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Information Literacy Instruction

  • Exercises to Build Research Skills
  • Formulate a research topic
  • Find Information
  • Evaluate Information
  • Use Information
  • Chicago/Turabian
  • Citation Tools

Exercises Overview

Library instruction exercises.

The exercises below are designed for students learning to do research. They can be done in class or assigned as homework. They are in Word format so instructors who wish to use them can easily edit or adapt them. When appropriate, they contain an answer key, so instructors should look at the full handout and remove the answer key before sharing with students.

If you would like a librarian to come to your class to lead these exercises or if you would like an exercise customized for your subject area, contact your Library Liaison!

  • Formulate a topic
  • Find information
  • Evaluate information
  • Incorporate information
  • Cite information
  • Writing assignment formats
  • Triangulating your research This exercise guides students with a broad topic to identify search terms and narrow their topic, arriving at a research question.
  • Formulating a Research Question from a Broad Topic Students often begin their research (and writing) with a very broad topic. This means they waste a lot of time looking for resources that they will never use. Before they begin to research, it is ideal to have a focused question. This 10 minute assignment teaches them how to turn a very broad topic into a focused research question.
  • Identifying and Refining a Research Topic Using Concept Maps This exercise is designed to help students think of words and concepts and see how they are related. They create a concept map of their topic, which may help them see ways to narrow their topic and arrive at a research question.
  • Identifying and Refining a Research Topic Using Journalistic Questions Journalistic questions are a set of questions you can use to define your topic more clearly. This exercise will help student ask questions about their topic. Having specific questions to answer makes researching the topic easier when you get to that stage.
  • Defining Search Terms Students will often try one or two search terms when using a database and assume there’s no information on their topic if it doesn’t work the first time. This exercise gets them thinking about synonyms and related words. This 15 minute exercise may seem simple, but I can almost guarantee that the next time they sit down at a database they will try multiple searches before giving up.
  • Identifying Keywords In this exercise, students will practice identifying keywords that might be used to research their topic. The exercise has three parts. First, they will identify the keywords from sample research questions. Then they will brainstorm synonyms for those keywords, demonstrating the need to search using more than just one keyword. Finally, they will complete the exercise for their own research question.
  • Information Source Comparison This activity helps students explore the strengths and weakness of Google, Google Scholar, Academic Search Complete and topic specific databases as information sources.
  • Understanding Boolean Operators: AND, OR, NOT In order to apply your keywords to an effective search, you must be able to employ Boolean logic. Those operators are AND OR & NOT. The object of this exercise is to practice your use of those operators by looking at an everyday experience : Ordering food from a fast food restaurant.
  • Creating Keyword Searches Using Boolean Operators In this exercise, students will practice selecting search terms and combining them using boolean operators in order to create an effective search.
  • Popular, Trade or Peer Reviewed? Great hands-on exercise to teach students about the differences among the 3 types of publications. Students can read the differences in the provided example, but real learning takes place when they have to sift through the actual publications and write down differences. Can be tailored to use any three sources appropriate for your discipline.
  • Analyze 4 types of sources This assignment does two things: 1) it makes students find 4 different types of sources rather than just search the Web; 2) it teaches students how to evaluate ALL information and compare and contrast different types of sources.
  • Pin the News Source on the Fake News Continuum This activity asks students to research a variety of news sources and place them on a continuum to define their reliability.
  • Evaluating Sources Process Cards This is a group activity in which students are given cards with a variety of sources on them. They evaluate the sources based on criteria such as "authority," "ease of creation," "time to creation" etc.
  • Evaluating sources writing assignment Requires the student to answer a series of questions about a source they have found. These questions are also a good basis for writing the annotation for an annotated bibliography exercise.
  • Article Analysis - upper level This exercise requires students to evaluate a scholarly article for not only its relevance to their research topic but also for its potential to help them find more sources via citation mining and keyword generation.
  • Evaluating Web Resources Students choose one of three websites to evaluate. After evaluating the website they must make a judgment on whether it is good or bad for academic research and explain their decision. This assignment can be tailored to use websites related to your subject area. Just ask!

Introductory level - avoid plagiarism by properly using quotes, paraphrases and summaries.

  • Evaluating quotes and paraphrases (100/200 level) Students are given a sample citation and 7 easy uses. They judge if the use is appropriate or plagiarism.
  • Evaluating quotes, summaries and paraphrases Students are given a sample text and 4 summaries. They judge if the summary is legitimate or plagiarism.
  • Quotes, Summaries and Paraphrases from the Purdue Owl This PDF from the Purdue Owl explains what each of these are, how to use them and concludes with a hands on exercise that requires students to summarize and paraphrase several sample original texts.
  • Write your own quote, summary, paraphrase Given a single sample text, students are asked to write their own quote, summary, paraphrase for the instructor's evaluation. Can be tailored for any class.

Introductory level - how to integrate quotes, paraphrases and summaries

  • Integrating quotes Given a single sample paragraph, students are asked to identify several key methods quotes are integrated into the paragraph.
  • Analyzing how to integrate quotes and summaries This exercise has students analyze how and why scholarly authors have integrated quotes and summaries in order to help them learn smooth methods to use quotes and summaries in their own research.
  • Analyzing supporting evidence An exercise that asks students to analyze how and why evidence is used in an existing scholarly article.

Introductory level - learning how and why to use sources

  • Un-research Project This exercise helps students focus on why they choose sources to support their research.
  • Is your paper well supported with evidence A quick, easy and visual exercise to help students determine if their paper arguments are well supported with evidence.

Upper level - synthesizing information

  • Updating a literature review This exercise is appropriate to introduce the concept of a literature review and how to synthesize information in one.
  • Mini-literature review assignment An introduction to literature reviews. Scaffolded instruction for how to approach your first literature review.
  • Synthesis Matrix A beginner's matrix to help students begin thinking about synthesizing their sources.
  • Advanced Synthesis Matrix A source synthesis matrix for advanced level writing assignments.

Create a list of sources with improper citations. Have the students attempt to locate the sources.  This should demonstrate to students how citations are used to track down sources and how frustrating it can be for their teachers and fellow researchers when they don’t provide adequate citations. Examples to use here could include books with multiple editions or books with very generic titles.

Breaking citations down: Develop a list of citations. Break these citations down (components: author, date, publisher, title, etc). Type or write them down on larger pieces of construction paper, cardboard, etc. You can utilize a variety of colors, shapes, sizes. Have students work as groups to assemble the parts (you can use pin boards, a wall and tape, magnetic boards, etc). This can easily be turned into a competitive game.

Selecting an Effective Writing Assignment Format

In addition to the standard essay, report or full research paper formats, several other formats exist that might give students a different slant on the course material or allow them to use slightly different writing skills. Here are some suggestions:

Journals. In-class journal entries can spark discussions and reveal gaps in students’ understanding of the material. Having students write an in-class entry summarizing the material covered that day can aid the learning process and also reveal concepts that require more elaboration. Out-of-class entries involve short summaries or analyses of texts, or are a testing ground for ideas for student papers and reports.

Letters. Students can define and defend a position on an issue in a letter written to someone in authority. They can also explain a concept or a process to someone in need of that particular information. They can write a letter to a friend explaining their concerns about an upcoming paper assignment or explaining their ideas for an upcoming paper assignment. If you wish to add a creative element to the writing assignment, you might have students adopt the persona of an important person discussed in your course (e.g., an historical figure) and write a letter explaining his/her actions, process, or theory to an interested person (e.g., “pretend that you are John Wilkes Booth and write a letter to the Congress justifying your assassination of Abraham Lincoln,” or “pretend you are Henry VIII writing to Thomas More explaining your break from the Catholic Church”).

Editorials . Students can define and defend a position on a controversial issue in the format of an editorial for the campus or local newspaper or for a national journal.

Cases . Students might create a case study particular to the course’s subject matter.

Position Papers . These projects ask students to research a topic from a variety of viewpoints, and then use that research to support their own perspective. Students can define and defend a position, perhaps as a preliminary step in the creation of a formal research paper or essay.

Imitation of a Text . Students can create a new document “in the style of” a particular writer (e.g., “Create a government document the way Woody Allen might write it” or “Write your own ‘Modest Proposal’ about a modern issue”).

Instruction Manuals . Students write a step-by-step explanation of a process.

Dialogues . Students create a dialogue between two major figures studied in which they not only reveal those people’s theories or thoughts but also explore areas of possible disagreement (e.g., “Write a dialogue between Claude Monet and Jackson Pollock about the nature and uses of art”).

Collaborative projects . Students work together to create such works as reports, questions, and critiques.

Summary papers These assignments ask students to summarize a key concept from the course, or a reading or set of readings.

Compare/contrast papers Students are asked to compare/contrast theoretical positions from key scholars, reading, methods, or procedures for completing a task, etc.

Reading responses Students are asked to respond to specific questions about course readings. These can take place in reading journals that you occasionally collect, or reading responses on a discussion forum (on Moodle or elsewhere).

Position response papers Students are provided with a position that they must then defend or refute using course concepts and outside research.

Disciplinary problem papers These projects ask students to make an argument for the best solution to a disciplinary problem.

Data analysis papers Students are provided with raw data (or asked to collect raw data themselves) that they must then analyze using a particular methodology from the course.

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  • Research Skills

How to Teach Online Research Skills to Students in 5 Steps (Free Posters)

Please note, this post was updated in 2020 and I no longer update this website.

How often does this scenario play out in your classroom?

You want your students to go online and do some research for some sort of project, essay, story or presentation. Time ticks away, students are busy searching and clicking, but are they finding the useful and accurate information they need for their project?

We’re very fortunate that many classrooms are now well equipped with devices and the internet, so accessing the wealth of information online should be easier than ever, however, there are many obstacles.

Students (and teachers) need to navigate:

  • What search terms to put into Google or other search engines
  • What search results to click on and read through (while avoiding inappropriate or irrelevant sites or advertisements)
  • How to determine what information is credible, relevant and student friendly 
  • How to process, synthesize, evaluate , and present the information
  • How to compare a range of sources to evaluate their reliability and relevancy
  • How to cite sources correctly

Phew! No wonder things often don’t turn out as expected when you tell your students to just “google” their topic. On top of these difficulties some students face other obstacles including: low literacy skills, limited internet access, language barriers, learning difficulties and disabilities.

All of the skills involved in online research can be said to come under the term of information literacy, which tends to fall under a broader umbrella term of digital literacy.

Being literate in this way is an essential life skill.

This post offers tips and suggestions on how to approach this big topic. You’ll learn a 5 step method to break down the research process into manageable chunks in the classroom. Scroll down to find a handy poster for your classroom too.

How to Teach Information Literacy and Online Research Skills

The topic of researching and filtering information can be broken down in so many ways but I believe the best approach involves:

  • Starting young and building on skills
  • Embedding explicit teaching and mini-lessons regularly (check out my 50 mini-lesson ideas here !)
  • Providing lots of opportunity for practice and feedback
  • Teachers seeking to improve their own skills — these free courses from Google might help
  • Working with your librarian if you have one

💡 While teaching research skills is something that should be worked on throughout the year, I also like the idea of starting the year off strongly with a “Research Day” which is something 7th grade teacher Dan Gallagher wrote about . Dan and his colleagues had their students spend a day rotating around different activities to learn more about researching online. Something to think about!

Google or a Kid-friendly Search Engine?

If you teach young students you might be wondering what the best starting place is.

I’ve only ever used Google with students but I know many teachers like to start with search engines designed for children. If you’ve tried these search engines, I’d love you to add your thoughts in a comment.

💡 If you’re not using a kid-friendly search engine, definitely make sure SafeSearch is activated on Google or Bing. It’s not foolproof but it helps.

Two search engines designed for children that look particularly useful include:

These sites are powered by Google SafeSearch with some extra filtering/moderating.

KidzSearch contains additional features like videos and image sections to browse. While not necessarily a bad thing, I prefer the simple interface of Kiddle for beginners.

Read more about child-friendly search engines

This article from Naked Security provides a helpful overview of using child-friendly search engines like Kiddle.

To summarise their findings, search-engines like Kiddle can be useful but are not perfect.

For younger children who need to be online but are far too young to be left to their own devices, and for parents and educators that want little ones to easily avoid age-inappropriate content, these search engines are quite a handy tool. For older children, however, the results in these search engines may be too restrictive to be useful, and will likely only frustrate children to use other means.

Remember, these sorts of tools are not a replacement for education and supervision.

Maybe start with no search engine?

Another possible starting point for researching with young students is avoiding a search engine altogether.

Students could head straight to a site they’ve used before (or choose from a small number of teacher suggested sites). There’s a lot to be learned just from finding, filtering, and using information found on various websites.

Five Steps to Teaching Students How to Research Online and Filter Information

This five-step model might be a useful starting point for your students to consider every time they embark on some research.

Let’s break down each step. You can find a summary poster at the end.

Students first need to take a moment to consider what information they’re actually looking for in their searches.

It can be a worthwhile exercise to add this extra step in between giving a student a task (or choice of tasks) and sending them off to research.

You could have a class discussion or small group conferences on brainstorming keywords , considering synonyms or alternative phrases , generating questions etc. Mindmapping might help too.

2016 research by Morrison showed that 80% of students rarely or never made a list of possible search words. This may be a fairly easy habit to start with.

Time spent defining the task can lead to a more effective and streamlined research process.

Set task, clarify, then start research

It sounds simple but students need to know that the quality of the search terms they put in the Google search box will determine the quality of their results.

There are a LOT of tips and tricks for Googling but I think it’s best to have students first master the basics of doing a proper Google search.

I recommend consolidating these basics:

  • Type in some simple search terms using only the important keywords
  • If the initial results aren’t what you want, alter the search terms and get more specific  (get clues from the initial search results e.g. you might see synonyms that would work or get ideas from the “People Also Ask” section)
  • Use quotation marks if you want your keywords in an exact order, e.g. “raining cats and dogs”
  • use your best guess with spelling (Google will often understand)
  • don’t worry about punctuation
  • understand that everyone’s results will be different , even if they use the same search terms (depending on browser history, location etc.)

📌 Get a free PDF of this poster here. 

How to Google: A Basic Guide for Students by Kathleen Morris (free poster)

Links to learn more about Google searches

There’s lots you can learn about Google searches.

I highly recommend you take a look at  20 Instant Google Searches your Students Need to Know by Eric Curts to learn about “instant searches”.

Med Kharbach has also shared a simple visual with 12 search tips which would be really handy once students master the basics too.

The Google Search Education website is an amazing resource with lessons for beginner/intermediate/advanced plus slideshows and videos. It’s also home to the  A Google A Day classroom challenges. The questions help older students learn about choosing keywords, deconstructing questions, and altering keywords.

Useful videos about Google searches

How search works.

This easy to understand video  from Code.org to explains more about how search works.

How Does Google Know Everything About Me?

You might like to share this video with older students that explains how Google knows what you’re typing or thinking. Despite this algorithm, Google can’t necessarily know what you’re looking for if you’re not clear with your search terms.

What about when the answer comes up in Google instantly?

If you’ve been using Google for a while, you know they are tweaking the search formula so that more and more, an answer will show up within the Google search result itself. You won’t even need to click through to any websites.

For example, here I’ve asked when the Titanic sunk. I don’t need to go to any websites to find out. The answer is right there in front of me.

Google search about the Titanic

While instant searches and featured snippets are great and mean you can “get an answer” without leaving Google, students often don’t have the background knowledge to know if a result is incorrect or not. So double checking is always a good idea.

As students get older, they’ll be able to know when they can trust an answer and when double checking is needed.

Type in a subject like cats and you’ll be presented with information about the animals, sports teams, the musical along with a lot of advertising. There are a lot of topics where some background knowledge helps. And that can only be developed with time and age.

Entering quality search terms is one thing but knowing what to click on is another.

You might like to encourage students to look beyond the first few results. Let students know that Google’s PageRank algorithm is complex (as per the video above), and many websites use Search Engine Optimisation to improve the visibility of their pages in search results. That doesn’t necessarily mean they’re the most useful or relevant sites for you.

As pointed out in this article by Scientific American ,

Skilled searchers know that the ranking of results from a search engine is not a statement about objective truth, but about the best matching of the search query, term frequency, and the connectedness of web pages. Whether or not those results answer the searchers’ questions is still up for them to determine.

Point out the anatomy of a Google search result and ensure students know what all the components mean. This could be as part of a whole class discussion, or students could create their own annotations.

An important habit to get into is looking at the green URL and specifically the domain . Use some intuition to decide whether it seems reliable. Does the URL look like a well-known site? Is it a forum or opinion site? Is it an educational or government institution? Domains that include .gov or .edu might be more reliable sources.

When looking through possible results, you may want to teach students to open sites in new tabs, leaving their search results in a tab for easy access later (e.g. right-click on the title and click “Open link in new tab” or press Control/Command and click the link).

Searchers are often not skilled at identifying advertising within search results. A famous 2016 Stanford University study revealed that 82% of middle-schoolers couldn’t distinguish between an ad labelled “sponsored content” and a real news story.

Time spent identifying advertising within search results could help students become much more savvy searchers. Looking for the words “ad” and “sponsored” is a great place to start.

Teach students how to look for advertisements in Google search results

4) Evaluate

Once you click on a link and land on a site, how do you know if it offers the information you need?

Students need to know how to search for the specific information they’re after on a website. Teach students how to look for the search box on a webpage or use Control F (Command F on Mac) to bring up a search box that can scan the page.

Ensure students understand that you cannot believe everything you read . This might involve checking multiple sources. You might set up class guidelines that ask students to cross check their information on two or three different sites before assuming it’s accurate.

I’ve written a post all about teaching students how to evaluate websites . It includes this flowchart which you’re welcome to download and use in your classroom.

How to evaluate websites flowchart Kathleen Morris

So your students navigated the obstacles of searching and finding information on quality websites. They’ve found what they need! Hooray.

Many students will instinctively want to copy and paste the information they find for their own work.

We need to inform students about plagiarism  and copyright infringement while giving them the skills they need to avoid this.

  • Students need to know that plagiarism is taking someone’s work and presenting it as your own. You could have a class discussion about the ethics and legalities of this.
  • Students also need to be assured that they can use information from other sources and they should. They just need to say who wrote it, where it was from and so on.

All students can benefit from learning about plagiarism, copyright, how to write information in their own words, and how to acknowledge the source. However, the formality of this process will depend on your students’ age and your curriculum guidelines.

Give students lots of practice writing information in their own words. Younger students can benefit from simply putting stories or recounts in their own words. Older students could investigate the difference between paraphrasing and summarising .

