This document discusses research skills for 21st century learners. It describes four skill sets that students must develop to be productive in the 21st century: digital literacy, inventive thinking, effective communication, and high productivity. It then provides examples of how to describe these skills visually through items of clothing. The rest of the document discusses how to teach research skills to young students, including hands-on and teacher-directed activities like observational notes, beginning note-taking, and developing questions. It presents a method called Independent Investigation Method for guiding students through the research process from topic selection to final presentation.

1. Research for the 21st Century
NCAGT
March 27, 2009
Karma Maples
Gifted Education Specialist
kmaples@nhcs.k12.nc.us

3. “21st Century Skills for 21st Century Learner” has four skill
sets that learners must progress through to become highly
productive participants in the 21st Century.

4. enGauge 21st Century Skills For 21st Century Learners
by METIRI Group in partnership
with Learning Point Associates

5. Come up with words,
phrases, and illustrations to
describe what a student
would look like if they
possessed each of the four
skill sets. Write these
descriptions on items of
clothing so the learner could
be “dressed for success” in
the 21st Century.

7. How does
research fit
into 21st
century skills?

8. What are some of
the problems with
using research with
young children?

9. Research with young students
• Hands on
• Teacher directed
• Short term

11. Observational

14. Beginning Note taking
Students observe or read information on a
topic and then draw what they have learned.
Using only pictures they can not copy out of
the book.

16. Note taking continued
• Develop a set of questions
that require short one or
two word answers.
Students then read through
books, magazines, or
internet sites provided by
the teacher to find and
record the answers to
each question.

18. Next step. . .
• Putting it altogether in an
easy to use format. I use
IIM, Independent
Investigation Methods,
developed by Cindy
Nottage and Virginia
Morse.

19. ALL STUDENTS REALLY CAN DO RESEARCH
WITHOUT COPYING!
I ndependent
I nvestigation
M ethod
Developed by
Cindy Nottage and Virginia Morse - Consultants

20. INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION
METHOD
Follow These Footsteps to Success
in a Research Project
Topic
Goal Setting
Research
Organizing
Goal Evaluation
Product
Presentation

25. Goal Setting
SETTING RESEARCH GOALS
My Notefact Goal: 35
Required Glossary Entries: 10
Required Number of Resources: 4
FOCUSING ON
Required Resource Types: Book SPECIFIC GOALS
Internet
Primary Source
QUESTIONS TO GUIDE MY RESEARCH
Teacher Question: (Essential question(s) go here)
What characteristics are critical to a tribe’s identity?
My Goal-Setting Questions:
STUDENT QUESTIONS GO HERE. FORMULATING
1. How did the Hopi use their environment for food, shelter, and
QUESTIONS
other things?
2.

26. GOOD QUESTIONS CUBES ACTIVITY
With your partner
• Roll cubes one time.
• Write at least 3 questions about your tribe
using the words you rolled.
• Roll cubes again, making sure the words are
different from the first roll.
• Write at least 3 questions about your tribe for
each roll using the words you rolled.
• Choose your favorite(s) to share with the
class.

27. Start your students They can also add or
with the red and substitute the green
blue words. words to get new ideas.
Who Can Predict
What/Which Would Analyze
Why is Verify
When Will Compare
Where Might Contrast
How Did List

28. Research
Steps to Taking Notefacts
• Each resource you use will have its own number. Put that number in
the large magnifying glass and on all the small magnifying glasses
next to each notefact.
• Record the required information for your bibliography on the solid
lines (Manual pp. 50-51).
• Notefacts are short (note) and true (fact).
• Notefacts should be:
 Written in your own words
 Short but complete enough to make sense
 Related to your goal-setting questions
 Written between the dotted lines – one notefact per space
 Documented by page number

32. HOPI
• Descendents of the Anasazi culture,
the Hopi people live on the Mesa
areas of Northeastern Arizona. Their
reservation land is completely
surrounded by the large Navajo
reservation – the only Indian nation
surrounded by another.
• They live much like their industrious
ancestors… the villages resembling
the pueblos of the past, farming their
fields of corn, squash, beans, and
melons nearby.
• Hopi baskets, both coiled and wicker,
depicting the most simple designs to
the most intricate forms of animals
and Kachinas, are considered to be
some of the finest woven anywhere
today.
• Bibliographic Citation: Silver Cloud. Indian
Heritage of the Southwest.
AZ:Smith-Southwestern, 1992.

33. Practice
Write down at least
three note facts from
the previous page.

34. HOPI
• Descendents of the Anasazi culture,
the Hopi people live on the Mesa
areas of Northeastern Arizona. Their
reservation land is completely
surrounded by the large Navajo
reservation – the only Indian nation
surrounded by another.
• They live much like their industrious
ancestors… the villages resembling
the pueblos of the past, farming their
fields of corn, squash, beans, and
melons nearby.
• Hopi baskets, both coiled and wicker,
depicting the most simple designs to
the most intricate forms of animals
and Kachinas, are considered to be
some of the finest woven anywhere
today.
• Bibliographic Citation: Silver Cloud. Indian
Heritage of the Southwest.
AZ:Smith-Southwestern, 1992.

35. NOTEFACTS Research
(Common student errors)
--------------------------------------------------
What is a Kachina? It is a spirit, a 1
supernatural being.
(Plagiarized)
----------------------------------------------------
The Hopi reservation is in the middle 1
of the Navajo reservation (Too many words)
--------------------------------------------------
grew corn, squash, beans, melons, made 1
baskets, silver jewelery, pottery, lived in
pueblos on mesas, had religious ceremonies
in kivas (Too much in 1 notefact)
----------------------------------------------------
religious ceremonies (Incomplete information) 1
-----------------------------------------------------

47. Organizing
Organizing Notefacts
Notes About Plants
III. The Hopi depend on plants for survival.
A. Crafts 1.
weave baskets on Third Mesa 2
2.
N G
use purple hair grass for brushes
N I 2
3.
L I
U T
make dishes out of gourds they grow 1
B. Food
O
1.
grow corn, beans, squash, melons 3.

50. Making business cards as a product
Poster products

51. A paper 3-D model of a fort
made by a kindergarten
student

53. Step 7: Presentation Fact Gathering from Presentations
PRESENTER(S) ENVIRONMENT SURVIVAL TRADITIONS
NAME: Mary
TOPIC: Navajo
NAME: Troy ING
I STEN
TOPIC: Apache
VEL
ACTI
NAME: Jose
TOPIC: Zuni

54. Want to see more?
• CHECK OUT THE WEBSITE FOR
– IIM “TOOLS” FOR SUCCESS WITH RESEARCH
www.iimresearch.com/products/
– STUDENT PRODUCTS, IIM UNITS, RESEARCH
STRATEGIES, AND OTHER “GOODIES”
www.iimresearch.com/teacher_lounge/
– IIM TRAINING
www.iimresearch.com/training/
• QUESTIONS?
– CALL CINDY, VIRGINIA, OR KIM AT 1-800-644-5059
– E-MAIL US AT info@iimresearch.com

55. Questions

56. Thank You
Karma Maples
kmaples@nhcs.k12.nc.us
Codington Elementary School
4321 Carolina Beach Road
Wilmington, NC 28412
910-790-2236