Independent+Investigation+Method+Unit


 * Independent Investigation Method Unit **

Fourth Grade

Olive Mary Stitt Elementary School, Arlington Heights






 * Overview **
 * Administrators recently changed expectations –all 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students must create an annual research project in the LMC every year.
 * 4th grade had little experience with research projects, but were unsatisfied with The Big 6.
 * I introduced them to Independent Investigation Method (IIM) and notefacts and collaborated with each teacher to create a cohesive, comprehensive series of technology-rich lessons introducing students to IIM and notefacts.
 * Students received hands-on practice taking notefacts from a variety of sources, both traditional and digital.
 * Students investigated a number of ways to communicate their end product – podcasts, videos, keynote presentations, etc. – in order to guide their research.
 * After two lessons, student ability to find and paraphrase **relevant** information rose dramatically.


 * Lesson Plans and Artifacts**


 * Lesson Plan #1 ||  ||   ||

**Results**

Note: Students were only expected to provide a citation during the second lesson. · After students finished practice sheets, I collected and scored based on five criteria (six after the second lesson) as seen above. I then compared these from the first lesson to the second lesson to better understand how the critiquing process, our discussions, and additional practice impacted student learning. · After the first lesson, I found students struggled with finding notefacts that answered the question. In the second lesson, I very much focused on relevancy and found that, after the added instruction, many more students wrote notefacts that addressed the question. · The number of students with correct page and source number dropped from the first lesson to the second. I attribute this to the fact that the second notefacts sheet required more complicated numbering, including the citation information. Since this was new to the students, it makes sense that a greater number might struggle. As I continue to work with them, I continuously address this and give frequent reminders about checking for correct page and source numbers.