There are some free online tools that summarise information for you. These aren’t perfect and aren’t a replacement from learning the skill but they could be handy for students to try out and evaluate. For example, students could try writing their own summary and then comparing it to a computer summary. I like the tool SMMRY as you can enter text or a URL of an article. Eric Curts shares a list of 7 summary tools in this blog post .

Students also need a lot of practice using quotation marks and citing sources .

The internet can offer a confusing web of information at times. Students need to be shown how to look for the primary source of information. For example, if they find information on Wikipedia, they need to cite from the bibliography at the bottom of the Wikipedia article, not Wikipedia itself.

There are many ways you can teach citation:

  • I like Kathy Schrock’s PDF document which demonstrates how you can progressively teach citation from grades 1 to 6 (and beyond). It gives some clear examples that you could adapt for your own classroom use.

Staying organised!

You might also like to set up a system for students to organise their information while they’re searching. There are many apps and online tools to curate, annotate, and bookmark information, however, you could just set up a simple system like a Google Doc or Spreadsheet.

The format and function is simple and clear. This means students don’t have to put much thought into using and designing their collections. Instead, they can focus on the important curation process.

Bring These Ideas to Life With Mini-Lessons!

We know how important it is for students to have solid research skills. But how can you fit teaching research skills into a jam-packed curriculum? The answer may be … mini-lessons !

Whether you teach primary or secondary students, I’ve compiled 50 ideas for mini-lessons.

Try one a day or one a week and by the end of the school year, you might just be amazed at how independent your students are becoming with researching.

Become an Internet Search Master with This Google Slides Presentation

In early 2019, I was contacted by Noah King who is a teacher in Northern California.

Noah was teaching his students about my 5 step process outlined in this post and put together a Google Slides Presentation with elaboration and examples.

You’re welcome to use and adapt the Google Slides Presentation yourself. Find out exactly how to do this in this post.

The Presentation was designed for students around 10-11 years old but I think it could easily be adapted for different age groups.

Recap: How To Do Online Research

Despite many students being confident users of technology, they need to be taught how to find information online that’s relevant, factual, student-friendly, and safe.

Keep these six steps in mind whenever you need to do some online research:

  • Clarify : What information are you looking for? Consider keywords, questions, synonyms, alternative phrases etc.
  • Search : What are the best words you can type into the search engine to get the highest quality results?
  • Delve : What search results should you click on and explore further?
  • Evaluate : Once you click on a link and land on a site, how do you know if it offers the information you need?
  • Cite : How can you write information in your own words (paraphrase or summarise), use direct quotes, and cite sources?
  • Staying organised : How can you keep the valuable information you find online organised as you go through the research process?

Don’t forget to ask for help!

Lastly, remember to get help when you need it. If you’re lucky enough to have a teacher-librarian at your school, use them! They’re a wonderful resource.

If not, consult with other staff members, librarians at your local library, or members of your professional learning network. There are lots of people out there who are willing and able to help with research. You just need to ask!

Being able to research effectively is an essential skill for everyone . It’s only becoming more important as our world becomes increasingly information-saturated. Therefore, it’s definitely worth investing some classroom time in this topic.

Developing research skills doesn’t necessarily require a large chunk of time either. Integration is key and remember to fit in your mini-lessons . Model your own searches explicitly and talk out loud as you look things up.

When you’re modelling your research, go to some weak or fake websites and ask students to justify whether they think the site would be useful and reliable. Eric Curts has an excellent article where he shares four fake sites to help teach students about website evaluation. This would be a great place to start!

Introduce students to librarians ; they are a wonderful resource and often underutilised. It pays for students to know how they can collaborate with librarians for personalised help.

Finally, consider investing a little time in brushing up on research skills yourself . Everyone thinks they can “google” but many don’t realise they could do it even better (myself included!).

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5 simple steps to teaching Google search tips and internet research skills for students. This 2019 post and free eBook shows how to research effectively for kids in primary school, middle school and high school. These tips are summarized in a free research skills poster for your classroom.

14 Replies to “How to Teach Online Research Skills to Students in 5 Steps (Free Posters)”

Kathleen, I like your point about opening up sites in new tabs. You might be interested in Mike Caulfield’s ‘four moves’ .

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What a fabulous resource, Aaron. Thanks so much for sharing. This is definitely one that others should check out too. Even if teachers don’t use it with students (or are teaching young students), it could be a great source of learning for educators too.

This is great information and I found the safe search sites you provided a benefit for my children. I searched for other safe search sites and you may want to know about them. http://www.kids-search.com and http://www.safesearch.tips .

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Hi Alice, great finds! Thanks so much for sharing. I like the simple interface. It’s probably a good thing there are ads at the top of the listing too. It’s an important skill for students to learn how to distinguish these. 🙂

Great website! Really useful info 🙂

I really appreciate this blog post! Teaching digital literacy can be a struggle. This topic is great for teachers, like me, who need guidance in effectively scaffolding for scholars who to use the internet to gain information.

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So glad to hear it was helpful, Shasta! Good luck teaching digital literacy!

Why teachers stopped investing in themselves! Thanks a lot for the article, but this is the question I’m asking myself after all teachers referring to google as if it has everything you need ! Why it has to come from you and not the whole education system! Why it’s an option? As you said smaller children don’t need search engine in the first place! I totally agree, and I’m soo disappointed how schooling system is careless toward digital harms , the very least it’s waste of the time of my child and the most being exposed to all rubbish on the websites. I’m really disappointed that most teachers are not thinking taking care of their reputation when it comes to digital learning. Ok using you tube at school as material it’s ok , but why can’t you pay little extra to avoid adverts while teaching your children! Saving paper created mountains of electronic-toxic waste all over the world! What a degradation of education.

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Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Shohida. I disagree that all schooling systems are careless towards ‘digital harms’, however, I do feel like more digital citizenship education is always important!

Hi Kathleen, I love your How to Evaluate Websites Flow Chart! I was wondering if I could have permission to have it translated into Spanish. I would like to add it to a Digital Research Toolkit that I have created for students.

Thank you! Kristen

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Hi Kristen, You’re welcome to translate it! Please just leave the original attribution to my site on there. 🙂 Thanks so much for asking. I really hope it’s useful to your students! Kathleen

[…] matter how old your child is, there are many ways for them to do research into their question. For very young children, you’ll need to do the online research work. Take your time with […]

[…] digs deep into how teachers can guide students through responsible research practices on her blog (2019). She suggests a 5 step model for elementary students on how to do online […]

Writing lesson plans on the fly outside of my usual knowledge base (COVID taken down so many teachers!) and this info is precisely what I needed! Thanks!!!

Comments are closed.

Research Topics & Questions

Main navigation, exquisite corpse topic narrowing activity.

In this activity, students engage in an "exquisite corpse"-style activity, where they will get to pass around their research topic idea and see how other students in the room understand, interpret, illustrate, and expand upon it. 

Crafting Insightful Research Questions

Through this activity, students examine what constitutes a strong research question and then, through peer workshopping, start to develop a question to guide their own project.

Crowdsourcing Research Topics and Paths

This discussion-board-based activity helps students narrow down their final RBA research topic by encouraging students to collaborate with each other at the initial stage of conceiving of their RBA projects. 

Metonyms and Lenses - Focusing Your Research

This topic helps students narrow and focus their research topics by having them consider them in reference to the idea of the metonym.

The Reflexivity Memo: Developing Student Researcher Identity through Writing

This writing activity asks students to understand their various positionalities as researchers/writers and to recognize how their embodied socialized practices shape their research questions and practices.

Jumbo ‘Spectra’ Worksheets for Narrowing Topics and Locating Positions

In this activity, students use a pair of worksheets to create a visual mapping of research questions to help them focus their topic and their inquiry and identify positions beyond "yes" and "no."

Accordion Pre-Write

Students create an "accordion" of these questions to see the full spectrum of possibilities for their research, developing greater insight into the pitfalls of overly-specific or overly-general questions and the advantages of carefully-focused inquiry.

Research Topic Brainstorm

This asynchronous activity follows a class discussion in which students brainstorm different topics; it asks students to submit their own ideas to Canvas and receive instructor feedback. 

Research Question Generator with Padlet

This asynchronous activity uses Padlet to help students generate research questions with a rhetorical approach. Students not only craft research questions with different emphases, they also critically reflect on critical rhetorical concepts and the purpose of their research. 

Research Question Framing

This asynchronous activity helps students think through the process of framing their research questions at the early stage of their RBA by asking them to consider different ways of framing their research questions. It also encourages students to work with each other in the process of finalizing their research questions.

Research Proposal Planning Table

This asynchronous activity helps students thoroughly examine their research proposals with a rhetorical approach. Students not only look at different components of the research question itself, but also critically reflect on their audience and the purpose of their research to prepare for an excellent oral delivery of their research proposals.

Online Research Mixer

Instructors designed a 60-minute online workshop (research mixer) between freshmen composition students two different universities. During the session, students have the opportunity to introduce their research projects and provide and receive feedback on their drafts. 

Collaborative invention: working with research topics

This collaborative activity invites students to help their classmates to narrow and focus their research topics by taking turns contributing to a shared worksheet that asks them to engage with the topic in different ways.  

These activities are licensed under  CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 . Please remember to attribute all activities to their original authors (even if with an “adapted from”) on any handouts, webtexts, slides, or assignments sheets you generate from them.

If you have any activities of your own that you’d like to share, please send them  here .

Teaching Students How to do Online Research

When I first started teaching technology, I focused more on the technical side, having my students learn how to insert pictures, how to add sounds, and, in general, how to do all the fancy buttons and bells.

It was the least satisfying experience in my entire teaching career. I also found out that the students weren't happy either. They had made some amazing hypermedia projects, including Web pages, but the results lacked substance. Surprisingly, the students instinctively knew that without the substance to back up the project and without the heart there really is no project.

The next year, I went to my principal and said, "I want to redesign my class. Instead of teaching technology, I want to teach research. "

Since then, no matter what project I have planned, I first teach research skills. I found a list of the six steps to online research, and have used these steps ever since in every class I teach.

First, I make my students learn the list of the six steps to online research.

Questioning

  • Sorting & Sifting

Synthesizing

I talk about each step and what it means. I'll discuss each below.

The student must understand the assignment before she can begin to ask questions about the project.

The idea is to make sure the student knows what the teacher wants them to research. Once they understand the topic, then they should brainstorm and write down some questions about the topic that interest them. They can talk to their parents and to friends and even other teachers about the topic and find out what others might find interesting.

This is a great time to come up with key words to use with search engines.

Once they have some questions, then they start to plan out your project. How long is it going to take? Where should they look for information? How many different sources do they need? Will they need to work with others? If they have to Email experts, how will they get their addresses?

While it might seem the easiest thing to get all your information from the Internet, it is not the best thing to do. There is a lot of misleading and even erroneous information out on the Web. It is a great place to get information, but it should never be the only place to get information. I tell them to make sure they go to the library to check out books on their subject. In addition, they should use as many primary sources as possible.

Primary sources include diaries, journals, speeches, interviews, letters, memos, manuscripts and other papers in which individuals describe events in which they were participants or observers. Memoirs and autobiographies are also types of primary sources. Important primary sources are records, such as births, deaths, marriages, permits and licenses and census data. Photographs, audio recordings and moving pictures or video recordings can also be considered primary sources.

Primary sources can be found on the Internet. For example, for anyone researching the Civil War period, Duke University's Civil War Women has copies of diaries, letters and documents on the web. For more contemporary topics, try C-Span for information that is considered primary. It also offers sound and video clips.

I also encourage my students to write as many experts as they can. I have found that NASA is wonderful about writing back. This year alone, we had three NASA engineers working with students via Email. Also, many university professors will write back.

Sorting and Sifting

Once they have gathered together many different sources, they need to put them in some sort of order. Sorting information into categories or even piles can be useful. While they do this, they can start to get rid of the information that they won't use. Also, if they have any information twice, or three times, they need to get rid of repeated information.

This is especially true of Internet resources. Many web page authors just cut and paste information they find on other sites. Do not use repeated information.

Now that they have all you information gathered and sorted, they need to put it together into one report. There are many different ways to do this. One idea is to do Concept Mapping. To do a Map, they write the main idea in the center of the page it may be a word or a phrase then place related ideas on branches that fan out from this central idea.

There are also types of software that help with concept mapping. Inspiration®, for Grade Six to Adult, and Kidspiration™, for Grades K 5, are two that come to mind. Visit Inspiration Software for more. Also, for the Palm Handhelds, there is the Hi-CE PICoMap software.

I encourage them to also try clustering, which is a type of pre-writing that allows them to explore many ideas as soon as they occur. Like brainstorming or free-associating, clustering allows them to begin without clear ideas. There is also the tried and true outlining method. With an outline they first identify the topic, then create some main categories and then subcategories.

Once they have written your paper they have to read it and make sure it satisfies the requirement of the project. One can try to fix an off-target report, but one also has to be prepared to start all over again.

I encourage them that, while doing research, to please remember to make effective use of time online and in the library/media center. They must stay on task at all times. I also encourage them to use a wide variety of information sources, both print and non-print, and to take meaningful notes. I urge them to keep your information organized and to keep careful bibliographic records of all sources used and then remember to cite all sources!

One great tool to help keep your bibliographic records in correct form is NoodleTools . It's a suite of interactive tools designed to aid students and professionals with their online research. From selecting a search engine and finding some relevant sources, to citing those sources in MLA or APA style, NoodleTools makes online research easier!

Although some parts of NoodleTools are subscription-based, others are free. A free resource that I always show my students is QuickCite . QuickCite will help them to create MLA style sources for: Books, Encyclopedia articles, Magazine articles, Online Magazine articles, Newspaper Articles, Professional Web Pages, Personal Web pages, E-Mail messages, Interviews and even online discussion boards or forums. When students do intensive research, they should have books, articles, e-mail messages and interviews to cite!

I teach 6th, 7th and 8th grade students, and believe me, students are never too young to learn how to research and how to cite documents professionally. Below are some Web pages that some of my students researched and created.

Here's one called Space Week , about satellites:

And here is one, called Welcome , from the Walls project. I am partial to this one because one of the pictures was an heirloom belonging to the family of the student who wrote the article. She brought it in, and scanned it, which was a great little teacher for helping others learn to use the scanner. As a seventh-grader, she did a nice job.

Email: Rosemary Shaw

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Teaching Students Better Online Research Skills

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Sara Shaw, an elementary school teacher in Avon, Mass., realized she needed to teach online research skills several years ago when her students kept turning in projects riddled with misinformation. The flawed material often came from websites the students used. They took the information as fact, when it often was just someone’s personal opinion.

Ms. Shaw thinks teaching online research skills is even more critical than it was just a few years ago. More than ever, information is literally at the fingertips of students through smartphones, tablet computers, and other digital devices.

“They will go on Google and type a word, and that is the extent of their research skills,” said Ms. Shaw, who taught 5th grade for 10 years and now teaches special education at Ralph D. Butler Elementary School. “There is so much more to doing research on the Internet.”

She is one of many teachers and librarians who are explicitly teaching online research skills, such as how to evaluate a website’s credibility, how to use precise keywords, and how to better mine search engines and databases.

In November 2012, the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project released a study that surveyed 2,067 Advanced Placement and National Writing Project teachers. It found that while most teachers agreed that the Internet provides a wealth of information to students, they also said students often don’t have the digital-literacy skills to wade through that information. Forty-seven percent of the teachers surveyed said they “strongly agree” and another 44 percent said they “somewhat believe” that courses and content focusing on digital literacy should be incorporated into the school curriculum.

Smart Searching

Teaching students to be savvy online researchers starts with knowing how to use key words. That is something 6th grader Katie Lacey has worked hard to master.

“You need precise words,” said Katie, a student at Albuquerque Academy, a private school for grades 6-12 in New Mexico. “If I’m looking up the John F. Kennedy assassination, I have to use those words. If I type in just Kennedy assassination, I could get information on Robert Kennedy.”

Another important skill to teach students is how to predict the results they expect to see when they type in search terms, said Tasha Bergson-Michelson, a librarian who works for the Google Search Education team at the technology company’s headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. Doing that can help them know when they may need to change their terms, she said.

In addition, Ms. Bergson-Michelson advises students to skim search results for words that pop up, especially unfamiliar words. People have a tendency to skip over words they don’t know, she said. But those words, when added to search terms, can lead to more meaningful results. For instance, if a student wanted to find information on immigrants who send money back to their home countries, the term “remittances” comes up on search results.

“When you change the search to include the word “remittance,” immediately the type of sources are qualitatively different and more suited for an academic or scholarly pursuit,” Ms. Bergson-Michelson said.

Using search operators, words, or symbols that join key words to form a more complex query can make searching more focused.

Students can put quotation marks around their search terms to get results that include the exact wording. A minus sign eliminates something from a search. For instance, if students wanted to find information about the planet Saturn, but not the car of that name, they could type “Saturn-car” to narrow their results. Using “and” between search terms can give results that focus on two subjects, such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X.

Choosing Search Engines

Finding the right search engine or database is also an important step in conducting online research, said Frances Jacobson Harris, a librarian at University Laboratory High School in Urbana, Ill.

She encourages students to use Google Scholar, which includes academic and scholarly sources of information. Google Books allows searchers to read pages from books, and if the information is useful, a searcher can then find the book in a library collection.

Gloria Ha, a junior at University Laboratory High School, said she first started learning about effective search techniques in 8th grade. Knowing how to search has made her more thoughtful in her approaches to finding information online.

“I usually start with Google Scholar or Google just to figure out what the topic is. Once I have a better idea, I’ll go deeper,” she said. “For example, if it’s a history paper, I’ll use the online library catalog, or sometimes there are e-books online through the university.”

Ms. Harris teaches students how to access the invisible Web, databases that schools and libraries pay a fee to access. Those databases include scholarly articles, academic journals, online encyclopedias, archived editions of periodicals such as The New York Times , and other resources.

Some teachers steer students toward sites and search engines written specifically for children.

For example, the Kentucky Virtual Library , a consortium of libraries that provides residents of the state access to online databases—has a portal for K-12 students that outlines the steps for conducting online research, including how to use key words and how to organize information into notes, that is written in student-friendly language and designed to appeal visually to young children.

The portal also allows young users to access databases geared to children, including Searchasaurus and Grolier Online.

“They are more likely to get the right information at their reading level than simply going on Google,” said Enid Wohlstein, the director of the library, which is based in Frankfort.

