Monday, February 18, 2008

Thing 16 - Student 2.0 Tools

Great, great resources. I have been working on implementing a new research method in our district - the I-Search - with little success. Partially, I think it has to do with the fact that we are "dumping" the entire research process into the 6th grade, without the "dribbling" of skills in previous grades that the Research Calculator site recommends.

Our teachers are not accustomed to a true research process. They are inclined to assign a "hot topic" to students, and to accepting what is, in essence, just a regurgitation of previously written information. It's hard to push teachers into the messy world of true research with their students. I REALLY appreciate the teacher resources that accompany the Research Calculator. I noticed that there are references to the I-Search process and a few well-written documents that talk about how to avoid plagiarism.

Defining a question is probably the most difficult aspect of the research process, and the support materials do a great job of covering how to define a topic and create a specific question. It would be handy to have a Bloom's Taxonomy handout in there, too. What a great resource, though. I'd like to share this with our curriculum director the next time we meet on our research process.

I found one glitch: the definitions aren't anchored well and lead to the whole glossary list, rather than to the word I clicked on. Small issue, but annoying.

I played with the Assignment Calculator, too. I was impressed that the links changed, depending on the subject area. I'd like to try that site for the next graduate class I take. Quite impressive.

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