This "Rethinking Reports" series of articles offers alternative research-based assignments such as a re-election editorial and a resume for an ex-president.
This "Rethinking Reports" series of articles offers alternative research-based assignments on folktales, animal adaptations, and biodiversity.
This "rethinking reports" series of articles provides alternative research assignments that challenge students to think critically about historical actors.
A visual and oral presentation of an "animal report" can engage students' interest and develop their artistic and visual literacy skills.
Bibliotherapy and critical literacy are two ways to use books to help children better understand themselves, others, and the world around them. This article explains both strategies and provides resources for selecting appropriate books.
A guide for high school students to citing sources from print and the web.
Graphic novels aren't just "literature lite": they're a genre you can use to explore philosophy, history, human interactions, visual literacy, and more with soon-to-be adults in a high school English class.
In groups, students will design a presentation that will trace the development of an organ system through the major phyla of the animal kingdom looking for the relationships between structure and function by documenting adaptations.
Using concept maps can help students make connections among subject areas. This article explains how teachers can use concept maps effectively and provides links to tools for creating them online.
Information is everywhere -- especially in the presence of the Internet. It's hard enough for adults to make sure that information is valid, but it's even harder for students to make that judgment. Here are some suggestions for helping students learn to recognize bad information when they see it.
Diagrams, mind-maps, tables, graphs, time lines, flow charts, sequence diagrams, decision trees: all can be used to organise thought. This unit will introduce you to a variety of thinking skills. Asking and answering questions is at the heart of high-quality thinking. Questions naturally arise from the desire to know and learn about things and may be the starting point for a journey of understanding.
In this lesson, the teacher introduces the concept of gathering information from chapter headings, bold type and other organizational features of print (such as tables of contents) in non-fiction texts in print and online.
A guide for high school students to finding and using literary criticism, in print and on the web.
A multi-activity lesson plan to teach the concept of asking engaging, researchable questions prior to reading which leads to effective inquiries during project work. Using engaging questions creates a sense of connectedness by linking academic contents with students' personal concerns. The lesson is primarily designed for English Language Learners although it can be adapted for mainstream students. This lesson can also be modified for use with grades 4-8.
To design a research project using primary sources from the Web, you'll need to know what's out there and how to find it. This article explains what's available, why, and where.
Students will learn to use the index to determine if the source has information about a topic and, if so, how to find the information.
Good Internet research skills are important for teachers, too. This article provides an introduction to "information literacy" concepts and a list of references for teachers and media specialists.
How do marketers target kids -- and how can we teach kids to know the difference between advertising and fact? These websites provide strategies to build critical thinking skills for media literate kids.
A short webliography of tools to help you ask good questions.
An introduction to strategies for using the web to push your students to higher levels of thinking.
