The lesson plan to accompany the research activity handouts. Here's the set: http://www.slideshare.net/samlandfried/8th-grade-may-11-research-activity http://www.slideshare.net/samlandfried/8th-grade-may-11-lesson-plan http://www.slideshare.net/samlandfried/8th-grade-april-20-how-do-i-research-handout http://www.slideshare.net/samlandfried/8th-grade-april-20-how-do-i-research-1

1. How Do I Research?- 8th Grade
May 11
The learning intention:
Students will practice:
organizing research materials
analyzing sources for usability
developing research questions
They will use these resources:
Pen and blank paper
How to Research handout from previous class
Stack of research materials (About 20 articles)
Research Organization Handout
Students will be asked to display their understanding through:
Explaining to the class their research findings
Teacher's Preparation
Read this lesson plan
Pick up handouts from Sam before class
Note: It is not necessary to read the articles. There is no desired outcome to this research. Just letting
the students play with it will be helpful to practice sorting information and reinforce last lesson.
Discover the material with them and help them make connections between the sources.
Stages of the lesson and methods to be used:
1. Review How to Research handout from last class. Teacher led Q & A.
2. Discuss and prepare the pre-research questions. Teacher led and group work.
3. Organize research materials according to research questions. Whole class.
4. Find usable material. Group work.
5. Presentations on research findings. Group led lectures.
1 -Review How to Research handout from last class (5 minutes)

2. Go down the row and ask each student to answer one question. Make it quick. Correct any mistakes,
but don't dwell on it.
2 -Discuss and prepare the pre-research questions. (10 minutes)
Go over these 5 objectives. For two of them the students will have to brainstorm additional information.
1. What is your research goal? Explore the reason why high schools require students to wear
uniforms.
2. What are your research questions?Give them this one:Do school uniforms have an impact on
bullying?Students have three minutes to come up with at least one more question in groups.
Then they write them on the board.
3. Who is your audience?Their peers
4. What do you already know?Students have three minutes to come up with any answers or
relevant information. Quickly go through all the groups and ask them what they already know,
or what questions on the board they can answer.
5. How will you plan your time?We will use this class period to sort through the provided
research materials to find useful and relevant sources.
3 Organize research materials according to questions (10 minutes)
Put the stack of articleson a desk and invite all the students to start sorting through them, and according
to title decide what questions they might help to answer. Remind them to write down any new research
questions they think of on the board. Most articles will probably help answer multiple questions. Have
students write the article number next to the question it will help answer.
4 Analyze sources for usability (15 minutes)
Make students break into groups of three or four. How many groups do you have? Choose that many
questions from the board according to which ones have the most sources. Assign one question to each
group. Their job is now to start sorting through those sources to identify useful parts of the article that
help answer the question. Remind them that they are just scanning the material and do not need to
read in depth. They will have a handout to help them organize the information.
5 Presentations on findings (Remaining time)
Groups will explain to the class why (or why not) a source is usable. Then they will share the relevant
information they found. They will also share any patterns in the material they notice, and finally any
new research questions.