With the new year under way, classroom teachers have reached out to ask about collaboration opportunities related to teaching research skills. Recently health classes came into the library to participate in a research lesson comparing Google searches and database searches to prepare for an upcoming assignment to share information about current health issues.
Over the course of the lesson, students examined red flags and bias related to searches, and they spent time developing keyword searches using keywords, Boolean operators, and quotation marks.
Students in speech classes also participated in a similar lesson, again developing strong search terms and phrases. In a pre-assessment given in their speech classes, students shared that they were comfortable using Google Scholar but weren't aware of the benefits of accessing our school databases.
Because of this, these groups had time to explore and search in three databases: Britannica Online, SIRS Issues Researcher, and GALE OneFile.
After exploring databases, students again worked in their groups using the search terms they'd developed to work through an activity to practice using the databases and Google Scholar:
To wrap up their work, students completed quick reflections related to their work.
While every table group shared at the start of the lesson that Google or an AI tool was usually their first choice when given a topic to research, many students individually stated at the end of the period that a database or Google Scholar may be a better choice given a specific task. And all students showed either a yellow or green ticket indicating that they were more confident when it comes to using keyword searching.
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