The 21st Century Researchers First Aid Kit

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The 21st Century Researchers First Aid Kit!
WebQuests
Research Strategy

• An Introduction to the Media Specialist in the
  Classroom!

By Harry Brake December 10, 2006
On Line Directories
Search Tools
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Rationale
Roles change this takes the form of classroom
teacher to an overall educator.
Additionally, librarians have become more
dependent to assist and implement essential
elements of technology in aiding the educational
process, becoming known as Media Specialists.
As such, the classroom educator needs to be
aware of the tools they can pull from their bag
of tricks to motivate, inspire, and challenge
students while allowing them to hold their own
weight against a mass population of those
achieving the very best after high school. No
more are the googlers able to keep up with the
speed, accuracy, and effectiveness other tools
offer when conducting research. There is a time
and place for everything, just as there is for
these valuable tools youll find inside of this
First Aid Kit guide to research..
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Get Focused!....
Possible Research Strategies The Big
Six Flipit! Information Searching Process I
Search

• Why was the Scientific Method created? Just as a
  plan towards experiments is needed, a clear plan
  needs to be established for research! Having a
  plan to choose from the very beginning aids in
  this process.

See some similarities between the scientific
method and research strategies? Identifying
the problem, testing sources, as well as
evaluating and tweaking information all are
valuable to encouraging a clear and fresh
approach to researching any topic!
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Every Research Strategy, despite your choice
relies on tools to search information, why rely
on one search tool alone?
Wasted space in margins
Cleanse that idea of Google as the only
alternative and explore the world of Metasearch
Engines and alternatives to Google, Yahoo, and
the common place names for searches!
Mamma.com Altavista.com Clusty.com Dogpile.com Sur
fwax.com Copernic.com Ask.com Teoma.com Vivisimo.c
om Kartoo.com Metacrawler.com Inet.com
Sites organized by extensions
Conceptual Map of topics!
Margins hold organized categories of searched
topic
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Subject Directories Provide More In-Depth
Specifics on a particular topic than your typical
engine. A better cure for the common
search-blues does not exist in helping obtain
specifics for your topic!

• Subject Directories MetaSearch
  Engines
• Contain already organized
  Provide more accurate hits on topics
• and specialized insight
  and help narrow the choices down to
• into topics found through the best
  hits.
• metasearch engines.

Already organized categories, less typing!
Operation of search box still exists, but more
options than an average search engine
Librarians Index Infomine GoogleDirectory
Yahoodirectory AcademicInfo
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With these tools behind you, begin to relieve
the pressure of how to involve students in a
revolutionary research process

• Introduce a Research Strategy to students
• Utilize metasearch engines and directories to
  focus on units, lessons, individuals, terms and
  overall theories on topics that coincide with
  your curriculum!
• For example In studying the colonial period,
  have students use metasearch engines to define
  specific aspects of this literary period

August 2006
September 2006
Colonial Period related topics Chinua Achebe
Colonialism in other countries Puritanism Native
American storytelling Pocohontas - Disneys myth
vs reality
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With metaseach and online directories as part of
the student vocabulary, students will begin to
see how these tools APPLY to assignments via
webquests and Wiki opportunities!
Application of these tools can be in the
following ways
November 2006 Students create powerpoints on
tools on the internet for elementary students.
October 2006 Webquests supporting topics found in
metasearches and online directories.
December 2006 Students create Wikis that mark
their progress of using new web tools and their
ability to teach others!
Literature-based webquests
Roanoke Webquest
Edit your own Wiki Site for free!
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Extending tools and research strategies.
Directory of Educational Portals
Information, Communication Technology Portal

• In application, the use of metasearch engines,
  online directories, and general search engines
  lead you to portals of information like these
  represented. Can you see how each research
  element mentioned today has an impact on these
  particular sites?

Online Writing Lab at Purdue University
Scientific Portal
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Tying it all together.

• Technology Useful but needs to be tied and
  aligned with a definite purpose, this does not
  mean personality has to be sacrificed.
• Organization and objectives need to be identified
  to accurately reach a conclusion, whether using a
  metasearch engine or simply creating a website,
  the research strategy chosen should be followed
  for clarity of purpose.
• Starting small will help make larger waves
  regarding projects and internalizing methods to
  research such as seen in portals, Wikis, and
  Webquests. All contain elements of the key
  components of an effecitve search for
  information!
• Empowering students to research more effectively
  puts the teaching and instructional skills in
  their hands, no longer is the educator the only
  learner in the classroom!

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Effective Supporting Resources

• Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of
  Research
• Papers. 6th Edition. New York Modern
  Language
• Association, 2003.
• Information Power Building Partnerships for
  Learning.
• Chicago, IL American Library Association,
  1998.
• Schlein, Alan M. Find It Online. 4th edition.
  Tempe, AZ Facts
• on Demand Press, 2006.