This three-day lesson guides students through selecting, thinking critically about, and evaluating sources by gathering sources to prepare for a classroom study of Inherit the Wind. It can be adapted to focus on any unit of study relevant to classroom teachers. Learners will be curating a collection of resources that their classmates will access during the unit.

INSTRUCTIONAL PROCEDURE

Begin by telling students this is not a research paper! Explain the value having background and support information available when encountering a new topic. Tell students that by the end of the three days, they will have jointly compiled a list of sources for their class to use in their upcoming unit of study.

Day 1: Database Searching. Provide an overview and explanation of database searching, using one that's available to your students. Assign students subtopics to search or let them choose from a list. For a study of Inherit the Wind, subtopics might include the Scopes trial, evolution debates, and McCarthyism. Ask students to explore the database looking for articles that would be useful for learning about their given subtopic. Provide students with a checklist to help them identify articles that will be good information sources for them to reference during the study. As they work, discuss techniques for refining searches. Instruct students to save the article(s) they selected so they access them again in the next session.

Day 2: Online Searching. Start with a quick discussion of search terms and best practices for Internet searching. Give students a form to guide their website evaluation that asks them to check each site they find for currency, relevance, reliability, authorship, and authenticity. About halfway through class, walk students through specific websites that they may find useful, such as the Digital Public Library of America. Discuss how triangulation can be a helpful technique in assessing websites.

Day 3: Collaborative Source Evaluation. Divide students into groups and have each group jointly evaluate the sources identified over the previous two days. Have each group choose the three resources they think would be most useful for each of their subtopics and add them to the shared bookmarking site. The shared bookmarks will then be used by all students during their classroom study.

DIFFERENTIATION

Many databases have the option to have an article read aloud or presented in a language other than English. Students might also search for leveled articles to support a variety of reading levels. In some cases, students can pair up to support each other. Student library assistants can be used as readers or scribes.

ASSESSMENT

At the completion of the classroom unit study, have students reconvene in the library for a student-led assessment to discuss the sources. Which ones were the most helpful? What made them helpful? What would they change in their searching to get better resources?

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

For additional suggestions on research skills, see:

Stanley, Deborah B. Practical Steps to Digital Research: Strategies and Skills for School Libraries. Libraries Unlimited, 2018.