Research Paper Process Blues

I have confronted some real obstacles with the research process this month. While some interesting findings have come from the research Fran and I are doing and discussing the survey data itself could keep us going for awhile, I am frustrated with the lack of reading and thinking skills my students have come to me with this year. The first two steps of the process -- pre-search and information gathering and now note taking - have taken at least four more class periods than they usually do! I am hoping that spending this extra time will result in a better result for the end product, and we do see evidence that some students are grasping the "method in the madness."

Fran and I did an interesting experiment to kick the unit off - we let students surf the internet to do some preliminary reading the way they would if we turned them out on their own with no instruction. We asked them to track the web sites they visited on a tracking sheet. For many students this worked well, but many of the students didn't know the difference between a search engine and a web site. Even two weeks in as I grade bib cards, several students put the name of the web sites they were citing as "Google" - when we move to the major research paper later this year, I know we will want to more explicitly teach the distinction. In my period 7 section, the students didn't do a very good job writing down the web sites they were visiting, but this is the group that would rather talk about what they are doing versus recording what they are doing! (In the Career Ladder Action Research group we are participating in, several members had good ideas: have students copy and past the URL's into a Word document.) Watching the students complete this activity told us that the students are not very discriminating or advanced seekers. We made photocopies of the students' sheets which should provide more useful data. (Later in this unit, Fran and I plan to do a web evaluation lesson to address the need to increase our students' internet search skills and information selection skills.) Unfortunately, we have not been able to analyze the data we are gathering in a comprehensive or organized fashion yet because of the massive amount of time spend this week grading bib cards and schedules that keep Fran and I being in the same place at the same time. Another issue we are facing is student motivation - they just don't want to do the work, any work, regardless. In addition, behaviorally, they are young for their age, requiring constant attention and monitoring. I want to figure out some ways to structure research groups that make students accountable for keeping each other accountable!

After learning a little bit about podcasting, I am thinking of using podcasts as a way to respond to student research papers. Offering students a narrative review/critique of their work . . . I am working on the logistics of this.