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Exploring the Joy of Nonfiction Reading and Writing

Behind the Books: Getting Ready to Research, Part 1

Here are some words I associate with the act
of researching:

—Treasure hunt

—Discovery

—Exploration

—Curiosity

—Fascinating facts

—Prospecting for rare nuggets of knowledge

—Developing unique perspectives

—Books, databases, observations, interviews

—Travel

As you can tell from this list, I enjoy the
process. So when Ellen Brandt, the Teacher-Librarian at Westford Middle School
in Westford, MA, shared this word cloud based on words her sixth graders associate
with the act of researching:

I was surprised and disappointed and
confused. Why did these students have such a negative attitude about what I
consider a fun adventure?

Are these students alone?

Unfortunately, they aren’t. The more I talked
to educators about my concern, the more I realized that Ellen’s students aren’t
an exception. They’re the rule.

Why, I wondered, didn’t students enjoy the
hunt for rare nuggets of knowledge? As I searched for an answer, I started
looking closely at the kinds of research experiences elementary students are
having.

At many schools, early elementary students
are handed fact sheets. For them “research” consists of picking facts off that
sheet and incorporating them into a report. Older elementary students are often
given a list of acceptable websites and told to use only them.

Suddenly, the word cloud started to make
sense.

Students were bored because they weren’t
doing authentic research.

Real research is active and self driven. It
requires creative, out-of-the box thinking. That’s what makes it engaging.

But in the same burst of understanding, I recognized
the heart of the problem. It’s difficult to create authentic research
experiences for early elementary students.

And so, I asked myself a question: Is there a
fun way to teach research skills—visual literacy, information literacy, digital
literacy, critical thinking—to early elementary students without actually doing
research?

I think the answer is “yes!” and beginning
after February vacation (which is next week here in Massachusetts), I’m going
to share some ideas with you.

8 Responses

  1. I think that elementary students enjoy research when they are given the opportunity to research their own interests. We've recently used I'm Trying To Love Spiders by Bethany Barton as a mentor text for research. I've had kids choose animal poop, cockroaches, math, Justin Bieber and many more fun topics to research. One student commented last week, "I can't believe I'm writing about this in school!" The best part is the research is student driven and the kids are given choice. I can't wait to read your next posts and learn more ideas for making research fun in the classroom! Thanks for sharing this.

  2. Yes, this is my experience at my son's school as well. And it's a progressive school! When we do "research" during school library classes, it takes TIME, something kids/teachers don't have much of during the school day. So we give them a handful of websites they can search. So many of them try to get answers through sites like Ask.com! Yikes! They're looking for a quick answer to write down and move on. I am all ears to hear about your suggestions. Thank you!

  4. Thanks for all your enthusiastic comments. My feeling is that if early elementary teachers don't have the time or support for authentic research experiences, it's better to do fun activities to teach and reinforce research skills. Rote research experiences are bound to turn off curious young minds, and that's the last thing we want to do.

  8. I am very interested in your finds Melissa! Your ideas and thoughts will be beneficial to many educators.

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