Withem+Research+Project

=Native Americans in Texas=

Go over what we have learned about Native Americans. Have students write questions about this topic down on sticky notes and post to the wall. Once all the questions are collected, teacher will type the set of questions and cut into strips. The next day, students will get a copy of all the questions and work with groups to organize the questions. How can we organize these questions? Are you organizing questions differently from other groups? What kind of answers do you get from your questions? Use the question sheet as a guide to help and model for students the types of questions they can ask.
 * **Title**: ||< Native American Research Project ||
 * **Subject**: ||< Social Studies ||
 * **Grade**: ||< 4 ||
 * **Time Frame**: ||< 2 weeks ||
 * **Summary:** ||< Students will create a product of their choice to show what they have learned about Native Americans. ||
 * **Tasks**: ||< The first few days:

As a class, create a set of topics for question starters. Post this list to evernote. Tell students as they come up with different questions, they should post them to evernote under the categories we have developed.

Followng days: 1) Discuss with students what they have already learned about Native Americans- they have a chart on what they have learned to pull from 2) As a class, create a rubric showing what they should have on the project. 3) Guide students toward adding a space in the rubric for their own research questions. 4) Guide students toward creating space on the rubric for reflection. This piece should describe their research process- where they found information, if they couldn't find the answer to their question, why not? Why did they choose this medium to present their research?

Research days: Students select a Native American tribe to focus their research. The students will go to the computer lab to conduct their research and practice using google search tools. If students cannot get answers to their questions, they will need to write a list of the websites they used and hypothesize why there were no answers.

Students need to write all the websites they have used on a google doc.

Develop final product: Students will choose a medium for sharing their learning. They will present their final products so they need to think about what they can use to share their knowledge with the class. ||
 * Objectives: ||< * 4.1A-D, 4.21A-C ||
 * Assessment: ||< Student created rubric will help them to see if they have mastered the content. ||
 * Resources: ||< * computers, social studies journals, question stems in evernote.
 * **Teacher**
 * Reflections:** || Students did a great job of creating questions and making these questions more deep thinking. There was a regressions though when they started to research these questions. Many regressed back to simple questions instead of pulling the thicker questions we had created as a class and posted to evernote.
 * Reflections:** || Students did a great job of creating questions and making these questions more deep thinking. There was a regressions though when they started to research these questions. Many regressed back to simple questions instead of pulling the thicker questions we had created as a class and posted to evernote.

Next year, I will model how to research questions earlier in the year so that students understand where to find information and what to do if they can't find the information.

I like the idea of categorizing the thick and thin questions as gooleable and nongoogleable. It will help the kids see that they can't just google a deep question and come up with the answer. This may help keep them from abandoning their deeper questions. Overall, I think there needs to be more of an emphasis on questioning from the beginning of the year to help them prepare for the point when they research their own questions. ||
 * **Examples**: ||< * Evernote link to questions we came up with: https://www.evernote.com/shard/s173/sh/0e61057b-906e-412f-a466-8e421be91075/9959e57d5abf70c970a5ad557b4fb79d
 * [[file:The Comanche Tribe.Alexis -).pdf]]
 * Students discussing how to group class questions. https://www.evernote.com/shard/s173/sh/2816c4ba-b44b-47d4-907a-2254f8d24e57/4b88fa0bcb5a08a7f936504461f3e454

Discussion:
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