Reference Materials Teacher Resources
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With all the concern about fake news, bogus sites and fact checking, 21st century learners must develop research skills that enable them to access, evaluate, and use reference materials.
Introduce primary graders to reference materials and their purposes with a lesson that lets them examine these essential tools. Kids can also engage in scavenger hunts and explore the world of reference materials such as atlases, almanacs, encyclopedias, maps, and dictionaries. A lesson on the Dewey Decimal System teaches students where to look in the stacks to find these valuable resources.
In addition to knowing what they are, what they contain, and where to find them, learners also need to know how to use reference materials to research. Here's a lesson where scientists can use reference materials to research local aquatic plants. High school historians can use reference materials to study the rich and sometimes tumultuous history of Afghanistan. The Internet has made it possible for young researchers to go far beyond the walls of the library using search engines and online materials. Here’s a lesson that employs online reference sources.
In an age of open education resources, intellectual property, and copyright concerns, it is important that students also know how to give credit to the reference materials they use, and how to determine the best references to use (check out this lesson for middle school).
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Remembering to Never Forget
Students discover how the history of a place or event affects one's present perceptions of that place or event. They examine the current tensions caused by the decision to make Weimar, Germany Europe's cultural capital.
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Safety First
Students explore safety issues and challenges related to various modes of transportation through readings and discussion. They create blueprints for technological methods to make those modes of transportation safer.
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Banding Together
Students explore the effect that a particular culture can have on popular music. They develop their own music groups, each representing a style of music and a historical culture and perform their group's concert for the class.
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Substance Use, or Abuse?
Students identify the medicinal benefits, and ill effects, of a variety of controlled substances. They determine whether or not they think hallucinogens should be researched for possible medicinal purposes.
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Psychology: Blotting It from My Mind
Students research Rorschach and other personality assessment tests in order to determine if they feel these tests are used appropriately in our society today.
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Ill At Ease
Students research infectious diseases, focusing on what scientists and journalists currently do and do not know about each one. They act as scientists or journalists as they find out more about a particular infectious disease.
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Is There a Doctor in the House?
Students research the answers to their own health-related questions, and evaluate the various sources from which this information comes after read "Teenagers Find Health Answers With a Click."
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The Beat Goes On
Students take their own pulse before and after exercise as they explore how the heart works. They research various ways that heart disease is treated and suggest specific treatment methods for their own imaginary patients.
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Charity Begins At Home
Students read and discuss "Prosperity Extends Its Reach, but Not Far Enough to Benefit All," and examine the difficulty, for the working poor, in making ends meet, and propose philanthropic solutions.
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Talk to the Hand
Learners explore the significance of various body parts in artistic and social expression. They research a body part and create a museum installation depicting the artistic and social significance of the body part throughout history.
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Fighting Fire with Fire
Students explore the effects of drugs and drug treatment programs in the science or health classroom.
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Mapmaker, Mapmaker, Make Me a Map!
Students evaluate the different types of historical and geographical information that one can gather through close study of historical maps from the 16th through the 19th centuries. They create their own maps.
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Spacing Out
Learners explore environmental and geological conditions on other planets in our solar system, comparing their findings to information about Earth. They propose technologies that might assist in supporting human life on those planets.
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Pestilence and Plague
Students investigate various disease epidemics that have devastated the world population at different points in history and examine the diseases' effects on the countries they impacted.
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Vision Of The Future
Students investigate ways in which new vision tests and technologies can be used to help detect and correct vision problems. They begin by reading the Times article, Software May Replace the Eye Chart on the Wall. They stage a medical...
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Beating the Odds
Young scholars act as medical researchers and investigate the development of artificial heart, heart assist devices and other advancements in cardiology. They report their findings, both orally and visually, to their 'colleagues' at a...
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Don't Burn, Baby, Burn!
Learners consider products that provide protection from sunburn and other negative effects of the sun's ultraviolet rays. They develop or improve upon sun-screening products that are meant to provide protection for populations at risk...
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Gazing Into the Faces of AIDS
Students consider whether or not there are generalizations that can be made about people who are infected with H.I.V. or who have the AIDS virus. They create public service ad campaigns to educate the public and consider other ways to...
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Special Treatment
Students determine the role of the FDA in approving new drugs. They investigate some of these new drugs and consider the pros and cons of taking part in a clinical study.
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Executing Justice
Learners explore the reasons for postponing the execution of Timothy McVeigh, assess key legal definitions in relation to the case, and formulate personal responses.
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Don't Drink To That!
Young scholars simulate the effects of alcohol on their vision and motor skills. Then, after doing additional research on the dangers of driving while intoxicated, students create an educational activity that might convince a particular...
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Rights-Minded
Students expand their knowledge and understanding about the civil rights movement by investigating the lives of some of the people who contributed to it.
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Isn't It Ionic?
Students research the properties and health risks of organic chemical solvents. They create a Safety with Solvents newsletter to share with others in their school and community.
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Working Like a Dog
Students consider ways animals help human beings with certain chores, then research more specific tasks dogs are trained to do. They create a help wanted ad enumerating the traits a dog should have before applying for a particular position.
