Collaboration Lesson

Lesson Title: Choosing Research Resources

Grade Level(s): Fifth Grade
Time Allotted: 45 minutes
Subject Area: Language Arts
AASL 21st Century Standards:
1. Inquire, think critically, & gain knowledge
1.1.4: Find, evaluate, and select appropriate sources to answer questions.
1.1.5: Evaluate information found in selected sources on the basis of accuracy, validity,
appropriateness for needs, importance, and cultural context.
1.1.6: Read, view, and listen for information presented in any format (e.g. textual, visual,
media, digital) in order to make inferences and gather meaning.
Georgia Performance Standards:
ELAGSE5W7: Conduct short research projects that use several sources to build knowledge
through investigation of different aspects of a topic.
ELAGSE5W9: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection,
and research.
Pre-Assessment Results: The students were given the questionnaire on research and technology.
22 Students participated in the questionnaire. The following are the questionnaire results that
guided the main focus of the lesson:
All students have used a computer for research.
16 students could not identify the key words of three different research topics.
17 students did not know there is a difference in websites and domain names.
15 students are aware of plagiarism, but over half of the students were unable to identify
plagiarism.

Instructional Objective: During this lesson students will learn to narrow the results when
conducting an on-line search for information. During this lesson students will learn to choose
reputable resources. During this lesson students will learn about plagiarism.
Pre-Assessment: Research questionnaire (Appendix A)
Materials: Interactive white board, laptop, Questionnaire, Informational flyer (smore.com)
Differentiation: Smore.com flyer with video and pictures.

Lesson:

Prior Knowledge: Ask students to discuss research experiences. Discuss key words, appropriate
websites, and the large amount of information on the internet.
Large Group: I am going to talk about research. In Middle School you will have many projects
that require research. I would like to give you a few tips to shorten the amount of time it takes
you to find good resources. I also want to talk about citing resources.
Differentiation: Smore.com flyer with video and pictures.
Introduce the activity: Bring up smore.com flyer. Review the key elements of the lesson. Talk
about the highlights. Discussion:
Research can be overwhelming. Takes away time from the actual project and the
assignment.
Start with a good search engine. You want a search engine that is safe for kids and a
search engine that were created for research and resources.
Choose key words. Begin with a complete sentence or question. Circle the main words.
Make a list of synonyms. Search with your key words. Change your words if needed.
Understand what the url of a website means.
Ask yourself a few questions.
Be honest if you use someone elses work.

Activity: Use the laptop and the white board to go through the process of research.
Closing: Review smore.com flyer again.

Appendix A

Research Questionnaire

1. Have you used a computer to do research for school?

2. Do you have a favorite search engine? If so which one?
3. Did you now there were specific search engines for kids and research?
Choose the Key Words for each sentence.
4. How fast does a cheetah run? __________________________________
5. How are black holes formed? __________________________________
6. How do bees make honey? ____________________________________
Short Answer:
7. Is there a difference between websites that end in .com, .edu, and .gov?

8. What is plagiarism?

True or False (Circle the correct answer)

9. I do not have to give credit to pictures I find on the internet.

True

10. I have to give credit to an author even if I do not use the exact words.

False.
True

False