Ed Baklini, a 6th grade history teacher at Albuquerque Academy in New Mexico, advises his students when using Google to type in a key word and the word “kid” after it. Doing so pulls up results for younger students. Mr. Baklini also directs them to free databases such as an educational site managed by the Lone Star College System in Texas that contains information about American history decade by decade.

“When you go to one of these sites, there are hundreds of other trusted links to go to,” he said. “This information comes from librarians and teachers who have taught history.”

Evaluating Websites

Just as critical as smart searching is evaluating the information on the Web. Students can take specific steps to dissect a website, such as checking whether its URL ends in a .com, .org, .gov, or .edu.

“If it’s from a university, museum, government, or some state run agency, then it’s pretty valid,” Ms. Shaw of Butler Elementary School said. “If it’s someone’s personal website, how do you know what that person is saying is true?”

In any case, students should approach websites with a critical eye.

“They should ask themselves while searching on sites: Who wrote this? What is the perspective of the person who wrote this?” said Rebecca Randall, the vice president of education programs for Common Sense Media , a San Francisco-based nonprofit group that studies the effects of media and technology on young people.

“Or else while searching for information on African-American history, they could wind up on the site for the Ku Klux Klan.”

It’s also important to know if a site is commercial. If so, it may be slanted toward having users buy products.

“Not that advertising on a site makes it less credible,” Ms. Randall said. “But it’s just another point to consider when looking at information. What is the intent of the information?”

When students take the time to approach their Web research thoughtfully, they sometimes encounter websites that are biased. Ms. Harris, the University Laboratory High librarian, recalls working with a student who was writing a paper on George Orwell’s 1984 . The boy found an essay about the book on the site of the Institute for Historical Review. Upon closer examination, the website was a Holocaust-denial website, Ms. Harris said.

“It looks scholarly because it’s called ‘institute,’ and there are citations at the bottom,” she said.

To help students scrutinize websites, Ms. Harris uses a lesson called “Whodunit,” which takes students to various sites and has them answer questions about who wrote the information, what their credentials are, and who is sponsoring the site.

Ms. Shaw provides a checklist to help students decide whether sites are credible. It includes questions such as: Are there dead links? Do images support the stated facts? Are there links and references to other websites, and resources and experts that corroborate the information?

Mr. Baklini of Albuquerque Academy advises his students to be aware of sites where the language comes on too strong and the attempt is to persuade readers how to think.

He also starts the school year by teaching a media-literacy unit in which he shows students how to examine the persuasive techniques advertisers use when trying to sell products. The point is to teach his students how to look at media carefully. That ability to scrutinize carries over to their Web research, he said.

“I have them think about these persuasive techniques, and I say if you see any of those techniques in there, if someone is trying to convince you to think a certain way, you can still read that website, but take it with a grain of salt,” he said.

It can be difficult for teachers to carve out time to teach yet another set of skills. But it’s important to do so, Ms. Randall of Common Sense Media said.

“If you don’t take time to do it, the kids aren’t going to be giving you their best work,” she said. “You have kids pulling information from sources that are not reliable and building a hypothesis or research paper around information that isn’t accurate.”

Modeling the Process

Teachers should model the process for searching online and make it something students do regularly in their classes, educators say.

Ms. Shaw integrated searching into her classroom by creating a classroom job of “searcher.” That student’s responsibility was to search the Internet for answers to questions that would come up during the day’s class. Ms. Shaw used that approach as an opportunity to talk about strategies for good online research.

Teaching students solid online search skills is important not only because it will help them produce better work, but also because it prepares them to judge the validity of all sorts of information and to be critical thinkers.

Librarians have a natural place in the forefront of helping students be more adept at online research.

“School librarians should be a partner in this,” Ms. Harris said. “Oftentimes, teachers don’t realize that, or sadly schools don’t have school librarians.”

Teachers should give credit to the process of searching, not just for the final product, she added. Students can turn in search logs or annotated bibliographies to emphasize that process.

“This tells the students that teachers value what sources the students are using and that the sources they use matter,” Ms. Harris said. “That way, kids won’t just jump to the easiest, most meaningless thing.”

She and others say it’s vital to reinforce those skills repeatedly in working with students.

“They won’t learn everything they need to know from one assignment,” Ms. Harris said. “It’s like learning how to write. Every context is different.”

Coverage of the education industry and K-12 innovation is supported in part by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Education Week retains sole editorial control over the content of this coverage. A version of this article appeared in the May 22, 2013 edition of Education Week as Teaching Students The Skills to Be Savvy Researchers

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100 Activities for Teaching Research Methods

100 Activities for Teaching Research Methods

  • Catherine Dawson - Self-employed researcher and writer
  • Description

A sourcebook of exercises, games, scenarios and role plays, this practical, user-friendly guide provides a complete and valuable resource for research methods tutors, teachers and lecturers. 

Developed to complement and enhance existing course materials, the 100 ready-to-use activities encourage innovative and engaging classroom practice in seven areas:

  • finding and using sources of information
  • planning a research project
  • conducting research
  • using and analyzing data
  • disseminating results
  • acting ethically
  • developing deeper research skills.

Each of the activities is divided into a section on tutor notes and student handouts. Tutor notes contain clear guidance about the purpose, level and type of activity, along with a range of discussion notes that signpost key issues and research insights. Important terms, related activities and further reading suggestions are also included.

Not only does the A4 format make the student handouts easy to photocopy, they are also available to download and print directly from the book’s companion website for easy distribution in class.

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Catherine's book is a fantastic resource for anyone who is teaching research methods in the social sciences. Covering all aspects of the research process, it is packed full of innovative ideas, useful tips, and structured activities for use within the classroom. If you are a tutor, teacher, or lecturer who is looking to provide interesting and engaging content for your students, this book is an absolute 'must have'.

Every university with a Social Science department has to deliver research methods in some capacity, but there is no need for us all to sit in our institutional silos and reinvent the wheel. Dawson provides a huge and varied list of pre-designed activities for methods teachers to draw upon covering the whole research process and an eclectic range of methodological approaches. The activities are pedagogically engaging, comprehensively resourced and provide us with an opportunity to rethink how social science research methods can be taught in a more interactive and engaging way.

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15 Virtual Research Opportunities for High School Students

Every discipline of study, from economics to physics to sociology, relies on research to fuel innovation. Research impacts the everyday functioning of industries, the direction of major policy decisions, and helps us understand the world around us. Today, research has become one of the most important ways for high school students to spend their time during the summer, with research experience becoming a distinctive advantage in the college admission process.

Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted a lot of research opportunities and experiences that students previously had access to. Due to social distancing rules, many high school students are finding it more difficult to gain hands-on experience. Additionally, several students who live in other parts of the world can have trouble accessing research opportunities located on-campus in countries abroad. Fortunately, a number of research opportunities are now virtual, making them more accessible for students.

Here are 15 Virtual Research Opportunities for High School Students:

1. Perimeter Institute International Summer School for Young Physicists (ISSYP)

ISSYP is a summer program for current juniors and seniors who are interested in theoretical physics and want to pursue it in college. Students attend Perimeter Institute experts' talks on the newest theoretical physics issues, as well as short courses, keynote speeches, and mentorship sessions. ISSYP is a very competitive program that only accepts 30–40 students each year. While ISSYP used to be hosted at the Perimeter Institute in Waterloo, Ontario, it is now an entirely online program.

2. Veritas AI   - AI Fellowship

Veritas AI focuses on providing high school students who are passionate about the field of AI a suitable environment to explore their interests. The programs include collaborative learning, project development, and 1-on-1 mentorship.  

These programs are designed and run by Harvard graduate students and alumni and you can expect a great, fulfilling educational experience. Students are expected to have a basic understanding of Python or are recommended to complete the AI scholars program before pursuing the fellowship. 

The   AI Fellowship  program will have students pursue their own independent AI research project. Students work on their own individual research projects over a period of 12-15 weeks and can opt to combine AI with any other field of interest. In the past, students have worked on research papers in the field of AI & medicine, AI & finance, AI & environmental science, AI & education, and more! You can find examples of previous projects   here

The application requires you to fill out an online application form , answers to a few questions pertaining to your background & coding experience, math courses, and areas of interest. It is open to all ambitious high school students located anywhere in the world. AI Fellowship applicants should either have completed the AI Scholars program or exhibit past experience with AI concepts or Python. Do note that the application deadline and programs dates close on a rolling basis, with multiple cohorts throughout the year!

$1,790 for the 10-week AI Scholars program

$4,900 for the 12-15 week AI Fellowship 

$4,700 for both

Need-based financial aid is available. You can apply   here . 

3. UC San Diego Academic Connections Research Scholars

This summer program selects 25 students to work on research, individually with a UCSD faculty researcher, in Chemistry, Biochemistry, Biology, or Nanotechnology. The program has shifted online for the 2022 edition. The program is available to rising sophomore, junior, and senior students. The program lasts 6 weeks.

Cost: $4200

4. Secondary Student Training Program (SSTP) (University of Iowa)

Designed for advanced students in their sophomore and junior years, this program is highly selective, and offers students the chance to conduct research in a wide list of fields ranging from Biochemistry to Religious Studies. Participants are placed under the guidance of a faculty mentor, and get to work on research with them. While some disciplines can only be researched offline, others are available online. The length of the program is 5 weeks. Applications for this program close on February 18th.

Cost: $6395

5. United Nations

On the United Nations' database, there are a plethora of volunteer opportunities. Volunteers who work from home are connected to government bodies, like the United Nations, and they help with a variety of civic advocacy efforts. Research, writing, translation, social media, and art and design are among the other volunteer activities available through the United Nations platform.

6. Camp Psych, Gettysburg College

This virtual program takes place over 5 days, rising high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors are eligible. This year, the dates are July 11-15th, 2022. The program is designed for rising high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors, and involves approximately 17.5 hours of live sessions via Zoom. Students will spend most of the week in small groups, complemented with a few larger whole camp sessions. Each session will involve lectures, discussions, activities, and demonstrations. Instructors will answer questions about college, careers, and research.

7. Syracuse University Pre-College Accelerated Online Semester: Social Psychology

The 8 week pre-college course is taught by SU faculty and instructors, and classes are structured like real college classes. The program is open to rising sophomores, juniors, and seniors. The program offers a wide variety of courses, ranging from forensic science to academic writing. Students attend classes and explore research on prominent topics in their chosen discipline.

online research activities for students

8. EnergyMag Research Internship

Open to high school and college students, EnergyMag offers virtual research internships to students looking to gain experience working in the renewable energy sector. Students gain research and analytical skills, alongside work experience, by researching specific companies, technologies, and markets. Internships can be half-time (2-8 weeks, 20 hours per week) or quarter-time (1-9 months, 8 hours per week)

9. PHC Group, LLC Mary Miller Summer Program

Through this paid internship, rising high school seniors and graduates can build leadership skills and pursue independent interests. Students will work on social media and community projects, as well as social marketing research under the direction of the public health director.

10. Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory – High School Student Summer Research Fellowship

In this research fellowship, students join MDI Biological Laboratory to develop their lab science research skills. Participants receive hands-on training and experience in research from instructors who work at premier labs. Before applying, students must be nominated by a teacher. Students receive a stipend for their participation.

11. Camp Euclid – A Mathematics Research Camp

Camp Euclid is a math research program for kids that takes place online. Math problems will be presented to the participants (which have never been solved before). Within a circle of fellow scholars, students spend time on understanding, solving, and applying complex math problems. The opportunity is open to students over the age of 13.

Cost: $1400

12. Seattle Children’s Research Institute – Research Training Program Students can become familiar with research and gain hands-on experience, as well as increase their knowledge of global health. They will also participate in workshops on college readiness and career exploration. The program has both online and in-person components.

online research activities for students

13. The Summer Youth Intensive Program

The College of Chemistry at UC Berkeley coordinates and conducts the Summer Youth Intensive Program (SYIP). The one-year program helps students who are interested in scientific research to gain hands-on experience, and improve their chances of success in college. It also aims to assist students in adjusting to college life.

Cost: $14,500

14. CHORI – Cystic Fibrosis Summer Research Program The CHORI Summer Student Research Program allows students to spend three months during the summer immersed in basic and/or clinical research. The program matches students with one or two CHORI PIs who act as mentors, guiding them through the whole research process. The phases include research design, hypothesis testing, and methodological development. At the end of the program, students present their findings to their peers.

15. Simons Summer Research Program

Conducted from June 27th to July 29th this year, the Simons Summer Research Program gives high school students the opportunity to undertake hands-on research in a variety of disciplines, ranging from science and math to engineering. Students can join research teams, collaborate with faculty members, and learn about laboratory equipment and methodologies. Students receive a stipend for their participation.

16. UIllinois – High School STEM Research Programs

This program is open to rising high school juniors and seniors. Students receive an authentic STEM research experience at a research university for 6 weeks during the summer, in disciplines ranging from cancer immunology, neuroscience, artificial intelligence, physics, quantum mechanics, bioengineering, to electrical engineering. Students accepted into the program will be matched with another student and a teacher from their chosen field.

One other option – Lumiere Research Scholar Program

If you are interested in a selective, structured research program, consider applying to the Lumiere Research Scholar Program , a selective online high school program for students founded by Harvard and Oxford researchers. The program pairs you with a full-time researcher to develop your own independent research project, in any discipline of your choice. Last year over 1500 students applied to 500 slots in the research program! You can find the application form here.

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Best Research Websites for Kids

By Med Kharbach, PhD | Last Update: February 23, 2024

Research Websites for Kids

In today’s post, I am sharing with you this carefully curated collection of some of the best research websites for kids. The purpose is to provide you with resources that you can use with your own kids to guide their digital research in a safe and productive way. Each site, from Ducksters’ comprehensive educational offerings to the immersive and explorative experiences provided by National Geographic Kids and NASA Space Place, has been chosen for its ability to make learning both engaging and accessible.

These platforms cover a wide range of subjects and employ various interactive tools to cater to diverse learning styles, ensuring that every young learner can find something that sparks their interest and curiosity.

Research Websites for Kids

Here are our top picks for research websites for kids:

1. Ducksters

Ducksters is an educational website designed specifically for young learners. It meticulously covers a broad spectrum of subjects, from the intricate details of US and World History—including pivotal events and periods like the American Revolution, the Industrial Revolution, and the Cold War—to comprehensive insights into Science, Math, and Geography.

Ducksters presents complex topics in an accessible, kid-friendly manner, encouraging exploration and learning. Beyond academics, the website offers a variety of educational games, biographies of influential figures across diverse fields, and even sections dedicated to jokes, arts, and crafts, ensuring a well-rounded educational experience.

2. PBS Kids

PBS KIDS is another good educational research website for kids. It provides children with a rich, interactive learning experience through educational games, animated videos, and activities designed to foster knowledge, critical thinking, and creativity. This platform integrates curriculum-based content in a child-friendly format, encouraging exploration and curiosity.

PBS Kids also offers resources for parents and educators to support children’s learning journeys, making it a comprehensive tool for early education. With its focus on creating a positive impact on children’s lives, PBS KIDS ensures that learning is both fun and impactful, catering to the diverse needs of young learners.

3. BrainPOP

BrainPOP serves as a dynamic research website for kids, offering a plethora of features designed to make learning engaging and fun. It provides animated videos that cover a wide range of topics across STEM, social studies, English, health, arts, and music, making complex subjects accessible and interesting.

Additionally, BrainPOP includes interactive quizzes, educational games, and creative projects to reinforce learning and critical thinking. It supports educators with classroom-optimized tools and resources, tailored to facilitate differentiated instruction and foster a deeper understanding of the curriculum. For kids, BrainPOP is not just about acquiring knowledge; it’s about exploring new ideas, developing problem-solving skills, and cultivating a lifelong love of learning through interactive and meaningful content.

4. National Geographic Kids

National Geographic is another powerful research website for kids, captivating young minds with its rich tapestry of curriculum-aligned content that spans the realms of science, nature, culture, and geography. This platform invites kids to explore the wonders of our planet through stunning photography, engaging videos, and interactive games that not only educate but also inspire curiosity and a love for exploration.

National Geographic Kids serves as a gateway to the world, encouraging critical thinking and environmental stewardship among its young audience. It is a space where children can embark on virtual expeditions to uncover the mysteries of ancient civilizations, dive deep into the ocean’s depths, and traverse the farthest reaches of space. By weaving factual knowledge with storytelling, National Geographic Kids provides a unique educational experience that ignites the imagination and fosters a deeper understanding of the world.

5. NASA Space Place

NASA Space Place is another great educational website for kids particularly those with a keen interest in space and Earth sciences. The website boasts a collection of fun games, hands-on activities, informative articles, and engaging short videos, all designed to make complex scientific concepts accessible and exciting.

With resources available in both English and Spanish, NASA Space Place extends its reach to a wide audience, ensuring that a diverse group of learners can explore the mysteries of our universe and our planet. Additionally, the inclusion of materials specifically for parents and teachers makes it a comprehensive tool for supporting children’s education both in the classroom and at home.

6. Britannica Kids

Britannica Kids offers a safe, reliable, and comprehensive research platform for young learners, delivering a wealth of knowledge through an age-appropriate and engaging interface. It features a wide array of subjects including science, history, literature, and geography, presented through articles, images, videos, and interactive games that make learning exciting.

With content curated by experts and tailored to support school curriculum, Britannica Kids helps students succeed academically while encouraging them to explore and expand their horizons. The website also emphasizes privacy and safety, ensuring a secure learning environment free from distractions and inappropriate content. Britannica Kids stands as an invaluable resource for children, providing them with the tools to research, learn, and satisfy their natural curiosity about the world around them.

online research activities for students

7. Fact Monster

Fact Monster is a research website for kids that offers a unique blend of educational resources and engaging activities within a secure and user-friendly platform. It provides a rich collection of materials including an encyclopedia, dictionary, thesaurus, atlas, and a specialized homework center, alongside captivating educational games.

Fact Monster’s content is reliable and tailored to the curious minds of young learners, covering a broad spectrum of topics to cater to various interests and academic needs. It emphasizes safety and privacy, holding COPPA and kidSAFE certifications, which reassures parents and educators of a protected online learning environment. Fact Monster not only aims to inform but also to inspire and entertain, encouraging children to explore the depths of knowledge in a fun and accessible way.

8. Wonderopolis

Wonderopolis offers a unique educational platform that nurtures curiosity and imagination in children through its daily “Wonder of the Day.” This feature explores a wide range of topics, sparking interest and encouraging exploration among young learners. With over 2,000 wonders available, it provides a vast resource for knowledge across various subjects, making learning a continuous adventure.

