I can't believe we have only 16 school days to go. My class will have to work overtime to try and find answers for their inquiry questions! And then there is still the creating & social action part of the process!
They were able to use keywords to help them search for information. The wonderwheel feature on Google was very effective to help the children think of other possible key words/phrases. The issue is the children's lack of confidence with skimming & scanning and this can be difficult because not every site that they go on has information that they want or need. It has been great listening to the children reflecting on their findings e.g. "I thought algae was always bad... I didn't know it can be used as a biofuel!"
I would appreciate any suggestions to help with research :)
I agree about hearing the children reflect on their learning. I had children say "We can't stop drilling for oil or else we would have pens"
ReplyDeleteThe evaluative skills of the children have been a real stumbling stone in our research. We developed some criteria for books/pages etc. to judge whether they have what we need. It worked for some but for most it is still hard skimming and scanning.