Instructional Goals:

The goal of this lesson is to build on children's intrinsic curiosity about how other people live in order to help them connect with life in Shakespeare's time. Ultimately, mastering information about one aspect of life in the Shakespearean era will increase their confidence in their ability to understand Shakespeare's writing and their motivation to participate actively in class during the unit. Additionally, this lesson is intended to reinforce the idea that there are multiple forms of information resources (print, on-line database, and Internet for example) and that not all of these are useful in answering some types of research questions.

Learning Objectives:

Students will be able to define questions to guide their research. Students will be able to generate a list of synonyms to use as keywords in their research. Students will be able to locate relevant information resources using the OPAC. Students will be able to formulate a research question using Boolean logic when searching on-line resources. Students will be able to locate relevant information resources using subscription databases and the Internet. Students will be able to extract and record answers to their research questions from the resources they find. Students will be able to prepare a creative presentation of factual information. Students will be able to measure the relative value for this project of resources found in the library, through subscription databases, and on the Internet.

Motivational Goals:

Generate interest in the research process. Reinforce students' confidence in their ability to learn and use information skills. Promote student's satisfaction in research accomplishments.

- Handout ("Research Guide") outlining the steps to be used in defining research questions and evaluating various resources.

- Computers for student use

- Computer, LCD projector, and SMART Board for teacher's use

Introduction (approximately 5 minutes):

- Welcome students.

- Ask: Does anyone know what a trencher is? It is something Shakespeare would have used.

- After the kids have the opportunity to respond, ask them how they could go about finding the answer. Lead them to the idea of research.

- Segue: This is exactly why you are in the library today. You are going to be working with your partner to research one aspect of life during Shakespeare

Body

(approximately 40 to 60 minutes; the longer you have, the more thorough you can be in discussing each step as you proceed; this segment could be broken in two and accomplished in two visits to the library if necessary):

1. Distribute the "research guide" hand-out so that students can use it for organizing the steps of their research and their findings.

2. Have each pair of partners fill in the topic they have chosen to research.

3. Present the idea of narrowing a research topic by articulating questions. Then, students write three questions which they would like to answer about their topic.

4. Remind the students about keywords: ask “who remembers what we call the word you use to unlock information by finding it in the OPAC/in a database/on-line? Prompt the students until they remember â 'keyword'. Now, ask each pair of kids to generate a list of keywords relevant to their topic. Circulate during this process to help students generate lists of keywords.

5. Ask kids to share keyword ideas in a brief group discussion. Which words have they used which might be relevant to people with different research topics? (Elizabethan, for example)

6. Brainstorm (briefly) the different types of resources available for research. The students will need to name the library holdings (through the OPAC); on-line databases; the Internet.

7. Ask: Which of these containers of information do you predict will be the most helpful in answering your research questions?

8. Following the progression on the handout, ask the students to work independently to locate information relevant to their topic.

Circulate during this process to answer individual questions, check that students are working through the resources in an appropriate order, help students redefine keywords when necessary, and keep kids on task.

9. Students need to fill in information about holdings in the library's collection which would address their research questions - complete with call numbers.

10. Students should print one to three articles which they find in on-line databases or on the Internet which are relevant and reliable.

Conclusion (approximately 10 minutes):

Ten minutes before the end of the class, ask students to shut down their computers and return to the work tables with the material they have printed and their partners.

Ask:

- How many of you think you found useful information today?

- What was the hardest part of looking for information today?

- From which resource did you find the most immediately relevant information? Was this what you predicted at the beginning of class?

- Are there any tips for researching that you discovered today and want to remember for your next project?