The website fosters an interactive community, with tens of thousands of user comments and the opportunity for children to submit their own questions, further personalizing their learning experience. Additional features like Camp Wonderopolis and the Wonder Ground educator network extend learning beyond the traditional classroom, offering games, activities, and professional resources that support both formal and informal education settings.

9. Safe Kids Search Engines

I’ve compiled a list of the best safe kids search engines. These platforms are specially designed to provide a secure online environment, enabling children to harness the vast educational potential of the internet without the risks associated with unfiltered web access. Each of these search engines employs robust content filtering to block inappropriate material, ensuring that the digital realm becomes a safe space for curious minds to learn and grow. With features like monitored browsing, kid-friendly interfaces, privacy protection, and ad restrictions, these tools not only protect children from the pitfalls of the internet but also enrich their learning experience.

Related: Best Reading Websites for Kids

Concluding thoughts

Navigating the digital world can be both exhilarating and daunting, especially for our youngest learners. This is why the selection of research websites and safe kids search engines compiled here is invaluable. Each website and search engine has been carefully chosen to ensure that children are provided with a wealth of knowledge in a safe, engaging, and interactive environment. From exploring the depths of history with Ducksters to embarking on scientific adventures with NASA Space Place, these resources cater to a wide array of interests and learning styles.

online research activities for students

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online research activities for students

Meet Med Kharbach, PhD

Dr. Med Kharbach is an influential voice in the global educational technology landscape, with an extensive background in educational studies and a decade-long experience as a K-12 teacher. Holding a Ph.D. from Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, Canada, he brings a unique perspective to the educational world by integrating his profound academic knowledge with his hands-on teaching experience. Dr. Kharbach's academic pursuits encompass curriculum studies, discourse analysis, language learning/teaching, language and identity, emerging literacies, educational technology, and research methodologies. His work has been presented at numerous national and international conferences and published in various esteemed academic journals.

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100 Activities for Teaching Research Methods

Welcome to the companion website.

Thank you for visiting the companion website for 100 Activities for Teaching Research Methods . Log in to access the instructor resources using the top menu and download the student activity handouts.

About the book

A sourcebook of exercises, games, scenarios and role plays for research methods tutors, teachers and lecturers, this practical, user-friendly guide has been developed to complement and enhance existing course materials. It is full of activities that contain clear guidance about the purpose, level and type of activity, along with a range of discussion notes that signpost key issues and research insights. Important terms, related activities and further reading suggestions are included for each activity.

The book contains 100 ready-to-use activities that provide a complete and valuable resource for educators, all of which are also available to be downloaded online. Innovative and engaging classroom practice is encouraged in seven areas: 

  • finding and using sources of information
  • planning a research project
  • conducting research
  • using and analyzing data
  • disseminating results
  • acting ethically
  • developing deeper research skills.  

Disclaimer:

This website may contain links to both internal and external websites. All links included were active at the time the website was launched. SAGE does not operate these external websites and does not necessarily endorse the views expressed within them. SAGE cannot take responsibility for the changing content or nature of linked sites, as these sites are outside of our control and subject to change without our knowledge. If you do find an inactive link to an external website, please try to locate that website by using a search engine. SAGE will endeavour to update inactive or broken links when possible. 

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Literacy Ideas

Top Research strategies for Students

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What are the essential research strategies for students?

Not so long ago, accessing information required legwork. Actual legwork in the form of actually walking to the library and searching through the numerous books organized using an archaic system called the Dewey Decimal System. 

Things are much less complicated these days. In this wired age, accessing information is as simple as pressing a few buttons on a laptop or swiping your finger across a cell phone screen. 

While this 24/7 online access to information represents impressive progress, we still need to ensure our students develop the necessary research skills and strategies that allow them to access the correct information, evaluate it for accuracy, and then plan for its use in our own work accordingly – whatever the student’s age.

In this article, we will look at solid research skills that will benefit students of all ages. Some of these are evergreen old-school strategies, while others are shiny new. Regardless, each is designed to help students from elementary through to high school make the most of the information to research effectively.

The skills described below represent the essential skills and strategies our students will require. They can begin to develop these in elementary school and build on those foundations as they progress through middle school and high school.

After examining these skills, we provide you with a series of activities organized hierarchically and categorized according to the approximate school stage they correspond to. These can also be dipped into and mixed and matched according to the particular abilities of your specific students.

COMPLETE TEACHING UNIT ON INTERNET RESEARCH SKILLS USING GOOGLE SEARCH

research strategies for students | research skills 1 | Top Research strategies for Students | literacyideas.com

Teach your students ESSENTIAL SKILLS OF THE INFORMATION ERA to become expert DIGITAL RESEARCHERS.

⭐How to correctly ask questions to search engines on all devices.

⭐ How to filter and refine your results to find exactly what you want every time.

⭐ Essential Research and critical thinking skills for students.

⭐ Plagiarism, Citing and acknowledging other people’s work.

⭐ How to query, synthesize and record your findings logically.

Online Research Strategies

Research is essential to the writing process ; students will stumble at the first hurdle without the necessary skills. Research skills help students locate the required relevant information and evaluate its reliability. Developing excellent research skills ultimately enables students to become their teachers.

Let’s now look at the most important of these research skills.

Research Tip # 1. Use Search Engine Shortcuts

Good research begins with asking good questions. This also applies to employing search engines, such as Google , DuckDuckGo , and Yahoo, effectively.

The Internet is an almost inexhaustible collection of information and is constantly growing. Search engines are a tool that helps us filter that information down to the exact piece of knowledge we are seeking. This is achieved primarily through the careful selection of search terms. The specificity of the search terms used is key to successfully navigating the immense ocean of information available on the ’net. 

The more refined our search queries are, the more likely the search engine will return relevant information to us and the less time we will waste in the process. 

As Google is the most popular search engine out there, here are some quick tips to ensure you and your students are getting the most out of your Google searches. However, note that many of these strategies also work on other search engines.

  • Use Quotation Marks

Placing your search terms inside quotation marks (“”) ensures Google searches for the whole phrase, not just occurrences of the individual words in the phrase. This minimizes guesswork on the part of Google and ensures only the most relevant pages are returned to you.

  • Exclude Words with a Hyphen

English contains a lot of ambiguity. While this is great for the poets among us, it can make researching some terms problematic. For example, if you search for the term ‘ toast ’ meaning speech, you may also get many results related to the much-loved breakfast staple. Simply type ‘ toast -breakfast’ into the search bar to remove results related to this meaning. This tells Google only to return results including ‘toast’ and to exclude those results also containing the term ‘breakfast.’

  • Search a Specific Site

Sometimes we come across a site that is a real treasure trove of information but where information is poorly indexed on the site menus. Luckily, there is a way to search the content on a specific site. To do this, simply type the search terms into the search bar followed by ‘ site: ’ and then the particular site URL. For example, if we wanted to search the Literacy Ideas website for mentions of the term ‘ Visual Literacy ’, we would enter:

visual literacy site:literacyideas.com

We highly recommend this resource for using Google search as a research tool with students. It is very comprehensive.

Research Tip # 2. Check Your Sources

The popular Internet meme quoting Abraham Lincoln states, “Don’t believe everything you read on the Internet.”

In this era of Fake News, we are constantly reminded of the unreliability of much of the information presented as truth on the web . We (and our students) must have some strategies to assess the accuracy and validity of the information we come across.

A good starting point is to ask yourself the following questions when assessing new information:

●      Is this information up-to-date?

●      Is this information detailed?

●      Is the author identified?

●      Is the author qualified on the topic?

●      Are sources cited?

●      Does the information come from a trusted source?

Never a truer word was spoken Abraham…

A COMPLETE TACHING UNIT ON FAKE NEWS

fake news unit

Digital and social media have completely redefined the media landscape, making it difficult for students to identify FACTS AND OPINIONS covering:

Teach them to FIGHT FAKE NEWS with this COMPLETE 42 PAGE UNIT. No preparation is required,

Research Tip # 3. Select Domains Wisely

When searching, encourage students to consider the importance of domains, such as .com , .org , . gov , and . edu . These are not all created equally. For example, .com and .org domains are classed as ‘open,’ meaning anyone can register on them. They are usually used for commercial reasons. 

Other domains are classed as ‘closed,’ such as .gov and .edu , and registrants must meet specific eligibility requirements to register these. For example, in the case of .edu , registration is limited to accredited post-secondary institutions in the United States. 

Depending on the purpose of your search, the domain you choose to search may have implications for the reliability and usefulness of the results returned.

To choose which type of domain to search, type ‘site’, followed by a colon, and then the domain after your chosen search terms. 

For example, if you wish to search for the term ‘ American presidents ’ on .edu sites, simply type:

American presidents site:edu

Research Tip # 4. Citation

One downside of the widespread instant and free availability of information on the Internet is the erosion of intellectual property rights and the inevitable increase in plagiarism. 

To combat this, we must ensure our students avoid plagiarism and respect copyright rights by adequately citing sources used. 

When engaged in writing essays , students should be familiar with how to use quotation marks, compile notes, and structure a bibliography. When citing online sources, they should also be familiar with the conventions related to citing URLs.

Just how detailed citations are will depend mainly on the age and ability of the students in question. 

Many excellent free online resources help to format citations correctly, some of which can automatically create formatted citations. For example, Citation Machine and Citation Builder provide this service. Google Docs also has an add-on feature that automatically generates bibliographies and footnotes according to various citation styles, e.g., Chicago, APA, MLA, etc.

research strategies for students | LITERACY IDEAS FRONT PAGE 1 | Top Research strategies for Students | literacyideas.com

Teaching Resources

Use our resources and tools to improve your student’s writing skills through proven teaching strategies.

Research Skills Activities

Elementary School Students

Providing a basic overview of the various research strategies is sufficient for this age group. 

Discussions about what research is and why we do it are excellent places to start developing research skills.

These discussions will open up possibilities for students to acquire the necessary vocabulary to develop research skills. 

Some topics and areas to focus these discussions on could include:

  • How to ask questions about simple research topics
  • The concept of keywords – what are they, and how do they work?
  • A general overview of search engines, e.g., Google, DuckDuckGo, Bing, Yahoo 
  • A basic explanation of sources
  • Simple note-taking skills
  • Researching in the library the “old school” way

Elementary Practice Activities

  • Individual Research Project

Ask the students to choose their favorite animal for a class presentation at the end. Students can start by generating research questions to fuel their investigations. Areas they might want to look at could include habitat, life cycle, population numbers, diet, etc.

  • Collaborative Hands-On Research

This activity allows the students to engage in basic ‘hands-on’ research on the Internet. This will allow them to practice using keyword search terms to locate helpful information.

Organize the students into ‘research groups’ and provide the groups with a simple topic and a list of questions to research online. For example, the topic might be The Solar System, and some questions they might research could include:

  • How many planets are in the solar system?
  • What is the name of the closest planet to the sun?
  • Which is the most giant planet in the solar system?
  • Which is the smallest?
  • How many moons does Jupiter have?
  • How long does it take for Venus to orbit the sun?
  • What is the name of the planet furthest from the sun? 

The winning team will be the team to find all the correct answers the quickest.

  • Class Project

Another variation of the individual research project is to do a whole class project on a larger scale. For example, students could choose a favorite holiday, such as Christmas, Thanksgiving, Eid, Hanukkah, Chinese New Year, etc., and research multiple aspects of it. For example:

  • What are the roots of this festival?
  • What is its significance?
  • What types of gifts are given?
  • What food is associated with this holiday?
  • Are certain clothes, customs, or traditions associated with it?

The findings of this research could form classroom displays, presentations, exhibits, etc.

Middle School Students

Students are ready to begin using more sophisticated research skills and strategies at this age. Some things to focus on with middle school-aged students include:

  • A more detailed explanation of sources and how to determine their credibility
  • Examination of online encyclopedias such as Wikipedia – explore how they may not always be reliable but can be a good resource for locating other more credible sources.
  • The use of domains such “edu” “org” “gov” and how they can be used to identify sources
  • Practice using simple shortcuts that can be used when searching online
  • Discussions on planning and keeping organized notes,  e.g., journals, checklists, templates, etc.

Middle School Practice Activities

  • Information Recording

As students begin dealing with more complex and larger volumes of information, they’ll need to develop strategies to help them condense and record information for later use in the writing process.

To help them develop this skill, set the students a how-to research task. Choose a task suited to your students’ ages and abilities, for example, anything from How to Bake Cookies to How to Construct a Bridge .

This is an opportunity for your students to develop their note-taking abilities helping them record the important information from their research activities. You may also want them to make visualizations such as diagrams, infographics, and charts, which are valuable techniques for recording the fruits of the research labor.

  • Group Project

Organize students into suitably sized groups and provide them with a topic to investigate. Countries work well. Each group will assign a team member to research a specific aspect of their country, and they will pool their findings at the end to develop a presentation or classroom display. Some aspects worthy of research may include:

  • Customs and traditions
  • Tourist attractions

High School Students

At this stage, the focus moves on from merely finding sources of information to actually processing them. Here, the students should be encouraged to engage more closely with what their research uncovers and begin to dig beneath the surface to evaluate material and sources more critically.

To develop these abilities, students will need to:

  • Begin asking more probing questions to initiate their research
  • Examine the sources of information more critically
  • Become more precise and methodical in choosing search criteria
  • Use multiple resources – online, news articles, documentaries, podcasts, youtube
  • Keep records of sites visited and books, journals, and articles referred to for citation later 
  • Cite sources correctly
  • quotation marks for searching exact phrases/words
  • minus symbol(-) for excluding certain words
  • asterisk(*)  used to broaden a search by finding words that begin with the same stem 
  • “site” for site-specific search
  • Evaluate sources for reliability, relevance, accuracy, and how current they are
  • Develop more organized note-taking methods – focus on quality over quantity
  • Plan effectively – utilize strategies to compile information that will help in the final presentation of findings.

High School Practice Activities

  • Develop Research Questions

As students learn to deal with the increasing breadth and complexity of research topics, they’ll need to know how to narrow their focus by developing more specific research questions.

This activity provides students with a list of topics to choose from; this can be an excellent opportunity for forging cross-curricular links. For example, you might suggest history or physical education topics, such as The Vietnam War or Cardiovascular Exercise .

Then, ask students to choose a topic and develop research questions on it for aspects they would like to explore further. For example, they might ask questions like How did the Vietnam War start? Or, What effect does cardiovascular exercise have on mood?

Students can then research the answers to their most interesting research questions and share their findings with the class.

  • Hold a Debate

Debates are a great way to illustrate the power of research in practical terms – and they are a lot of fun to boot!

In this activity, organize students into debating groups of three. Assign each pair of groups a debate motion and a position. Students will then need to go away and research their topic thoroughly before writing their speeches and delivering their arguments. To learn more about preparing a debate-winning speech, check out our article here .

Research Strategies

“A goal without a plan is just a wish.”

So, what do students do with all these finally-tuned research skills now at their fingertips?

If the boy scouts have taught us anything, it is essential to be prepared. To that end, let’s look at planning strategies to help students get the most from their well-honed research skills.

1. Collaboration

In our rapidly changing world, it is impossible to accurately predict the nature of the jobs our students will undertake in the future. 

However, what does seem sure is that the so-called soft skills , which are transferable between jobs, will be much in demand in the working world of tomorrow. Collaboration is one of these important skills.

Collaboration involves working together to achieve a common goal. It promotes high levels of interaction and communication between students and colleagues. Collaboration exposes each individual to diverse perspectives and encourages higher-level thinking. Incorporating collaboration at the planning stage helps ensure the success of teaching and learning projects.

2. The Round Robin

Brainstorming is a tried and tested means of beginning the planning process. There are many variations in brainstorming techniques. The Round Robin , which we will look at here, lends itself well to our previous collaboration strategy.

In the Round Robin , the students sit in a circle to discuss the topic. 

One by one, go around the circle, encouraging each student to share one idea until everyone has had a chance to speak. While this happens, an appointed person can keep a record of each shared idea.

Ideas must be shared first without initial discussion or criticism. Evaluation and debate should occur only after each person has had an opportunity to share their ideas.

This is an excellent strategy to ensure each person has had an opportunity to share their ideas. It also avoids any one voice dominating a collaborative planning session.

3. The Mind Map

Mind Maps are simply diagrams that visually represent ideas. They can be done individually or collaboratively using words, pictures, or both. 

With much in common with brainstorming, Mind Maps are an excellent way to begin the planning process, as they are a superb means of organizing complex ideas.

Many people use paper and pens to create Mind Maps for their projects. However, people are increasingly turning to technology to help their development. There are now many paid and free options online, providing templates and tools to help you develop your own Mind Maps .

4. Use an Online Calendar

Homework deadlines. Exam timetables. College applications. The demands on students and teachers alike are many and varied. It may, at times, seem impossible to keep track of everything. 

Using an online calendar, such as those pre-installed on many cell phones, helps ensure you keep track of your to-do list, and many will even provide regular reminders as those deadlines loom near.

5. Create Checklists

Not only are checklists a great way to ensure you have fulfilled all the criteria of a given task, but they are also an effective means of planning out all the points you need to hit to complete a project successfully.

A good checklist should contain all the essential elements for a successful piece of work. When the descriptions of these items are kept generic rather than detailed and specific, they can serve as templates for a particular genre to be reused each time your students engage in that type of work.

Research Thoroughly. Implement Effectively!

Research skills are the bridge between the idea and its implementation in writing. The more students develop their research skills, the more authoritative their writing will become. With practice, these two sides of the blade will become razor-sharp.

A COMPLETE DIGITAL READING UNIT FOR STUDENTS

research strategies for students | Digital Reading activities 1 | Top Research strategies for Students | literacyideas.com

Over 30 engaging activities for students to complete BEFORE, DURING and AFTER reading ANY BOOK

  • Compatible with all devices and digital platforms, including GOOGLE CLASSROOM.
  • Fun, Engaging, Open-Ended INDEPENDENT tasks.
  • 20+ 5-Star Ratings ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Useful research strategIES video TUTORIALS

OTHER GREAT ARTICLES TO SUPPORT RESEARCH SKILLS

research strategies for students | fake news for students 1 | How to Spot Fake News in 6 Easy Steps: A Guide for Students and Teachers | literacyideas.com

How to Spot Fake News in 6 Easy Steps: A Guide for Students and Teachers

research strategies for students | the writing process | The Writing Process | literacyideas.com

The Writing Process

research strategies for students | how to write an article | How to Write an Article | literacyideas.com

How to Write an Article

research strategies for students | how to write biography | How to Write a Biography | literacyideas.com

How to Write a Biography

The content for this page has been written by Shane Mac Donnchaidh.  A former principal of an international school and English university lecturer with 15 years of teaching and administration experience. Shane’s latest Book, The Complete Guide to Nonfiction Writing , can be found here.  Editing and support for this article have been provided by the literacyideas team.

