In this new book from Routledge and MiddleWeb, author Angie Miller shows how you can turn your students into informed citizens by teaching them how to research effectively. In today's information-saturated world research skills have moved beyond fact-finding, into fact-sifting, fact-sorting, and fact-assessing. Miller shows you how to help…

Drawing on experiences in his social studies classroom, Houman Harouni evaluates both the challenges and possibilities of helping high school students develop critical research skills. The author describes how he used Wikipedia to design classroom activities that address issues of authorship, neutrality, and reliability in information gathering.…

This collection of materials for a 2-day workshop on collaborative teaching, cooperative learning, critical thinking, and critical assessment of resources includes an agenda for each day; workshop goals; guidelines for preparing an annotation; a letter to participants that accompanied four articles for them to read before the workshop; information…

Too often students enter high school without being exposed to the research process and are often overwhelmed by the complex task of selecting and narrowing of a topic, developing research questions, writing the text, and appropriately documenting sources. This paper delineates specific learning activities that will simplify the process to make it…

This research guide is designed to help teachers and students organize their thoughts as they begin to plan and carry out a research assignment where they review and use the resources of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library and Museum (Hyde Park, New York) or other resources for specific projects. The guide is divided into five sections: (1) the…

Discusses a school district's plan to introduce into the curriculum civic writing activities directly linked to local history and community issues. Suggests that writing can stimulate students' civic responsibility through the academic skills of research and critical thinking. Addresses planning, implementation, assessment, and recommendations.…

Integrating up-to-date composition theory with pedagogical research in critical thinking and inquiry, this book presents a flexible organizational structure to accommodate a range of freshman composition course designs and to engage students intellectually in problem-centered writing activities to prepare them for academic tasks across the…

Provides a detailed description of a pilot project designed to develop critical thinking and writing skills in secondary school students. Activities involved in the process include online searching, writing abstracts and research papers, developing bibliographies, and using word processing equipment. Related article appeared in June 1986 issue of…

A syllabus intended to prepare high school students for college level library research and to provide students with skills for lifelong learning is being created by a committee of high school and college librarians and classroom teachers. The syllabus is designed to be taught by a team consisting of a library media specialist, English teacher(s),…

Described is an assignment in which students read and write reviews of four journal articles chosen from preselected biology topics. Suggestions to help achieve maximal effectiveness are included. Directions for grading the review articles are provided. Discussed is how this assignment can help students develop more sophisticated writing skills.…

Provides an exercise for introducing research methods to undergraduates. The students view a graph revealing that left-handed people are underrepresented in older age groups. Small group discussions attempt to explain this phenomenon. A follow-up class discussion focuses on the different approaches and methods available for interpreting the data.…

Describes a writing assignment where students summarize and critique an empirical research article cited in their textbook. Students relate the article to course materials and compare it with the textbook's presentation of the research. Participants praise the assignment's efficacy in teaching about psychology research and encouraging critical…

Describes a high school history class project designed to simultaneously teach students about Napoleon and introduce them to the practice of historical inquiry. Students viewed four data sets reflecting various aspects of Napoleon's life (e.g. military victories, domestic policy). Worksheets and writing assignments reiterated the importance of…

Argues that the fragmentary nature of mass media has made students suspicious of the traditional lecture format. Recommends that history teachers incorporate questions concerning source material and knowledge (e.g. How do I know this?) into their presentations. Suggests a number of activities and texts that can be used to involve students in…

Describes the results of a survey of elementary education faculty at schools of education in Ohio designed to explore attitudes toward the elementary teacher's role in research skills instruction; library instruction in teacher training programs; and the relationship of critical thinking skills to the library research process. (CLB)