Research-PBL+Essential+Learning+Functions

= Research=

Richard and Kate 
//jan and roger //

One of the first challenges is to get students to use internet research tools besides Google. //When using Google, we can be more specific in directing students to use Google News or Google Scholar. //  There are a number of excellent research databases, examples of which are listed below. However, students seem to be resistant to the idea of experimenting with a variety of research tools. It might be useful for us as teachers to look for and embed ways all through our teaching to model OTHER ways--often more efficent ones--of finding the information they need to know.
 * Introduction**

Information Literacy skills are the cornerstone of good research. Students need to have the skills necessary to find, use, evaluate, cite and organize information from the internet as well as learn to navigate appropriate databases. //For the sake of time, it might be better for the teacher to direct the students to the web pages they want them to use for the research rather than having the students waste their time searching Google for things that might not be relevant to the project.//

 As students learn to find, use and evaluate their sources, they can begin to ".. meet others who are seeking the same information as them" (21). Sites such as del.icio.us and Furl (see below) are safe and practical ways to begin teaching students about social networking in the research arena.

School and public libraries usually provide excellent databases for clients to use. These are commercial-free and well researched. Instructing users in navigation is imperative for their success.
 * __Quality Directories__**

Providing **Pathfinders** for users with pre-selected websites is another way to provide quality information resources for our students. This is especially important to guide our younger users and in a school setting if there is a limited amount of time available for internet access.
 * Online Research Databases** (examples)
 * [|Skyline High School Library Page]
 * [|Coal Ridge Middle School Library Page]
 * **//[|Skyline High School Resources Page]//**
 * [|Coal Ridge Middle School Resources Page]


 * Internet Directories** -- Pre-screened web resources
 * [|The Internet Public Library]
 * [|InfoPlease]
 * [|Librarian's Internet Index]


 * __Kid Search Engines__**

Search engines providing user-defined search filters:
 * __Safe Search__**
 * [|Google Safe Search]
 * Yahoo Safe Search


 * __Bookmarks and Citations__**
 * [|del.icio.us]
 * [|Furl]
 * Tagging
 * [|Landmark Citation Machine]