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Getting First Graders Started With Research

Teaching academically honest research skills helps first graders learn how to collect, organize, and interpret information.

Photo of first graders on tablet in classroom

Earlier in my career, I was told two facts that I thought to be false: First graders can’t do research, because they aren’t old enough; and if facts are needed for a nonfiction text, the students can just make them up. Teachers I knew went along with this misinformation, as it seemed to make teaching and learning easier. I always felt differently, and now—having returned to teaching first grade 14 years after beginning my career with that age group—I wanted to prove that first graders can and should learn how to research. 

A lot has changed over the years. Not only has the science of reading given teachers a much better understanding of how to teach reading skills , but we now exist in a culture abundant in information and misinformation. It’s imperative that we teach academically honest research skills to students as early as possible. 

Use a Familiar Resource, and Pair it with a Planned Unit

How soon do you start research in first grade? Certainly not at the start of the year with the summer lapse in skills and knowledge and when new students aren’t yet able to read. By December of this school year, skills had either been recovered or established sufficiently that I thought we could launch into research. This also purposely coincided with a unit of writing on nonfiction—the perfect pairing.

The research needed an age-related focus to make it manageable, so I chose animals. I thought about taking an even safer route and have one whole class topic that we researched together, so that students could compare notes and skills. I referred back to my days working in inquiry-based curriculums (like the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program) and had students choose which animal to study. Our school librarian recommended that we use Epic because the service has an abundance of excellent nonfiction animal texts of different levels.

Teach the Basics for Organized Research 

I began with a conversation about academic honesty and why we don’t just copy information from books. We can’t say this is our knowledge if we do this; it belongs to the author. Instead, we read and learn. Then, we state what we learned in our own words. Once this concept is understood, I model how to do this by creating a basic step-by-step flowchart taught to me by my wife—a longtime first-grade and kindergarten teacher and firm believer in research skills.

  • Read one sentence at a time.
  • Turn the book over or the iPad around.
  • Think about what you have learned. Can you remember the fact? Is the fact useful? Is it even a fact?
  • If the answer is no, reread the sentence or move onto the next one.
  • If the answer is yes, write the fact in your own words. Don’t worry about spelling. There are new, complex vocabulary words, so use your sounding-out/stretching-out strategies just like you would any other word. Write a whole sentence on a sticky note.
  • Place the sticky note in your graphic organizer. Think about which section it goes in. If you aren’t sure, place it in the “other facts” section.

The key to collecting notes is the challenging skill of categorizing them. I created a graphic organizer that reflected the length and sections of the exemplar nonfiction text from our assessment materials for the writing unit. This meant it had five pages: an introduction, “what” the animal looks like, “where” the animal lives, “how” the animal behaved, and a last page for “other facts” that could become a general conclusion.

Our district’s literacy expert advised me not to hand out my premade graphic organizer too soon in this process because writing notes and categorizing are two different skills. This was my intention, but I forgot the good advice and handed out the organizer right away. This meant dedicating time for examining and organizing notes in each combined writing and reading lesson. A lot of one-on-one feedback was needed for some students, while others flourished and could do this work independently. The result was that the research had a built-in extension for those students who were already confident readers.

Focus on What Students Need to Practice 

Research is an essential academic skill but one that needs to be tackled gradually. I insisted that my students use whole sentences rather than words or phrases because they’re at the stage of understanding what a complete sentence is and need regular practice. In this work, there’s no mention of citation language and vetting sources; in the past, I’ve introduced those concepts to students in fourth grade and used them regularly with my fifth-grade students. Finding texts that span the reading skill range of a first-grade class is a big enough task. 

For some of the key shared scientific vocabulary around science concepts, such as animal groups (mammals, etc.) or eating habits (carnivore, etc.), I created class word lists, having first sounded out the words with the class and then asked students to attempt spelling them in their writing.

The Power of Research Can Facilitate Student Growth 

I was delighted with the results of the research project. In one and a half weeks, every student had a graphic organizer with relevant notes, and many students had numerous notes. With my fourth- and fifth-grade students, I noticed that one of the biggest difficulties for them was taking notes and writing them in a way that showed a logical sequence. Therefore, we concluded our research by numbering the notes in each section to create a sequential order. 

This activity took three lessons and also worked for my first graders. These organized notes created an internal structure that made the next step in the writing process, creating a first draft of their nonfiction teaching books, so much easier. 

The overall result was that first graders were able to truly grasp the power of research and gathering accurate facts. I proved that young children can do this, especially when they work with topics that already fascinate them. Their love of learning motivated them to read higher-level and more sophisticated texts than they or I would normally pick, further proving how interest motivates readers to embrace complexity.

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30 Captivating Research Activities for Middle School

February 6, 2023 //  by  Josilyn Markel

Learning to research effectively is an important skill that middle-school-aged students can learn and carry with them for their whole academic careers. The students in question will use these skills for everything from reading news articles to writing a systematic review of their sources. With increased demands on students these days, it’s never too early to introduce these sophisticated research skills. 

We’ve collected thirty of the best academic lessons for middle school students to learn about sophisticated research skills that they’ll use for the rest of their lives. 

1. Guiding Questions for Research

When you first give a research project to middle school students, it’s important to make sure that they really understand the research prompts. You can use this guiding questions tool with students to help them draw on existing knowledge to properly contextualize the prompt and assignment before they even pick up a pen. 

Learn More: Mrs. Spangler in the Middle

2. Teaching Research Essential Skills Bundle

This bundle touches on all the writing skills, planning strategies, and so-called soft skills that students will need to get started on their first research project. These resources are especially geared towards middle school-aged students to help them with cognitive control tasks plus engaging and active lessons. 

Learn More: Pinterest

3. How to Develop a Research Question

Before a middle school student can start their research time on task, they have to form a solid research question. This resource features activities for students that will help them identify a problem and then formulate a question that will guide their research project going first. 

Learn More: YouTube

4. Note-Taking Skills Infographic

For a strong introduction and/or systematic review of the importance of note-taking, look no further than this infographic. It covers several excellent strategies for taking the most important info from a source, and it also gives tips for using these strategies to strengthen writing skills. 

Learn More: Word Counter

5. Guide to Citing Online Sources

One of the more sophisticated research skills is learning to cite sources. These days, the internet is the most popular place to find research sources, so learning the citation styles for making detailed citations for internet sources is an excellent strategy. This is a skill that will stick with middle school students throughout their entire academic careers! 

Learn More: Educator’s Technology

6. Guided Student-Led Research Projects

This is a great way to boost communication between students while also encouraging choice and autonomy throughout the research process. This really opens up possibilities for students and boosts student activity and engagement throughout the whole project. The group setup also decreases the demands on students as individuals. 

Learn More: The Thinker Builder

7. Teaching Students to Fact-Check

Fact-checking is an important meta-analytic review skill that every student needs. This resource introduces probing questions that students can ask in order to ensure that the information they’re looking at is actually true. This can help them identify fake news, find more credible sources, and improve their overall sophisticated research skills. 

Learn More: Just Add Students

8. Fact-Checking Like a Pro

This resource features great teaching strategies (such as visualization) to help alleviate the demands on students when it comes to fact-checking their research sources. It’s perfect for middle school-aged students who want to follow the steps to make sure that they’re using credible sources in all of their research projects, for middle school and beyond!

9. Website Evaluation Activity

With this activity, you can use any website as a backdrop. This is a great way to help start the explanation of sources that will ultimately lead to helping students locate and identify credible sources (rather than fake news). With these probing questions, students will be able to evaluate websites effectively.

10. How to Take Notes in Class

This visually pleasing resource tells students everything they need to know about taking notes in a classroom setting. It goes over how to glean the most important information from the classroom teacher, and how to organize the info in real-time, and it gives tips for cognitive control tasks and other sophisticated research skills that will help students throughout the research and writing process. 

Learn More: Visualistan

11. Teaching Research Papers: Lesson Calendar

If you have no idea how you’re going to cover all the so-called soft skills, mini-lessons, and activities for students during your research unit, then don’t fret! This calendar breaks down exactly what you should be teaching, and when. It introduces planning strategies, credible sources, and all the other research topics with a logical and manageable flow. 

Learn More: Discover Hub Pages

12. Google Docs Features for Teaching Research

With this resource, you can explore all of the handy research-focused features that are already built into Google Docs! You can use it to build activities for students or to make your existing activities for students more tech-integrated. You can use this tool with students from the outset to get them interested and familiar with the Google Doc setup. 

13. Using Effective Keywords to Search the Internet

The internet is a huge place, and this vast amount of knowledge puts huge demands on students’ skills and cognition. That’s why they need to learn how to search online effectively, with the right keywords. This resource teaches middle school-aged students how to make the most of all the search features online. 

Learn More: Teachers Pay Teachers

14. How to Avoid Plagiarism: “Did I Plagiarize?” 

This student activity looks at the biggest faux pas in middle school research projects: plagiarism. These days, the possibilities for students to plagiarize are endless, so it’s important for them to learn about quotation marks, paraphrasing, and citations. This resource includes information on all of those and in a handy flow chart to keep them right!

Learn More: Twitter

15. 7 Tips for Recognizing Bias

This is a resource to help middle school-aged students recognize the differences between untrustworthy and credible sources. It gives a nice explanation of sources that are trustworthy and also offers a source of activities that students can use to test and practice identifying credible sources. 

Learn More: We Are Teachers

16. UNESCO’s Laws for Media Literacy

This is one of those great online resources that truly focuses on the students in question, and it serves a larger, global goal. It offers probing questions that can help middle school-aged children determine whether or not they’re looking at credible online resources. It also helps to strengthen the so-called soft skills that are necessary for completing research. 

Learn More: SLJ Blogs

17. Guide for Evaluating a News Article

Here are active lessons that students can use to learn more about evaluating a news article, whether it’s on a paper or online resource. It’s also a great tool to help solidify the concept of fake news and help students build an excellent strategy for identifying and utilizing credible online sources. 

Learn More: Valencia College

18. Middle School Research Projects Middle School Students Will Love

Here is a list of 30 great research projects for middle schoolers, along with cool examples of each one. It also goes through planning strategies and other so-called soft skills that your middle school-aged students will need in order to complete such projects.

Learn More: Madly Learning

19. Teaching Analysis with Body Biographies

This is a student activity and teaching strategy all rolled into one! It looks at the importance of research and biographies, which brings a human element to the research process. It also helps communication between students and helps them practice those so-called soft skills that come in handy while researching. 

Learn More: Study All Knight

20. Top Tips for Teaching Research in Middle School

When it comes to teaching middle school research, there are wrong answers and there are correct answers. You can learn all the correct answers and teaching strategies with this resource, which debunks several myths about teaching the writing process at the middle school level. 

Learn More: Teaching ELA with Joy

21. Teaching Students to Research Online: Lesson Plan

This is a ready-made lesson plan that is ready to present. You don’t have to do tons of preparation, and you’ll be able to explain the basic and foundational topics related to research. Plus, it includes a couple of activities to keep students engaged throughout this introductory lesson.

Learn More: Kathleen Morris

22. Project-Based Learning: Acceptance and Tolerance

This is a series of research projects that look at specific problems regarding acceptance and tolerance. It offers prompts for middle school-aged students that will get them to ask big questions about themselves and others in the world around them. 

Learn More: Sandy Cangelosi

23. 50 Tiny Lessons for Teaching Research Skills in Middle School

These fifty mini-lessons and activities for students will have middle school-aged students learning and applying research skills in small chunks. The mini-lessons approach allows students to get bite-sized information and focus on mastering and applying each step of the research process in turn. This way, with mini-lessons, students don’t get overwhelmed with the whole research process at once. In this way, mini-lessons are a great way to teach the whole research process!

24. Benefits of Research Projects for Middle School Students

Whenever you feel like it’s just not worth it to go to the trouble to teach your middle school-aged students about research, let this list motivate you! It’s a great reminder of all the great things that come with learning to do good research at an early age. 

Learn More: Thrive in Grade Five

25. Top 5 Study and Research Skills for Middle Schoolers

This is a great resource for a quick and easy overview of the top skills that middle schoolers will need before they dive into research. It outlines the most effective tools to help your students study and research well, throughout their academic careers. 

Learn More: Meagan Gets Real

26. Research with Informational Text: World Travelers

This travel-themed research project will have kids exploring the whole world with their questions and queries. It is a fun way to bring new destinations into the research-oriented classroom. 

Learn More: The Superhero Teacher

27. Project-Based Learning: Plan a Road Trip

If you want your middle school-aged students to get into the researching mood, have them plan a road trip! They’ll have to examine the prompt from several angles and collect data from several sources before they can put together a plan for an epic road trip. 

Learn More: Appletastic Learning

28. Methods for Motivating Writing Skills

When your students just are feeling up to the task of research-based writing, it’s time to break out these motivational methods. With these tips and tricks, you’ll be able to get your kids in the mood to research, question, and write!

29. How to Set Up a Student Research Station

This article tells you everything you need to know about a student center focused on sophisticated research skills. These student center activities are engaging and fun, and they touch on important topics in the research process, such as planning strategies, fact-checking skills, citation styles, and some so-called soft skills.

Learn More: Upper Elementary Snapshots

30. Learn to Skim and Scan to Make Research Easier

These activities for students are geared towards encouraging reading skills that will ultimately lead to better and easier research. The skills in question? Skimming and scanning. This will help students read more efficiently and effectively as they research from a variety of sources.

online research activities for students

19 Interesting Research Projects For ESL Students

Project-based learning is an excellent means of acquiring and developing new language skills. Teachers of ESL students can use research projects to make lessons fun, interactive, and engaging. As such, interesting research projects can be used to practice the concepts that a teacher wishes to reinforce.

Research projects for ESL students should be based on relevant topics that interest them. Topics can range from creating comic strips, preparing a dish in class, dramatization, creating short podcasts, planning an itinerary, and debating significant issues.

The projects should be appropriate for the ESL student’s proficiency, whether beginner, intermediate or advanced and can be done individually or in a group.

The research project’s purpose should align with the curriculum and be clear to the students. Read on to discover some exciting research projects for the different proficiency levels of ESL students.

The Focus Of Interesting Research Projects For ESL Learners

Learning a new language can be meaningful and fun with the right teacher and lessons. However, ESL students might also be shy to speak in the presence of other students, so they must be made to feel welcome and accepted.

Additionally, if students know what the purpose of the project is, they can focus on that instead of becoming overwhelmed with other areas.

When assigning a research project to ESL students, the teacher should first assess what the students’ interests are. They will be more likely to benefit from the research project if it intrigues them or if there is an incentive.

Then, when assigning the project, the teacher should tell the students the point of the assessment, so they know what the focal point for preparation should be.

Examples of focus points or purposes of research projects can include the following:

  • Dialogue or speaking practice,
  • Situational terminology,
  • Team communication, or

Also try: 15 Engaging Speaking Activities For Online Classes

Interesting Research Projects For Beginner ESL Students

Beginner ESL students can differ in age, ability, and maturity, so the teacher must choose the research projects wisely and adapt them accordingly.

Below are some great ideas for exciting research projects for beginner ESL students.

1. Research Your Family Tree

Students can research their family tree as far back as possible and create a presentation with pictures. In addition to the family tree, the students can add a short biography of two or more family tree members to add extra weight to the project.

2. Plant A Vegetable Garden

A research project on planting can be modified according to the age and group size of an ESL class. Students can work individually or in groups and research what vegetables they want to grow and what is needed for each plant to thrive.

The project can be done practically, and students can document the growth of their plants. As an extension activity, the vegetables can be used to make a salad or a soup for other research projects, including following recipes.

Alternatively, the students can create a business plan and market their products for another project.

3. Create A Comic Strip

Creating a comic strip can be done individually, as a group, or as a nonsense game (for practice). First, each student can create their own superhero and write a synopsis of the superhero’s powers and weaknesses.

Then, they can make a short comic strip using simple illustrations where their superhero fights a crime or saves the day.

As a fun practice activity, students can do the first strip of a comic at the top of a page. Then they can swap pages with other class members who must continue the cartoon, a row at a time. The result should be pretty hilarious and give the students some good ideas for their research project.

4. Research A Culture Or Tradition

Students can be given the task of researching a culture or tribe. At a beginner level, ESL students can work in groups to research a culture and then present their findings. They can explore different aspects of their chosen culture, for example:

  • Traditions,
  • Traditional foods,
  • Languages spoken, and
  • Where the culture lives, e.g., country or types of dwellings.

When presenting their project, the students should be encouraged to show as many examples of their findings as possible. They can even dress up and play some of that culture’s music, for example.

Recommended for you: 15 Speaking Projects For ESL Students

5. Plan A Vacation

Another fun research project for beginner ESL students is to plan a vacation. The students can pick any destination they wish to visit and plan their trip accordingly.

They can research activities they’d like to do, their mode of travel, where to stay, and what they will eat. Then, depending on the difficulty level, the teacher can give them a ‘budget’ they should stick to.

6. Real Estate Listing

In this research project, students can pretend they are an estate agent selling a property. They can create an advert and use descriptive language to describe the characteristics and selling points of the property.

7. Dramatization

Students can work in small groups and act out a short story or scene from a favorite book or movie. The teacher can suggest a fun story the class can read or watch and discuss in a lesson.

Students can then be allowed time to prepare their skits, or they can do improvisations. This activity will encourage them to memorize their cues, but they can also use cue cards.

Interesting Research Projects For Intermediate ESL Students

As ESL students advance to an intermediate level, their research projects can increase in difficulty and expectations. Again, the teacher should always inform the students of the outcomes, so they know the project’s focus. Below are some ideas for interesting research projects for intermediate ESL learners.

8. Create A Short Podcast

Podcasts are a popular way of sharing information through speaking. Thus, they make a good assessment tool for various speaking activities in the classroom. For example, the teacher can assign a topic. The students can research and record a podcast as if they were reporting for the news or other channel.

An advantage of using podcasts as a form of assessment is that the students can re-record their podcast if they have made too many mistakes before submitting it to the teacher.

9. Create A Neighborhood

Students can create a neighborhood with various characters as a group research project, much like the game Sims. Then, the students can research the characters and their roles in the community. For example, there could be a handyman, a pet sitter, a grocer, families, a librarian, and a pharmacist.

Each character can have a name and description of features. In addition, the neighborhood, streets, shops, and other community elements can also have names and descriptions.

