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__Chapter 7 __
Question 1.1 The first skill that Ms. Eltona needs to teach her students how to use the “Big 6” which will guide them in step-by-step fashion on how to do a research project. Another available tool is the website content evaluation chart of which a sample is available in the text on page 216. This research tool teaches the students to be critical and aware of what legitimate information is and how to cull questionable facts. The students also need to learn how to properly cite resources that they find as this is a very helpful method to help in identifying legitimate online resources. These are NOT trivial skills for middle school students to acquire, and teaching them will probably require more time than the research itself! Since her class appears to be lacking in these skills, she should probably start with a guided WebQuest or provide them with a short list of trusted and approved websites, rather than setting them loose with Google! Question 1.2 The students should be taught a creative writing unit about how to properly research a project and then how to write a coherent paper on the project's topic. A member of the group shared his practical experience in the classroom. In collaboration with the school librarian, the member set out the project's parameters as a mix of print & web-based research sources, then suggested appropriate websites to use, and set a rigid timetable to limit the time spent on the "research" part of the project. This method effectively limited research time so that the bulk of the project time was spent on the actual analysis, synthesis, and writing of the report, so that the students did not get "lost" in a wave of internet surfing. Another member of the group suggests the use of the "Big 6" [|www.big6.com] that lays out a step-by-step research plan for the students to follow in doing research. Question 1.3 The rubric that Ms. Eltona will use to grade her student’s research papers should consist of several distinct areas of scholarship. These areas would include evaluations that address these areas of the students finished product. · How the student asked their specific research question relative to the assigned topic. · How the student selected the sources that they used in the project. · How effectively the student used key words and note-taking skills. · How the student organized and synthesized the research paper. · How the student cited and documented the sources that they used on their paper. Other areas that our group feels should be included in Ms. Eltona’s rubric are, first, a methodology that the students can use to “grade" their source websites by critically considering the factual information of the site. A second concern voiced by the group is how to keep the students on track in their research tasks. The suggestion that would be the most useful to the student and the teacher is to work on the project in phases and evaluate each phase individually to ensure that the student’s do not wander off-task. As for "using the information appropriately", the important point to remember is that the focus of the grading should be on the students use of information, synthesis, and evaluation skills, not just their skills at using the Internet.

**__Chapter 8__**
4.1  The teacher in the scenario, Mr. Lorrie, uses the abundance of material available on the Internet, but sharply focuses the student’s research efforts with a list of questions and a list of websites where the answers will be found. By doing so he gives his students the opportunity to self-teach not only content material, but also effective research techniques through the most effective strategy of, trial and error. Even though the information could be found in other media or using different methods Mr. Lorrie utilizes the internet because the information can be gathered much faster than traditional techniques while accommodating multiple learning styles in the one medium. The consensus of our group is that the instructor understands the concept of "hyper-text" thinking and realizes that the students can use their own imaginations and strategies to reach the same conclusions using mental pathways as different as the students themselves.

<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">4.2: <span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"> Mr. Lorrie awards three prizes at the end of the lesson. One for the student who learned the most about the topic of the scavenger hunt, the second to the student who most efficiently used the Internet to complete the web search, and finally, the third to the student who learned the most while doing the web search. By giving the three awards he is attempting to teach the students that there is more to learning than just finding the "right" answer. The exploration of the Web is as important as the destination since learning how to efficiently and effectively navigate inside it is much more valuable than finding the answer for the scavenger hunt.

<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">4.3: <span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"> Mr. Lorrie should have the students work in pairs for this activity, as this sort of task can build collaborative skills in the students. The advantages to the pairing, especially where there are multiple goals, is that when one student might get fixated on one particular facet of the task the partner can help out the team by keeping an out for the diversified goals. The group feels that the workload of the project could be too cumbersome and time consuming for a single student to handle with a great deal of vigor, not to mention the scarceness of resources available to students. We also feel that large groups would result in many of the students not participating to any significant degree and allow just a few of their classmates to do the entire project, however small tightly knit groups could be used if they have been trained or have experience working together as a team..