In our inquiry-based research unit, students ask their own questions, find and evaluate their own sources, organize and complete their own close reads, and basically drive their own learning, at their own pace.
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Description
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DiscussionStudents are accustomed to learning information from the teacher, and then using that information to pass a test. My inquiry-based research unit is very different, so the discussion questions to the left get students in the right mindset for success in this unit.
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Question CreationThe important part of inquiry-based research is to start with questions worth answering. The question stems to the left and the high-interest topics we brainstorm as a class help prevent students from picking answers that are closed-ended: "how many people lost their job last year?" or that carry obvious bias: "why are people so mean to dogs when dogs are better than people?" The questions submitted to the form we use will be evaluated to ensure that students are doing real research, not just proving what they already know.
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Question SelectionThis part of the unit is imperative. Students must have a good question, with many valid sources of information. What this assignment does is help students figure out if they actually want to read about the research questions they've selected. This assignment also naturally differentiates the assignment based on these initial search criteria: students with lower reading levels find themselves disinterested in deeply scientific texts, and chose simpler questions to research.
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Vocabulary Review - Mind MappingYou've gotta talk the talk before you can do the research, as they say. Before moving on to the "meat" of the research unit, we'll use the materials to the left to make sure that students have the schema they need to succeed in the process of inquiry-based research. We'll start with a response-card activity to learn the basic meaning of the words, and then move on to create a team-wide mind map based on all the relevant concepts.
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Progress MonitoringIn a student-centered project such as this, it's imperative that students can track their own progress compared to two factors: the "due" dates of assignments, and the progress of their cohort of classmates. The tool to the left will look like a series of crazy numbers at first, but with about ten minutes of study, you'll be able to see exactly what percentage of each class is at each step in the research project. This doesn't just help students monitor their progress, it helps me adjust pacing and reteach important skills when necessary.
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Evaluating SourcesBefore doing any reading, it's important to know that your sources are relevant, credible, accessible, and rich. The graphic organizer to the left helps students look at sources objectively, and to evaluate them before spending a lot of time closely reading a source that may or may not be reputable.
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Reading CloselyStudents will do three close-reads on text using whatever Close Read Tools they prefer.
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Making an Evidence-Based ClaimAfter reading closely at least three sources, students are ready to make a claim to answer their research question, and to support that claim with evidence from the sources they've read.
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Writing a Final EssayStudents answer their own research question, after evaluating their own sources, forming their own claim, and accruing their own evidence.
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