Also try: Fun Language Games For Middle School Students

10. Research Different Types Of Sustainable Energies

Sustainable and green energy are current topics that make good research projects, as there is a lot of information on the internet. This research project can be done in a group or as individuals, and the students can present their research to the class in a PowerPoint presentation.

11. Write A Biography Of A Famous Person

For this research project, students can choose a famous person and write a biography on them. The teacher can give pointers as to what should be covered, for example:

  • Why the person is famous,
  • Where they were born,
  • If they are still alive,
  • Significant events in their life,
  • Where they grew up, and
  • How they have influenced the world or their community.

12. Do A Cooking Demonstration

Recipes are instructive and introduce a different type of vocabulary. Students can demonstrate a recipe or cooking lesson in class as part of a fun research project. Ideas for cooking demonstrations include making soup, baking cookies, preparing pasta, or making a salad.

Afterward, the students can enjoy a meal together after a few presentations during class. However, the teacher should determine if anyone has allergies before sharing the meals.

13. Career Research Project

Intermediate ESL students can do a research project on potential careers they’d like to pursue. Whether they choose one or more professions, the students can research what the job entails, the potential income, and the pros and cons.

Additionally, the students can explore the qualification requirements to pursue their chosen careers.

Interesting Research Projects For Advanced ESL Students

Advanced ESL students are likely to be older and more mature, so the teacher must choose topics that are not embarrassing or ‘below’ them. The students’ cultures must also be kept in mind, as some Western traditions are frowned upon by Eastern cultures.

Next are some research project ideas for advanced ESL students.

14. Make A Short Film

Making a short film can be successful if planned and managed correctly. An example could be creating a documentary or enacting a story.

Whatever the topic, it is wise to plan each filming session ahead of time. It would be an ongoing project that requires the skills of a movie-making app or a willing student who is savvy in that department.

15. Argumentative Research Paper Or Debate

In an argumentative research paper, a teacher can list controversial topics from which the students can choose. The students would then need to write an argumentative essay with the pros and cons or choose for or against the topic.

As an extension of this activity, one topic can be selected, and the class is split into two groups. Then, students on the same teams can collaborate and debate the topic in class.

16. Describing Famous Artworks

In this project, students can choose a few famous artworks created by different artists using various media. The students can research and describe each artwork and its history. This project will undoubtedly introduce them to new vocabulary and help them practice using descriptive language.

17. Critical Book Review

A critical book review project requires a student to read a suitably challenging book and write a critique on it. The ESL teacher can use a setwork book or allow the students to choose their own books. The students can discuss the characters, the plot, the author’s writing style, and their opinion of the book.

18. Creating A Business Plan

Advanced ESL students who learn English for business purposes will benefit from this interesting research project. They can write a business plan for a company or entrepreneurial venture.

In their business plan, they can set goals, projected expenses, income, ideas for growing the business, and other related topics within their plan.

19. The Apprentice – You Are Fired

Students may well have seen the television show ‘The Apprentice’ and you can replicate this process over a number of weeks with real groups of students and fun challenges.

You can come up with a series of tasks for the students to complete in or outside of class and then groups are judged by the teacher or a student.

The losing group then has to argue/defend their performance and contribution to the task with the weakest student being fired.

There is potential for so much language to be used in this series of activities so it requires some preparation to ensure that they do have the vocabulary and structures to be able to successfully participate in this process.

Classroom-based activities that work well for this include:

  • Coming up with a new household product idea and diagram of it.
  • Branding, logo, and a short advert of the product previously invented in the last task.
  • Creation of a new family-friendly board game.
  • Create and present a virtual tour around a particular holiday destination/city.
  • Create an entertaining podcast for children.

There is an endless string of tasks that you could do all involving lots of language points. Ideal for advanced students.

Whether beginner, intermediate or advanced, ESL students will likely benefit from a more hands-on approach when learning a new language.

So, the teachers of ESL students can use interesting research projects to reinforce concepts taught in the class. The research projects chosen should be relevant and intriguing to the students for their benefit and enjoyment.

Recommended reading: 7 Ways To Use Newspapers To Teach Grammar

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How to Choose and Prioritize Extracurricular Activities as a Premed Student

Engage in activities that reflect your passion and commitment to serving others, and choose quality over quantity.

Premeds and Extracurricular Activities

Optical Microscope is used for conducting planned, research experiments, educational demonstrations in medical and clinical laboratories. Close-up of scientist hands with microscope, examining samples and liquid. Photo of Young student scientist looking through a microscope in a laboratory. Young scientist doing some research.

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Extracurriculars are a great way explore what kind of field you want to go into.

Extracurricular activities can help to differentiate your application in the medical school admissions process and require thoughtful decision-making and careful planning.

Here's some advice on choosing and prioritizing extracurriculars, plus some examples of activities that may impress med school admissions officers.

Identify and Understand Your Career Goals 

The best extracurricular activities will be personally tailored to your specific goals in medicine and in your career. It is essential to align extracurriculars with your goals, so dedicate some time to reflecting on your personal interests, values and career aspirations. Work to identify areas of genuine passion . Try not to bend to outside pressures or negative comparisons with other premedical students, but instead pursue opportunities that excite you. 

For example, if you have no interest in research but a proclivity for service and volunteering, pursue those activities at the expense of joining a laboratory. If you feel particularly excited by a medical or surgical subfield, it is never too early to get involved in specialty-specific interests, such as clinical volunteering in an emergency department or dialysis unit, as a sitter in a psychiatry department, etc. 

A great way to gain exposure to a specific field, and validate your early interest, is by joining a clinical research laboratory. Many clinical labs and trials are run by practicing clinicians. Select ones in your area of interest and ask for opportunities to contribute.

You will likely dedicate significant time to two or three extracurricular activities as an undergraduate premed student, so be sure they align with your actual interests. 

Carefully Select and Manage Commitments to Extracurricular Activities 

Assess your personal time constraints and prior commitments. When you know you have available time, reach out to several possible opportunities, such as clinical work, service, basic or translational research projects, or leadership activities. Don’t be shy – cold email to get your foot in the door! 

Start a single extracurricular activity at first, and verify that you can balance your academics and personal life before you take on more responsibilities. It can reflect poorly if you back out of a commitment soon after it was made, so begin only activities you know you can commit to.

Admissions committees value significant, longitudinal time investments in a single activity more than brief involvement in many extracurriculars, and you will find sticking with activities more personally rewarding in the long term, as well. 

Don’t underestimate the time required to meaningfully contribute to a research endeavor. Expect to commit significant time to lab work in order to gain meaningful skills or contribute to a project.

At the same time, if you enjoy the work, advocate for yourself to present an abstract, contribute to a publication or write an honors thesis. Purposeful involvement in any extracurricular activity will shine through in your application. 

Describe Your Extracurriculars With Purpose in Your Application 

When it comes time to apply to med school, spend significant time on the extracurricular activity descriptions. Describe explicitly and concisely what you did, but also craft a compelling narrative around your decision to pursue each activity. Highlight any personal growth that has come as a result, lessons you’ve learned and any impact you’ve been able to have on others.

Even if an activity is common, your experience is unique. Describe a unique clinical encounter you had, a memorable patient or mentee you helped or a service experience that changed the way you see your career. 

You did the legwork and spent many, many hours on a research project, volunteering in a free clinic or leading a tutoring program, so be sure to present these experiences thoughtfully. You want your application to read like a coherent and engaging story, and you want admissions committees to feel that they have gotten to know you through your decisions and experiences presented in your application. 

What Are Meaningful Extracurricular Activities? 

Many possible extracurricular activities can be meaningful on a medical school application. 

If clinical work interests you, working in a free clinic, volunteering in an ER or other hospital department, "sitting" in a psychiatric department or shadowing physicians in any specialty can be significant experiences. 

If you find yourself drawn to service, consider opportunities such as mentoring underprivileged youth, organizing preventative health care fairs in underserved communities and working in shelters or soup kitchens. 

Leadership opportunities can be less easy to find, but serving as president of a student organization, leading an initiative to address a health disparity or coordinating a team of volunteers are realistic examples of meaningful leadership experiences that can be attained before medical school. 

If you’re excited by the possibility of expanding your understanding of biology and medicine, then basic, clinical or translational research is a substantial activity readily available at most major academic centers and universities. The only limit is how much available time you have, as this is a significant investment.

Nonetheless, if research excites you, many faculty members are eager to have an enthusiastic undergraduate premed student join their laboratory. All you need to do is reach out.

Additional Tips for Success 

Engage in a diverse range of activities, if possible. Exploring different interests is an essential aspect of the undergraduate premed experience, and you may not know what interests you until you try.

Avoid subconsciously boxing yourself into a career plan too early, and don’t be afraid to take the leap and explore a new extracurricular activity. It is never too late to gain experience and discover a passion. 

Within extracurricular activities, seek out opportunities to showcase initiative and demonstrate leadership potential. The more you show that you can do, the more responsibilities you are likely to be given, and the more meaningful the experience will be to you and your application. 

Above all, pursue activities that align with your long-term career goals and personal values. While exploring new avenues is important and exciting, if you want to pursue a career centered on service , for example, try to build up significant experience in service-oriented extracurriculars so that you are prepared for such a career. The same goes for research, clinical subspecialty work, etc. 

Don’t force yourself to continue in an extracurricular activity you don’t enjoy, just because “everyone is doing research” or because of an existential need to “check the box." Your time is much too valuable to make decisions in this manner. Pursue opportunities that make you excited and will help prepare you for a career in medicine, and you will be well positioned to be a great medical school applicant. 

Thoughtfully select extracurricular activities that reflect genuine passion and commitment to serving others, focus on quality over quantity and describe your activities with purpose and thoughtfulness throughout your application. With hard work and commitment, you should be able to leverage extracurricular experiences to learn, expand your skill set and stand out in the medical school admissions process.

Medical School Application Mistakes

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About Medical School Admissions Doctor

Need a guide through the murky medical school admissions process? Medical School Admissions Doctor offers a roundup of expert and student voices in the field to guide prospective students in their pursuit of a medical education. The blog is currently authored by Dr. Ali Loftizadeh, Dr. Azadeh Salek and Zach Grimmett at Admissions Helpers , a provider of medical school application services; Dr. Renee Marinelli at MedSchoolCoach , a premed and med school admissions consultancy; Dr. Rachel Rizal, co-founder and CEO of the Cracking Med School Admissions consultancy; Dr. Cassie Kosarec at Varsity Tutors , an advertiser with U.S. News & World Report; Dr. Kathleen Franco, a med school emeritus professor and psychiatrist; and Liana Meffert, a fourth-year medical student at the University of Iowa's Carver College of Medicine and a writer for Admissions Helpers. Got a question? Email [email protected] .

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Towards design principles for an online learning platform providing reflective practices for developing employability competences

  • Open access
  • Published: 22 February 2024

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  • Perry Heymann   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-1696-5021 1 ,
  • Marloes Hukema 1   nAff2 ,
  • Peter van Rosmalen   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-3405-9599 1 , 3 &
  • Simon Beausaert   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-3036-8143 1 , 4  

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Graduates require employability competences, such as flexibility and team working skills, to gain and maintain employment. Online learning platforms (OLPs) can provide students with resources for reflection, which is a key competence for employability. However, little is known about the design of OLPs meant to provide reflective practices that foster students’ employability competences. This research study aims to identify design principles of OLPs providing reflective practices that foster the development of employability competences. Five design principles were derived from thematic analysis following two focus group interviews with students and educational experts in this qualitative study: 1) Embed the OLP in curricular and institutional activities that foster competence development; 2) Facilitate the analysis of students’ current state regarding employability competences; 3) Provide recommendations and a repository with learning activities that help students to formulate goals and plan activities; 4) Facilitate the undertaking and recording of learning activities, supported by a blend of three forms of interaction (instructor-student; student–student or student-content); and 5) Foster reflection in and on action via opportunities for applying newly learned knowledge in different settings and reviewing activities via reflective journaling and knowledge sharing. This study is the first to conceptualise design principles for an OLP that is organised to provide reflective practices for the development of employability competences. The design principles were based on students’ and teachers’ experiences and are grounded in theory. They can inform future research as well as practitioners developing OLPs.

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Post-PhD Possibilities: Discovering Academic-Adjacent and Skill-Transfer Career Paths

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1 Introduction

Higher education institutions (HEIs) are putting increasing focus on the development of employability competences, alongside specific academic knowledge and skills, in order to prepare graduates for the labour market (Aarts & Künn, 2019 ; Bridgstock & Jackson, 2019 ). Since reflection is considered as a key competence for the development of employability (Clarke, 2018 ; Moon, 2004 ), higher education is increasingly embedding reflective practices that elicit reflection and, in turn, the development of students’ employability competences (Van Beveren et al., 2018 ).

The past decades have shown increasing use of technology within higher education to support activities associated with the acquisition of knowledge and the development of skills, including reflection (Iqbal et al., 2022 ; Kori et al., 2014 ; Lin et al., 1999 ). Online learning platforms (OLPs) can be beneficial for eliciting students’ reflection, because they include tools such as chats, blogs and online discussion forums that have been acclaimed as supporting reflective learning activities (Burhan-Horasanlı & Ortaçtepe, 2016 ; Kori et al., 2014 ). OLPs offer the opportunity to apply pedagogical approaches that allow the embedment of employability development into the curriculum (Harvey, 2005 ).

However, to the best of our knowledge, little to no attention has been paid to the design of OLPs meant to support reflective practices, incorporating potentially both curricular and extra-curricular learning activities, and fostering students’ employability competences. Since OLPs and their methods of design can differ widely, defining design principles and having insight into how they contribute to the effectiveness of an OLP is relevant (Mupinga et al., 2006 ). Van den Akker et al. ( 2006 ) defined design principles as heuristic guidelines to help others select and apply the most appropriate substantive and procedural knowledge for specific tasks in their own settings.

To be able to identify design principles for online learning platforms organised to provide reflective practices for developing employability competences, we first position ourselves with regard to the underlying theoretical concepts: employability, reflective practice, online learning platforms and the learner together with the broader context.

1.1 Employability

The concept of employability has been studied in different strands of the literature, mainly related to either human resource development or higher education (Scoupe et al., 2023 ). A competence-based approach to employability dominates in the context of higher education. It entails the identification and development of competences, including knowledge, skills and attitudes and attributes that foster students’ ability to obtain and maintain employment (Abelha et al., 2020 ; Bridgstock, 2009 ; Bridgstock & Jackson, 2019 ). Scoupe et al. ( 2023 ) described a multidimensional competence-based approach to employability. One of these dimensions is related to self-management or meta-cognitive competences that encompass the capacity for reflection and evaluation (Scoupe et al., 2023 ). The ongoing process of reflection and evaluation is addressed in the literature as key for employability (Bridgstock, 2009 ; Pool & Sewell, 2007 ). Other employability competences described by Scoupe et al. ( 2023 ) include expertise-based competences, including knowledge, skills and attitudes needed to perform in a particular field of expertise; social competences, such as networking skills and the capacity to collaborate with others; emotional regulation, that is, the ability to perceive, access and control emotions when facing new situations or challenges; efficacy beliefs that are related to the extent of a positive self-esteem; lifelong learning and flexibility, which includes the need to continue learning and to (pro-)actively as well as passively adapt to changing situations and environments; and lastly, a healthy work-life balance, the ability to balance personal and professional goals.

1.2 Reflective practice

Reflective practices are a vital element enhancing students’ learning by reflection on their experiences (Mann et al., 2007 ; Rogers, 2001 ). Based on literature about reflection (Boud et al., 1985 ; Moon, 2004 ; Rogers, 2001 ) and reflective practices (Atkins & Murphy, 1995 ; Boyd & Fales, 1983 ; Schön, 1983 ), a reflective practice that fosters employability competences can be defined as a recursive process of internally examining and exploring a sense of inner discomfort regarding employability competences, followed by a cascade of learning activities (Heymann et al., 2022 ). Five phases of reflective activities fit into this practice. First, students need to become aware by developing a sense of inner discomfort regarding employability competences, caused by an experience (e.g., a presentation, an internship, a peer story). The awareness of inner feelings leads to an analysis of the current state , which consists of identifying existing knowledge, collecting additional information and challenging assumptions. Typical learning activities that support this stage are self-reflection, self-assessments and feedback from peers, coaches or professionals. Next, students draft and plan a solution in terms of goal setting and personal development planning regarding the development of their employability competences. The fourth stage – take action – entails experimentation in the form of undertaking activities that yield experiences that enable re-evaluation of the original problem. These learning activities derive not only from curricular courses, but also from co-curricular and extracurricular activities. Students collect and maintain evidence of achievement of the activities undertaken and the outcomes as defined in their personal goals, noted in a portfolio. Finally, student reflect on their experience via reflection-in action – examining experiences as they happen – and reflection-on-action which involves reviewing, describing, analysing and evaluating past practices. This re-evaluation enables students to develop a new perspective on the initial situation of inner discomfort regarding their employability competences.

1.3 Online learning platforms

Online learning platforms can be effective in fostering employability competences by providing meaningful learning experiences. An online learning platform (OLP) can be defined as an environment where learning takes place moderated by technology (Oliwa, 2021 ). An OLP might encompass an integrated set of online tools, services and resources that support a student’s central learning experience by unifying educational theory and practice, technology and content (Hill, 2012 ). OLPs offer students a flexible and personalised approach to their learning process, facilitate collaboration and communication in synchronous and asynchronous modes, and create a bridge between curricular and extracurricular activities (Harvey, 2005 ; Kumar Basak et al., 2018 ; Reese, 2015 ). OLPs can support reflective practices via online tools such as self- and peer-assessments, reflective exercises, chats, blogs, online discussion forums, learning journals and e-portfolios (Kori et al., 2014 ; Lin et al., 1999 ; Moon, 2004 ).

Hollenbeck et al. ( 2011 ) identified five pedagogical design principles for OLPs. First, student-to-student interaction refers to tools, such as online discussion forums, blogs, e-mail or chats that facilitate communication between students about concepts being addressed. Second, it is important for students to have easy access to their instructor. This instructor-to-student interaction should include reciprocal communication that also supports the learner’s instruction, interventions and communications on the platform (Park & Lim, 2019 ). The third pedagogical principle concerns the accuracy and validity of an OLP’s content. Quality content is the extent to which the information on a website is perceived as valid and dependable (Hollenbeck et al., 2011 ). Fourth, the relation between the accuracy and completeness with which students achieve certain goals and the resources expended to achieve those goals is defined as goal efficiency . If functions of an OLP work properly and are easy to use, task completion time and errors are expected to be reduced, which, in turn, increases user satisfaction (Hollenbeck et al., 2011 ). The fifth principle, appeal , has to do with presentation, attractiveness, display consistency, categorisation of the information in a user-friendly format, customisation and flexibility. These aspects facilitate understanding and navigating through the contents of the OLP.

