the introduction of this lesson, the students will be introduced to the teacher using a website to look up information on the topic reptiles.  

Procedure: The teacher will pull up a list of websites that the students will use to research their topic. The

teacher will show the students some of the websites. She/he will type in the keywords that will yield the most results. Articles, book reviews, etc may appear in these searches. The students must read through them and pick the resources that best answer their essential question.

The teacher will then describe how they will use the library database in the library to find books that talk about their topics. The teacher will model how to use the library database as well as asking the librarian for help on finding books.

Now the students are going to think outside the box. They are too come up with ways of gaining information without reading books and going on the computer. Once the generate some responses the teacher will suggest that students can gain information from interviews, newspapers, or just walking around the school hallways.

The students will be broken up into groups of three. One group will go to the computer lab so that they can do research on the World Wide Web using the

Websites on the sheet. They can also do this at home in the presence of a parent or caregiver, if they do not finish their exploring during the allotted time.

Another group will go to the library, where the librarians will be available to help them use the library database to search for books and encyclopedias on their topics. The students will be able to take out 2 to 3 books.

The third group will conference with the teacher, so the teacher has an idea of who may want to interview someone and explain the right way the student will go about doing this interview process. Then the students will walk around the hallways of the school with the teacher writing down anything they see on bulletin boards or wherever that may be information for their project.

After 20 minutes the students will have to switch locations. This will be done over three days.

Design Integration Strategies

Closing: Since this has been an ongoing process the teacher will discuss how important it is that they are using those essential questions to find the most important information. The teacher will review the resources they can use such as internet, interviews, information around school, news articles, periodicals, books, and encyclopedias.

Differentiated Instruction: Conferencing with the teacher, help from the librarians, and those in the computer labs the students should have enough guidance to get through this project. The parents of the child will also be a huge help for these students.

Informal Assessment: The students will not be formally assessed for this lesson. Instead only informal assessments will be done by observing the resources they have accumulated from this class period time. The final project will be the formal assessment.

Design Integration Strategies

Lesson 4: Note Taking A Taking Notes Worksheet will be given to

the students so that they can put in their own words information from the sources they have collected.

Microsoft word document

Design Integration Strategies

A lot of preparation goes into this Unit! The teacher must make sure all of the

internet websites being used are appropriate and work.

The teacher must also set up time for the students to use the computer lab and the library. Therefore she must collaborate with the other professionals.

Enough computers must be available for the children to use.

Prepare the Instructional Enviroment

Since they will be completing an Animoto for their final project, the teacher must have a subscription.

The final lesson will be the modeling of an Animoto. Since the teacher has been using the topic of reptiles for all other models, the teacher will then create with the students an Animoto on reptiles.

The Animotos will be done in school with the help of the teacher and those in the computer lab.

Prepare the Instructional Environment

This lesson can be adapted for any grade level, SES level of school, or level of learners.

Since the teacher is guiding the students, she can set up buddy systems, and there is already so much peer conferencing occurring that the students can learn from one another and ask questions.

If there is a lack of resources the teacher can choose maybe two topics the class may want to research. Together the teacher and the students will go on a quest to find any information they can about their topics. As a class an interactive writing piece can be done, like a booklet or brochure, comic strip, etc.

Differentiation and Beyond

I did this project in my third grade class. We did not create Animotos, but instead created booklets. Therefore the students typed up a research paper on their topic, and then we sent their papers to the publishing center. In the publishing center the students were called down to put their papers into a booklet. The booklets were hung in an archive center in our classroom, so that they students gained ownership of our work.

In this case I would hope that each student would be able to share their Animoto with the class. The Animotos will be 3 to 5 minutes long, so at least two class periods will provide enough time for them to be presented.

Evaluate and Revise Integration Strategies

My cooperating teacher helped me come up with the list of websites for this project. Thank you.

I had gotten this idea from being an aide in a 5th grade class about 2 years. Therefore I must Thank the teacher, Mrs. Barry, who introduced me to this Unit.

Acknowledgment