Lesson 1: Database and Web Searches
A few main concepts covered:
Essential Question: How do you conduct database and web searches online, and what are some related concepts, tips and tricks?
Guiding Questions: How big are the internet/web? What is the research cycle? What types of assignments and resources are common for college-level? What are some ways to distinguish types of web pages?
Standards
Note: To address college readiness, several state and national standards have been selected, emphasizing related skills and concepts. However, while this lesson touches on several of these, not all of these will be assessed here.
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Association for College and Research Libraries (ACRL). Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education. http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/ilframework
Frame(s): Searching as Strategic Exploration Knowledge Practices: determine the initial scope of the task; utilize divergent (e.g., brainstorming) and convergent (e.g., selecting the best source) thinking when searching... Dispositions: understand that first attempts at searching do not always produce adequate results; realize that information sources vary greatly in content and format and have varying relevance and value, depending on the needs and nature of the search ... |
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American Association for School Librarians (AASL). National School Library Standards for Learners, School Librarians, and School Libraries (AASL Standards) https://standards.aasl.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/180206-AASL-framework-for-learners-2.pdf
Domain(s): Think, Create, Share, and Grow Shared Foundation(s): Inquire Think (1. Formulating questions about a personal interest or a curricular topic. 2. Recalling prior and background knowledge as context for new meaning.); Create (1. Using evidence to investigate questions. 2. Devising and implementing a plan to fill knowledge gaps.); Share (1. Interacting with content presented by others. 2. Providing constructive feedback. 3. Acting on feedback to improve); Grow (1. Continually seeking knowledge. 2. Engaging in sustained inquiry. 3. Enacting new understanding through real-world connections. 4. Using reflection to guide informed decisions). |
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International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). Standards for Students and Educators https://www.iste.org/standards/for-students
ISTE for Students: Knowledge Constructor Students: 3a. plan and employ effective research strategies to locate information and other resources for their intellectual or creative pursuits; 3c. evaluate the accuracy, perspective, credibility and relevance of information, media, data or other resources; 3d. Students build knowledge by actively exploring real-world issues and problems, developing ideas and theories and pursuing answers and solutions. |
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Texas School Library Standards Strand 1: Information Literacy. 1.1.2 Locate information • Evaluate information • Effectively use information such as state digital resources, open educational resources, and print resources Strand 2: Inquiry. 2.3.0 The school library program offers opportunities for learners to explore real world problems by interacting with relevant information in a variety of formats; 2.3.1 Inquiry projects are based on real world issues and problems; 2.3.3 Inquiry projects include the opportunity to: • Consider diverse points of view, • Use critical thinking skills, • Make informed judgments |
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Lesson Objectives/What am I learning? The information literate student…
Learning Outcomes/Why did I learn this? [Demonstration of Learning]
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Resources:
1) Please make sure you have access to TexShare to access the databases listed below.
El Paso Public Library (EPPL) website, get access: http://www.elpasolibrary.org/research/online-research
TexShare login: https://texshare.net/
2) El Paso Community College Library’s Helpful Internet Websites : [Selected by librarians]
Here: http://epcc.libguides.com/internet
Look in: Career and Employment tab.
Lesson Cycle
Part 1. Direct instruction: PowerPoint presentation outlining the topics of discussion.
Part 2.
Engagement: Warm-Up/Opening/The “hook”
Teaching Strategy/Instructional Procedure: Conversing
Learning Strategy/ Procedure: quick write
Instructions: Think about the last thing that you looked up online, which took a while to look up. What was it? Did you know where to look for information? Where did you look? How quickly did you find the information? How did you feel about it (were you confident, frustrated, anxious)? What kind of web places did you visit? Write a short paragraph/share out.
Part 3. Practice:
Let's take a look at some kid-friendly websites. Just look over them a little bit and try to find something to pursue. Think about what “information needs” you might have about the topic. Next, think about how you would gather information about it. What do you need to know? What would you like others to know? How would you share this information? Who created this information? Where did they get it from? How would you know if the information is true or not?
Sites:
Animal Fact Guide https://animalfactguide.com/animal-facts/
Cat Breeds https://tica.org/breeds/browse-all-breeds
Dog Breeds https://www.akc.org/dog-breeds/
Dolly the Sheep https://dolly.roslin.ed.ac.uk/facts/the-life-of-dolly/index.html
Endangered species https://www.fws.gov/endangered/species/us-species.html
Ocean Facts https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/
The Guinea Worm http://www.deadlysins.com/guinea-worm
The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus https://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/
Water bears https://serc.carleton.edu/microbelife/topics/tardigrade/index.html
Military Branches:
U.S. Air Force https://www.af.mil/
U.S. Army https://www.army.mil/
U.S. Coast Guard https://www.uscg.mil/
U.S. marine corps https://www.marines.com/
U.S. navy https://www.navy.mil/
U.S. Space Force https://www.spaceforce.mil/
Part 4. Evaluation: Closing/Demonstration of Learning
Learning Strategy/ Procedure: Share out
Directions: Tell us about your research process. How did it go? Were you able to create keywords? Which worked for you? Which didn’t work for you? Were you able to create research questions?
Part 5. To model web-evaluation habits, the librarian will go over two websites and demonstrate how one might go about evaluating a website.
What kinds of questions should we ask to gather information on these web-pages?
Homework: Three common assignments we see at the Valle Verde Library are 1) career research papers, 2) “controversial issues” papers (or a position paper) and 3) Informative papers. Your homework is to choose from one of these options: a) Research a career, b) research a “controversial” topic, c) research a topic of interest. Start thinking about what option might interest you most. Next, just give some thought to this, but don't stress yourself out! For example, consider: What kind of information do you need, and what does it look like? Where can you find this information? Please have a research preference for next class.
- by Adrian M. Spring, 2020
Credits:
"Lesson Plan Worksheet" borrowed (and adapted) from Colorado State University, at https://writing.colostate.edu/guides/teaching/esl/plansheet.cfm, and DIDS.org, Instructional Resources, at https://www.dallasisd.org/Page/46749