1.4 The learner and the broader context

To achieve the technological and pedagogical benefits associated with OLPs, it is important to gain insight into the beliefs, attitudes and behaviour that impact students’ intentions to use an OLP. Determinants of such intentions have been studied and described in two prominent theoretical models: the technology acceptance model and the decomposed theory of planned behaviour (Ahmed & Ward, 2016 ). Both models are grounded in the beliefs-intention-behaviour structure, wherein behavioural intention captures the influential factors that affect student’s behaviour, that is, the actual use of an OLP (Ahmed & Ward, 2016 ).

Motivation is considered a key determinant of learning. Motivation involves the internal processes that affect the direction and level of behaviour (Lee et al., 2005 ). Direction involves the selection, initiation, operationalisation and termination of the type of behaviour. Direction gives behaviour a specific purpose. The level of behaviour reflects the intensity, the strength and persistence of the behaviour concerned (Alsawaier, 2018 ; Buckley & Doyle, 2016 ; Lee et al., 2005 ).

Two types of behavioural drivers are distinguished in the literature: intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. According to Ryan and Deci ( 2000 ), intrinsic motivation in an educational context refers to engagement of students in learning activities for their own sake, triggered by the desire to perform a learning activity in order to know, to accomplish or to experience stimulation (Buckley & Doyle, 2016 ). In the case of extrinsic motivation, the stimulus to learn is always external to the learner, for example, reward or recognition or the dictates of other people (Lee et al., 2005 ). Individual characteristics of the learner, such as motivation, constantly interact with the broader environment in which students are studying (Virtanen & Tynjälä, 2019 ). For example, the influence of peers, teachers, and the culture of the school is not to be neglected (Lim & Kim, 2003 ).

1.5 Research question

This research study aims to identify design principles of online learning platforms that provide reflective practices fostering the development of employability competences. The research question is: What are design principles for online learning platforms meant to support reflective practices that foster the development of employability competences?

A qualitative exploratory-descriptive design using focus groups was adopted to elicit information about the design principles for an OLP that fosters employability competences via reflective practices. The use of focus groups enables gathering large amounts of information regarding attitudes, beliefs and experiences from different perspectives in a short period, through natural communication and stimulated group interaction (Dawson et al., 1993 ; Krueger & Casey, 2002 ). Although focus groups can be biased by social pressure to conform to the group norms, the group discussions and interactions and sharing opinions from different perspectives are recognized as better than individual interviews for exploring a complex issue in depth (Dawson et al., 1993 ; Krueger & Casey, 2002 ).

2.1 Context and sampling strategy

The focus groups were conducted at a Dutch university. Since the focus of this research study was to identify design principles for an online learning platform that fosters students’ employability competences, one focus group was conducted with a group of graduate students ( n  = 5), while another focus group included educational experts ( n  = 5).

The students were recruited from various study programs (i.e., Organizational Learning, Learning and Development, Marketing and Economics, and Psychology) via an invitational email, sent by the university’s Career Services department. The focus group with students focused on both their experiences with online learning platforms, and their preferences regarding reflective practices for the development of their employability competences.

The second focus group consisted of three teachers, two of them also assigned as coaches, and two staff members who were involved in educational innovation projects on student employability. The educational experts came from various disciplines (i.e., Education, Science and Engineering, Economics and Business). Regarding the educational experts, the interview covered questions about their expertise concerning online learning platforms as ways to provide reflective practices and how students can effectively develop employability competences.

During both focus groups, one particular online learning platform implemented at the university was referred to during the interviews, by way of example. The platform consisted of a learning management system, an online self-assessment questionnaire about employability and a portal with resources, including various online resources (e.g., personality tests, vacancies, reading materials), activities (lectures and workshops) and online career modules.

Both students and educational experts participated in the focus groups on a voluntary basis, with anonymous analysis and reporting. Before the interview started, a brief introduction was given to the participants about the procedure, the research topic, and permission was obtained for recording the interview.

2.2 Data collection methods and instruments

Prior to the interviews, a semi-structured guideline was composed, based on the theoretical frameworks as described above. The interview guideline consisted of main questions and sub-questions per theme, allowing the interviewer to examine different experiences, insights, and opinions.

The two focus groups took approximately 1 h each and were conducted via Zoom. The focus group with the students happened in English, while the interview with the educational experts was conducted in Dutch. In this paper, quotations of the educational experts have been translated. The focus groups were audio-recorded, which allowed the interviewer to maintain focus on the group rather than taking notes (Krueger & Casey, 2002 ).

2.3 Data processing, thematic analysis and reliability

The interviews were fully transcribed, followed by upload into Atlas.ti for thematic content and co-occurrence analysis. Thematic analysis was used to identify, analyse, and report patterns within the qualitative data. Exploration of the data included measuring the prevalence of single items or themes within or across the focus groups (Braun & Clarke, 2006 ). In addition, the number of instances of two codes co-occurring in the data was also determined. The more co-occurrences exist in the data, the more likely it is that a relationship exists between two concepts or themes (Friese, 2019 ).

The coding was done on the meaningful segments of both interviews, both deductively, starting with key concepts from literature, and inductively, by adding new themes derived from segments that could not be coded with the existing set of codes. The researcher compared new codes with the literature and either assigned the codes to existing themes or defined a new theme. Each meaningful segment could get one or more codes assigned. According to Morgan ( 2022 ) deductive thematic analysis is mostly aimed at gathering evidence related to the themes, which are often predetermined, whereas inductive analysis is focussed on identifying patterns in the data that often represent the opinions as raised by the participants of the focus groups.

This circular process of coding evolved into a codebook with deductive codes from the literature and inductive codes based on the data. The inductive codes were linked with existing themes or considered as belonging to new themes.

To determine the consistency in classifying items into mutually exclusive categories, interrater reliability was established, using Cohen’s kappa (O’Connor & Joffe, 2020 ). An independent coder identified codes for randomly selected meaningful segments making up 15% of the data. Differences were discussed until consensus was reached and revisions, where needed, were made. This process resulted in adequate inter-coder reliability as shown by a Cohen’s kappa of 0.723, indicating acceptable, substantial agreement between the coders (Sun, 2011 ).

Lastly, ATLAS.ti was used to generate reports by calculating the prevalence of and co-occurrences between the codes (Friese, 2019 ).

In this section, we first present the coding scheme derived from the focus group interviews. Next, we describe the general findings regarding design principles for an OLP providing reflective practices based on the prevalence of themes (i.e., employability, reflective practice, online learning platform, and the learner and the broader context), followed by the interpretation based on co-occurrences. As previously stated, co-occurrences represent possible relations between codes or concepts. As the research question is about identifying the design principles for an OLP providing reflective practice, co-occurrences between identified themes related to the OLP (i.e., employability, features of the OLP, the learner and the context) and the phases of reflective practice (i.e., become aware, analyse current state, draft and plan a solution, take action, reflect in/on action) were investigated.

3.1 Coding scheme

The deductive and inductive codes for the focus group interviews are depicted in Table  1 , including the frequencies of occurrence of each code during the two focus groups. The deductive codes represent evidence for the themes we predetermined from the literature, whereas the inductive codes represent patterns in data that were derived from the opinions of the focus group participants.

3.2 Key findings per theme

Based on the code frequencies shown in Table  1 , we can derive the following key findings per theme.

3.2.1 Employability

Interviewees in both focus groups provided examples of employability competencies such as adaptability, oral and written communication, presenting, collaboration, critical strategic planning, leadership skills and networking. For students, it was important to gain more insights and feel more confident:

I would be interested in more something like a training on specific skills. Like public speaking or critical strategic planning. These kinds of things, so that I can really get in depth and then I feel like I would also be more confident communicating it at an interview. Like, I can do this because I have been trained in this. (2:54 Student A) I directly think about presenting, public speaking and networking. I think those are three really important capabilities within a lot of jobs. (2:88 Student B)

3.2.2 Reflective practice

For students, the ‘Become aware’ phase often started with feelings of fear or uncertainty regarding a situation or their future:

A lot of people fear something or are uncertain about a situation and I think helping us with that, like that helps with changing but it also helps in more global ways with us in our personal life and work life. (2:92 Student B)

Educational experts envisioned that, by linking intended learning outcomes in curricula with employability competences, students can monitor their progress regarding the development of employability competences, which will make them more aware of their employability.

Both students and educational experts recommended an online self-assessment as a starting point for analysing students’ strengths and weaknesses. According to the students, the OLP should include an easy to search and filter overview of activities that are related both to results of the self-assessment and to other relevant activities offered within the university or linked to external resources. Such a repository filled with activities supports students in defining goals and planning activities, which aligns with the ‘Draft and plan solution’ phase. The educational experts underlined the need to define goals with a longer-term perspective in mind that overarches multiple courses or modules within a study programme.

It should actually be something they can carry with them across several subjects or at least be able to continue to focus. So it definitely has to have that kind of longitudinal approach as well. (3:152 Educational expert D)

When asked about the kinds of ‘Take action’ activities that should be available via the OLP, students suggested e-modules, online workshops, links to vacancy boards and company pages, podcasts and a functionality for registration for on-site workshops.

According to the students, reflection-in-action involves practicing knowledge and skills in different settings, whereas reflection-on-action entails asking for feedback and integrating new insights into existing knowledge. In contrast to the students, the educational experts believed that reflection-in-action involves the exchange of experiences between students.

3.2.3 Online learning platform

Regarding the features of an OLP, both students and educational experts discussed three forms of interaction: student-to-student, instructor-to-student and student-to-content interaction. The last, student-to-content interaction, was mentioned most often and has been identified as an inductive theme. Examples of content mentioned by the interviewees were podcasts, videos, self-assessments, games, links to external resources and online tutorials and articles. Students preferred to read theoretical knowledge regarding the development of employability competences. This theoretical information could be presented either as in-depth material that is linked with a curricular course or as preparatory material followed by learning activities to bring theory into practice. One student said the following about this form of blended learning:

I had the experience that we had a workshop on team building. Before that workshop, we were supposed to read some parts from the OLP on conflict resolution. And I found that a very good balance because then we got the knowledge online, but I think for especially for developing social skills, you really need to actually interact with people. (2:57 Student A)

The educational experts also discussed instructor-to-student interaction, such as moderating chats and discussion forums or posting announcements. Regarding student-to-student interaction, educational experts mentioned sharing experiences or interacting with students from other study programmes as examples of this type of interaction.

Three additional features of the OLP were mentioned by the interviewees. First was goal efficiency, meaning that the OLP should foster the development of employability competences in such a way that it allows students to gain a more in-depth understanding without putting too much effort or time to find the right and relevant activities or making them feel overwhelmed. Quality of content, which students considered to refer to content that is linked to external resources, was expected to contribute to a higher level of perceived usefulness of the OLP. Third, students also considered the appeal and interface of the OLP to be important. Presenting information in a user-friendly format was expected to help students understand and navigate through the content on the OLP.

3.2.4 Learner and context

Students mentioned several contextual factors that affect their attitude towards the use of the OLP: (1) communication and information about the existence of the OLP, (2) the OLP’s connection with curricular courses, other platforms (such as vacancy listings) and external resources, (3) follow-up provided by the OLP after undertaking activities, (4) influence from peers and instructors and (5) user-friendly categorised and searchable information.

Regarding motivation to use the OLP as a way to engage in reflective practice, students realised that they must work on their competences for themselves. However, they were also searching for motivational factors that would make them use the OLP. The use of certificates or credits and gamification were mentioned as examples of such stimuli. The educational experts mentioned the role of a coach or mentor as a motivational factor, but they also discussed the balance between supporting versus pampering students:

I think that you can organize that personal contact in a way that emphasizes the student's own responsibility and wherein a student also feels the consequences if he or she did not. I think that is also an important function of the university that you sometimes don't do things or fail and that you then learn to deal with it. You shouldn't take that away as a coach. (3:126 Educational expert C)

Two inductive topics emerged in particular from the experts’ focus group. The educational experts argued that integration of the OLP for employability with coaching or mentoring trajectories is indispensable to make students aware of their employability. They also advocated that embedding an employability competence framework in curricula is needed to ensure awareness and reflection amongst students when using an OLP for employability competence development.

Embedding employability competences in the curriculum should of course be programmatic, right? That there is a plan behind it: from where do we start? How do we build up the retention of competences? Where do different aspects of competences come from? Where do they get a place? Are there additional activities? We have company visits in our master program where you can immediately take a look at: What do our alumni do? And how does that work? That you get a concrete picture. Those are small things, yes, but they do help to paint a clear picture of where I am going as a student. (3:141 Educational expert C)

Finally, educational experts also recommended paying attention to teacher professional development when implementing an OLP that fosters the development of employability competences. This was the last inductive code, we derived from the focus groups.

When it comes to organizing your education, you may have to look much more at professional tasks as well … so you will also have to do a lot for the teaching staff to include them in the change. Yes, it is essential to also renew didactic training about employability for teachers. (3:115 Educational expert E)

3.3 Themes in co-occurrence with reflective practice

Since our aim is to identify the design principles for an OLP providing reflective practice, we present the findings from the co-occurrences tables per phase of reflective practice, as outlined in the sections below. Table 2 shows the co-occurrences of the themes employability, the features of an OLP, the learner and contextual factors with the phases of reflective practice for the students’ focus group interview, and Table  3 for the interview with the educational experts.

The students mentioned the ‘Take action’ phase of the reflective practice most often in combination with the other themes, while the educational experts discussed the first phase, ‘Become aware’, most often in combination with other themes. In both focus groups, student-to-content interaction was most frequently mentioned with respect to all phases of reflective practice.

3.3.1 Become aware

The first phase, ‘Become aware’, was mainly mentioned in combination with employability competences (students) and embedding the concept of employability in curricula (experts). Educational experts argued that the development of competences within curricula should be made more explicit to students in order to raise their awareness about their employability. As one of the experts explained:

There are 2 things that I would recommend. Firstly, that it is much clearer to students in their curriculum which intended learning outcomes are linked to employability so that they are more aware of this. And the second is that students can accomplish learning activities, such as assessments and participation. If these learning activities are aligned to these learning outcomes, they can also be linked to employability competencies so you will be able to see some kind of progression throughout the study programme. (3:171 Educational expert B)

In addition, instructor-to-student interaction, such as having a chat with a coach or mentor, can be used as an instrument to motivate students’ thinking about their employability, thus raising their awareness as well. Finally, student-to-content interaction might also induce awareness about employability. One educational expert provided the following example:

At the start of the academic year, we ask students to search for two or three vacancies on the online vacancy board. When they analyse these vacancies, they will discover that employers ask for all kinds of competences next to academic knowledge. Reading these vacancies fosters students’ awareness about their employability. (3:163 Educational expert D)

3.3.2 Analyse current state

Students mentioned ‘Analysing the current state’ mainly in combination with features of the OLP that are related to goal efficiency and student-to-content interaction. Students considered the OLP attractive to use if results of an online self-assessment could be linked with not-too-obvious suggestions for improvement of competences.

I actually thought it was a smart idea like when you get the results [following the self-assessment] and you think, “Oh, that's kind of obvious,” but you can click through on them and then it's gets more complicated. Like now you know this, you can approve or improve this and this. I think for me, that would make it more interesting . (2:86 Student B)

The educational experts linked this phase of reflective practice with learners’ motivation and contextual factors. Linking the results of the self-assessment with an overview of in-depth activities was deemed to be crucial as a follow-up to get students motivated to reflect on their current state and move forward in their development. Both students and educational experts argued that discussing the results of the self-assessment with a coach, mentor or career advisor can facilitate analysis of one’s current state.

3.3.3 Draft and plan a solution

For the next phase, ‘Draft and plan a solution’, interviewees combined this with mentions of features of the OLP such as quality of content, goal efficiency and different types of interaction.

According to the students, the OLP should foster the development of employability competences in a way that allows them to gain more in-depth understanding without putting in too much effort or time finding the right and relevant activities or making them feel overwhelmed. Information organized in a user-friendly format helps students understand and navigate through the content on the OLP. Students also preferred to get new directions for other related activities once they have finished activities that they are currently working on or completed in the past. The following conversation captures these views:

... if I would like to develop e.g. my networking skills then I would like to see something in the front of me like that “do this to develop your networking” and then if I did that, then the OLP says like “OK now you have your network in place, do this or this to make use of it.” (2:98 Student B)

In addition, students also mentioned motivational aspects together with this phase. Students mentioned that their attitude towards using the OLP in this stage of reflective practice would depend strongly on the ease of finding relevant activities that fit with their goals and with their current course-related learning activities.

…if they could, this [connecting your goals to what you are already studying] would be great. Cause then you can really link what you are studying to which competencies you would like to further develop. (2:138 Student E)

3.3.4 Take action

In the interview with students, the ‘Take action’ reflective phase was mentioned in combination with six other codes. First, students linked it with the development of employability competencies, such as adaptability, oral communication, critical strategic planning or networking to undertaking activities within the OLP. Second, students argued that experiential activities with a blended instructional design, such as reading theoretical background information on the OLP or listening to podcasts, and conducting practical exercises during workshops on-site, would fit well in an OLP. Third, students specifically mentioned student-to-content interactions that are relevant for undertaking activities. In particular, they mentioned links to external resources such as vacancy listings or external trainings offered via LinkedIn. Fourth, perceived usefulness and social influence were frequently mentioned as factors that would affect the use of the OLP when talking about undertaking activities via the OLP:

If I would hear from friends what they saw on the OLP and they are using it, I would be also more interested to use it this. So, I think that social influence from your friends is an option that might work. (2:139 Student B)

Fifth, practicing skills together, sharing experiences or interacting with students from other study programmes were brought up as forms of student-to-student interaction in combination with ‘Take action’. Lastly, regarding motivation, students mentioned certificates or other forms of evidence that they have undertaken specific activities, which they can add to any kind of portfolio or to their LinkedIn profiles. Gamification was also mentioned by two students as a motivational tool.

Educational experts mostly mentioned forms of interaction within the OLP in combination with the ‘Take action’ phase. Regarding instructor-to-student interaction, educational experts mentioned having a chat with a teacher or coach, moderating a discussion board or posting announcements. Regarding student-to-student interaction, educational experts mentioned practicing skills together, sharing experiences or interacting with students from other study programmes. The educational experts also discussed the use of an e-portfolio as a form of student-to-content interaction.

3.3.5 Reflect in and on action

The last phase of reflective practice, ‘Reflect in/on action’, was mostly mentioned in combination with features of the OLP and learner factors. For students, the OLP could help them to apply newly learned knowledge or skills in different settings. In addition, they mentioned giving and receiving feedback as a mean to reflect on action. A coach or mentor could serve as someone who keeps the student accountable regarding their competence development.

One of the educational experts suggested that the OLP should facilitate ongoing interaction between students as a follow-up to activities such as workshops. This could support the collaborative learning that fosters reflection in and on action.

Educational experts also argued that the OLP could nudge students to reflect on their actions:

That with the help of the input from the OLP students are supported in thinking about how their competence has actually developed during the course: ‘Have I become stronger at this. Do I feel something is missing? That you are a bit nudged by the OLP asking for feedback in your environment. (3:555 Educational expert D)

4 Discussion

Considering the key role of reflection in the development of employability competences and the increasing use of technology that supports learning activities, we aimed to identify how online learning platforms can be used to provide reflective practices that foster the development of employability skills of students in higher education. In the introduction, we framed reflective practice as a recurrent process that consists of five phases involving undertaking learning activities that foster the development of employability competences. In the next section, we formulate for each reflective practice phase the design principles for an OLP that are derived from the thematic analysis of the focus group interviews.

4.1 Design principles for an OLP providing reflective practice

4.1.1 become aware.

Students and educational experts both argued that an OLP cannot trigger awareness regarding the need for developing employability competences by itself. Such an OLP should be connected with curricular learning activities, with additional external content, such as vacancy listings or company pages, and preferably with coaching or mentoring trajectories organised by the school. This inductively derived observation is in line with several other studies that have advocated embedding employability in the curriculum, for example, by identifying programme objectives as employability skills, offering career development activities at the central level, and the implementation of coaching trajectories (Abelha et al., 2020 ; Bridgstock & Jackson, 2019 ; Harvey, 2005 ; Krouwel et al., 2019 ).

Therefore, we formulate the following design principle to support the first reflective practice phase ‘Become aware’:

Design principle 1 The use of an OLP organised to provide reflective practices should be triggered by curricular and institutional learning activities that foster the development of employability competences, including coaching or mentoring trajectories.

4.1.2 Analyse current state

Self-assessment fosters reflection on one’s own learning process, and helps students to evaluate their current strengths and weaknesses (Boud et al., 1985 ; Samuels & Betts, 2007 ). Self-assessment also encourages students to engage in further information-seeking activities related to goal setting (Griffiths et al., 2018 ).

In both focus groups, the use of online self-assessment was mentioned as an instrument to initiate self-reflection, which in turn, leads to better understanding of students’ levels of competence, as was also proposed by Martínez-Villagrasa et al. ( 2020 ). For the reflective practice phase ‘Analyse current state’, we propose the following design principle:

Design principle 2 An OLP organised to provide reflective practices facilitates online self-assessments and supports activities for gathering feedback from peers or staff to help students analyse their strengths and weaknesses in regard to their employability competences. The results of these self-assessment activities should be presented in a way that enables students to reflect on their current state.

4.1.3 Draft and plan a solution

Results of online assessments and feedback gathering should be accompanied with recommendations that help students to formulate goals in response. Goal setting is a learning activity that helps students to define realistic and measurable goals and select activities that support these goals (Jackson, 2015 ). Typical online learning activities that fit with this phase are blogs, wikis, media resources, and journals (Dabbagh & Kitsantas, 2012 ), supported by a repository that offers a comprehensive overview of all types of curricular and extra-curricular activities that foster the development of employability competences (Kleinberger et al., 2001 ). Information should be organised in a user-friendly format that is easily searchable and filterable, allowing students to find and select activities in an efficient manner (Hollenbeck et al., 2011 ). From the focus group interviews, we derived the third design principle:

Design principle 3 An OLP organised to provide reflective practices gives recommendations derived from the self-assessments and feedback gathering. In addition, the OLP includes an easily searchable and filterable repository with learning activities that help students to formulate goals and plan activities.

4.1.4 Take action

Taking action requires experimentation in the form of undertaking activities that yield experiences to use in re-evaluation of the original problem (Dewey, 1933 ; Schön, 1983 ). Interviewees in both groups (students and educational experts) suggested that the OLP should offer the following activities regarding ‘Take action’: e-modules, online workshops, links to vacancy listings and company pages, podcasts, discussion boards and a functionality for registration for on-site workshops.

Students expressed their preference regarding the use of blended learning activities for the development of their competences. Blended learning can be framed as the integration of face-to-face learning experiences with online learning experiences, with the goal of stimulating and supporting learning (Garrison & Kanuka, 2004 ). Both students and educational experts discussed some key challenges for blended learning activities, as also described by Boelens et al. ( 2017 ): flexibility (time, place, path and pace of learning); facilitation of students’ learning process (finding the right balance of self-regulation versus support), fostering a motivating learning climate (e.g., influence of a coach or mentor, certificates or gamification), and interaction between instructor and students (e.g., chats, moderating discussion boards or posting announcements).

These key challenges also touch upon another crucial aspect of the educational process: the role of interaction. Whereas Hollenbeck et al. ( 2011 ) described instructor-student and student–student interaction, we encountered a third form of interaction, interaction between student and content, in the thematic analysis of the focus group interviews. In the context of the OLP in our study, these three types of interaction have different functions. Both students and educational experts mentioned practicing skills together, sharing experiences or interacting with students from other study programmes as examples of student-to-student interaction, which is thought to foster the capacity to participate effectively in teams and to demonstrate communication skills (Anderson, 2003 ). The key element in instructor-to-student interaction is support. Such interaction is essential to stimulate critical reflection (Anderson & Garrison, 1998 ) and it benefits motivation and feedback (Anderson, 2003 ). According to the students, a coach or mentor could serve as someone who keeps the student accountable regarding their competence development by providing feedback. This was in line with the view of the educational experts, who stated that interaction with a coach or mentor is essential throughout the different stages of reflective practice. Similarly, student-to-content interaction, for example, as offered within assessments, quizzes, simulations or games, can not only help students to apply theoretical knowledge and practice skills, but can also include feedback that informs students about their progress (Kasch et al., 2021 ).

Design principle 4 In order to gain new experiences, an OLP organised to provide reflective practices facilitates the undertaking and recording of a broad variety of learning activities that are related to both curricular courses and extra-curricular opportunities. These opportunities are supported by a blend of three forms of interaction (instructor-student, student-student, and student-content), in both online and offline settings.

4.1.5 Reflect in and on action

By applying newly learned knowledge or skills in different settings, students reflect in action, whereas reflection on action involves reviewing and evaluating past practices (Schön, 1983 ). This process results into new insights and perspectives regarding the initial situation of inner discomfort with respect to employability (Mezirow, 1981 ). Reflective journaling by means of e-mail, blogs, e-portfolios or participation in peer discussion forums can be supportive to reflection (Lai & Land, 2009 ). Knowledge sharing in the form of reviewing of activities by students through the sharing of experiences promotes collaboration and reflection (Charband & Jafari Navimipour, 2016 ; Dabbagh & Kitsantas, 2012 ). These studies support the view that the OLP should facilitate ongoing interaction between students after activities such as workshops.

Design principle 5 To foster reflection in and on action, an OLP organised to provide reflective practices facilitates opportunities for applying newly learned knowledge or skills in different settings and reviewing activities via reflective journaling and knowledge sharing.

4.2 Implications for practitioners

The findings inform practitioners by providing a kind of checklist that can be used when designing and implementing such OLPs.

4.2.1 Teacher professional development

In this study, we derived inductively from the experts’ opinions that embedding the development of employability competences into the curriculum and using an OLP that provides reflective practices also requires awareness among teachers about their own teaching skills. This observation implies that embedding employability skills and competences in the curriculum requires teachers to rethink their approach to the curriculum and its courses (Fallows, 2000 ). Good learning and employability intentions need to be supported by learning, teaching and assessment approaches that are consistent with curricular intentions (Abelha et al., 2020 ; Yorke & Knight, 2006 ).

4.2.2 Students’ action-oriented view vs. educational experts’ valuing of awareness and analysis of the current state

The results of this study suggested that students appeared to be more action-oriented with regard to reflective practice, whereas the educational experts paid more attention to awareness and analysing the current state. This orientation seems to fit with the role of the stakeholders concerned. Providing students with opportunities to gain experiences and to evaluate and to reflect on learning activities in the past is key for developing employability competences (Moon, 2004 ; Pool & Sewell, 2007 ). The teacher’s role can be related to seminal work by Dewey ( 1933 ), who stated that appropriate guidance consists of the teacher’s ability to provoke the mind of the learner by asking questions. In the context of technology for learning, Molin ( 2017 ) summarized three teacher roles: 1) the expert guide who helps students make connections with the learning goals, 2) the facilitator of pedagogical approaches fostering reflection and feedback and 3) the connector who helps students to understand the relevance of acquired knowledge beyond the classroom.

This observation does not necessarily mean that students are not aware. However, in the end, actions count more for students. A lesson might be for the coach to be aware to check on the ‘why’ (and less on the ‘what’), even if the ‘what’ is there, to be sure that actions are motivated.

4.3 Limitations and suggestions for further research

The design principles described in this study are grounded in both theory and the experiences of students and staff, and provide a framework for future research studying OLPs, their features and outcomes. The outcome of our thematic analysis was in line with and did gather evidence supporting the themes we defined a priori from the literature (Morgan, 2022 ). Moreover, two themes, “Online learning platform” and “Learner & Context”, were enriched inductively with the opinions from our participants. Future research may help to elaborate, confirm or reject them.

The current study was limited to a relatively small sample that covered two perspectives, a student and an educational expert perspective. According to (Krueger, 2014 ), a focus group consisting of four to six participants is easier to recruit and is more comfortable for participants, but offers less experiences compared to focus groups with more participants. Hennink and Kaiser ( 2022 ) argue that the number of focus groups is more relevant for reaching saturation in qualitative research than the number of participants per group. As this study focuses on a competence-based approach to employability, we did not include perspectives from other fields of expertise, such as employers of alumni or a more technically oriented view. Future research should expand the number of focus groups for students and educational experts and include focus groups for other perspectives as well, as they might result in additional insights regarding the design of an OLP that fosters employability competences.

In our study, the interviewees were recruited within one university, located in a western-European country that provides mainly campus-based education. During the interviews, participants had one particular platform in mind. Although using a particular example of an OLP has the benefit of bringing up more concrete thoughts during the focus group sessions, it also raises the question to what extent the design principles will apply to other higher education settings, such as fully remote, online universities, or hybrid forms of learning activities, and to other geographical areas with different cultural backgrounds. We suggest that future research aim at replication of the findings for different educational and cultural settings.

As we propagate three forms of interaction according to our fourth design principle, we suggest that future research addresses trustworthiness as a relevant factor for establishing a safe and reliable learning environment for students (Anwar, 2021 ). Trustworthiness can be evaluated based on factors such as the credibility and reliability of both users of the OLP (Alkhamees et al., 2021 ) as well as the information provided on the OLP (Hollenbeck et al., 2011 ), and to what degree the OLP (i.e. the concerning university) conforms to the latest security and privacy standards (e.g. the EU General Data Protection Regulation).

In the present study, focus group interviews revolved around the expected and perceived value of an OLP that fosters the development of employability competences. We did not quantify the actual use and value of such an OLP. Therefore, we suggest that future research includes a more quantitatively based approach, measuring the actual use and usability of OLPs. Quantitative data could be gathered via measuring the actual usage of the OLP, and via the use of existing validated questionnaires on reflective practice (Priddis & Rogers, 2018 ), reflection levels (Kember et al., 2000 ) and the usability or perceived value of an OLP (Ahmed & Ward, 2016 ), or via new, yet-to-be validated questionnaires.

Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – During their first meeting of 2024, the Bowling Green State University Board of Trustees recognized the University's continued success in attracting and retaining students, as well as the importance of research and creative activities, and took action to ensure BGSU remains relevant for future learners.

Celebrating dedication to student experience

At the Feb. 23 meeting, trustees praised the efforts of the learning community for its collective work and support in welcoming more than 4,000 guests, including nearly 1,600 prospective students from 28 states, to campus for the 29th annual BGSU Presidents Day Open House.

As one of the largest and most comprehensive college visit days in Ohio, the BGSU Presidents Day Open House is offered when classes are in session, allowing prospective students to customize their visit with various activities and informational sessions. This year's open house was one of the highest attended in recent years, up 23% in prospective student visitors compared to 2023.

“Bowling Green State University was pleased to welcome so many future Falcons and their families to campus for our Presidents Day Open House, reflecting the continued momentum around our enrollment,” BGSU President Rodney K. Rogers said. “It is a great opportunity for our future students to experience our learning community and we look forward to welcoming them back to Bowling Green as BGSU students in the fall.”

During the open house, prospective students and their families discovered firsthand why BGSU is the No. 1 university in Ohio for student experience through visits with current students, faculty and staff members during guided tours of academic departments, research labs and other key areas.

The highly attended 2024 Presidents Day Open House underscored the University's ongoing investment in student engagement and success initiatives, as BGSU sees continued enrollment growth and record-high retention rates for spring semester.

Supporting teaching and research activities

The board voted to name Dr. Matthew Partin a distinguished teaching professor in the Department of Biological Sciences .

As a faculty member at the University since 1998, Partin's research specializes in marine and aquatic science. He also serves as coordinator for the BGSU Marine Laboratory, which provides one-of-a-kind experiential learning opportunities, and advises more than 100 students annually in research and other activities. Additionally, Partin also has supervised multiple honors projects in the last two decades.

Partin earned his bachelor's degree in biology, master's degree in curriculum and teaching and doctorate degree in leadership studies all from BGSU.

"BGSU is grateful for its world-class faculty who provide students a quality education through comprehensive academic programs and experiences," said Dr. Joe B. Whitehead Jr., provost and senior vice president at BGSU. "With his teaching and research activities, Dr. Partin has demonstrated a commitment to supporting student success and outcomes through innovative instructional methods and an ability to empower learners in the classroom and in the lab. He is just one example of the many dedicated BGSU faculty members who redefine student success each and every day."

The board of trustees also appointed Dr. Laura Regassa as vice president of research at BGSU and professor with tenure in the Department of Biological Sciences.

Following a competitive national search and input from the learning community, Regassa is set to join BGSU in May, replacing Dr. Ali Eskandarian as interim vice president of research. Currently, Regassa serves as associate vice president for research at Georgia Southern University.

With an extensive background in extramurally funded research and scholarship as a principal investigator and administrator, Regassa will work to elevate the University's extensive research enterprises. Classified by the Carnegie Foundation as a High Research Activity University, BGSU has a special obligation to focus its research, scholarship and creative activities to drive economic and cultural vitality in the region and beyond.

Regassa holds a doctoral degree in bacteriology from the University of Wisconsin at Madison and a bachelor's degree in Spanish from Marquette University.

Falcon Tuition Guarantee

Keeping education accessible through the Falcon Tuition Guarantee , the board set room and meal plan rates for the 2024-25 academic year, ensuring BGSU remains an outstanding value for students and their families.

Under the Falcon Tuition Guarantee, all new, first-time undergraduate students are guaranteed the same tuition, room, board and fee rate for four consecutive years at the University, reducing debt and promoting on-time graduation.

For the incoming fall class, trustees approved a 3% adjustment in rates for its three-tiered housing system, which ranges from basic to deluxe residence hall rooms. Meanwhile, the rate for the University's Bronze Meal Plan, which the state uses for comparison purposes, will increase by 3.5% or an average $4.30 per week.

BGSU continues to remain one of the most affordable universities for room and board rate expenses as compared to Ohio’s 13 public universities.

Action items of the board

The board of trustees approved design services for renovations to Kohl Hall, which was completed in 1938 and serves as one of the University's primary residence halls.

Proposed future renovations to Kohl Hall include updating the building's interior, adding additional residence rooms and modernizing restrooms. The residence hall will also receive air conditioning and is set to temporarily close starting in summer 2024 for the upgrade.

Additionally, trustees voted to approve planning and construction work estimates for improvements to the Technology Building, which is slated to include an expanded footprint and upgrades to the structure's heating, ventilation, air conditioning, electrical and water supply systems to support the University's bolstered academic offerings in engineering .

The reimagined BGSU engineering program supports Ohio's workforce needs in the growing advanced manufacturing sector, offering a unique blend of science and application  that employers say is needed in the current and future industry landscape.

Updated: 02/23/2024 02:59PM

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  1. 50 Mini-Lessons For Teaching Students Research Skills

    This post shares ideas for mini-lessons that could be carried out in the classroom throughout the year to help build students' skills in the five areas of: clarify, search, delve, evaluate, and cite. It also includes ideas for learning about staying organised throughout the research process. Notes about the 50 research activities:

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  7. Research Topics & Questions

    Research Question Framing. This asynchronous activity helps students think through the process of framing their research questions at the early stage of their RBA by asking them to consider different ways of framing their research questions. It also encourages students to work with each other in the process of finalizing their research questions.

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  10. Active Online Learning in Research Methods

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    How to teach online research skills. Follow the steps below to instruct students on the best practices for conducting online research: 1. Make time in your curriculum. Although you have important content to teach in class, taking the time to effectively train students how to search is an important first step in making them more savvy online ...

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  13. 100 Activities for Teaching Research Methods

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  15. 15 Virtual Research Opportunities for High School Students

    Camp Euclid is a math research program for kids that takes place online. Math problems will be presented to the participants (which have never been solved before). Within a circle of fellow scholars, students spend time on understanding, solving, and applying complex math problems. The opportunity is open to students over the age of 13.

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  17. 100 Activities for Teaching Research Methods

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    Teaching academically honest research skills helps first graders learn how to collect, organize, and interpret information. Earlier in my career, I was told two facts that I thought to be false: First graders can't do research, because they aren't old enough; and if facts are needed for a nonfiction text, the students can just make them up ...

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    Guided Student-Led Research Projects This is a great way to boost communication between students while also encouraging choice and autonomy throughout the research process. This really opens up possibilities for students and boosts student activity and engagement throughout the whole project.

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  27. BGSU trustees focus on student success and experience at February meeting

    BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - During their first meeting of 2024, the Bowling Green State University Board of Trustees recognized the University's continued success in attracting and retaining students, as well as the importance of research and creative activities, and took action to ensure BGSU remains relevant for future learners.. Celebrating dedication to student experience