Dream of a Nation
Big6 Research Project
Do research projects at your school look like a class of eighth graders staring at a blank screen? Use the Big 6 research method to guide middle schoolers through the process of finding a topic, searching for and evaluating sources,...
Curated OER
Discovering Japan Through Cooperative Research
Search a variety of sources to create a multimedia or book project about Japan. Learners use the independent investigation method to plan and conduct research about Japan. They use the information they discover to create a computer book...
EngageNY
Research: Identifying Categories for Our Research About the Wheelwright
Here is a fine instructional activity on reading and understanding expository text designed for 4th graders. With a partner, learners read a passage of text about a machine called a wheelright. This machine was commonly used in the...
ReadWriteThink
Scaffolding Methods for Research Paper Writing
Rome wasn't built in a day, but researchers can be with proper scaffolding. This writing unit has scholars write a research paper through scaffolding of various parts of the process. Learners begin with identifying a topic and crafting a...
EngageNY
Gathering Information about Screen Time: Assessing and Reading Internet Sources, Day 2
Calling all researchers! Using the resource, scholars continue conducting independent Internet research about a chosen research question. As they browse the web in search of articles to answer their questions, pupils paraphrase their...
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Islamic Art and Geometric Design
After an overview of Islamic traditions and art, young artists create their own geometric shapes and patterns using only a straightedge and a compass.
J. Paul Getty Trust
Looking and Learning in the Art Museum — Lesson 2
Is there a difference between examining an original work of art and viewing a reproduction? Class members are asked to reflect on this question after researching a piece, study a reproduction of it, and the examining the original in an...
J. Paul Getty Trust
Looking and Learning in the Art Museum — Lesson 1
To prepare for a field trip to a local art museum, art class members journal their initial reactions to a reproduction of the work they will focus on during their visit. The whole class then considers the artistic elements in the piece...
Dream of a Nation
Creating Awareness through Action Oriented Writing and Research
Middle schoolers aren't too young to feel strongly about politics, social issues, consumer rights, or environmental problems. Demonstrate the first steps toward social change with a project about action-oriented writing. Eighth graders...
EngageNY
Applying Research Skills: “Rachel Carson: Environmentalist and Writer”
It's important to cite sources! Scholars take a closer look at their research about DDT by examining how to cite sources. Learners take turns sharing information that would be used to cite sources to complement Rachel Carson:...
Curated OER
What's in a Picture? An Introduction to Subject in the Visual Art
Learners discuss the subject and meaning of examples of visual art. They analyze various paintings found on the Metropolitan Museum of Art website, answer discussion questions, complete online interactive activities, and write an essay.
ReadWriteThink
Biography Project: Research and Class Presentation
I Have A Dream ... that after the lesson, all individuals master the reading, writing, researching, listening, and speaking skills the biography project helps them develop. Martin Luther King, Jr. serves as a topic example for a model...
Art Authority
Art Authority K-12
Image field trips to museums that display over 1000 major works of western art. Imagine no airfare, no long lines, and only one admission fee. Imagine viewing at your convenience, with your own private docent providing information about...
EngageNY
Evaluating Research
Calling all archaeologists! Scholars dig through their research about overfishing, searching for the best information to include in their consumer guides. Next, pupils engage in a pair-share activity to discuss their findings with a...
EngageNY
Researching and Note-Taking: Building Expertise about a Colonial Trade
Building on the previous activity in this unit on colonial trade, the ninth activity has young experts continuing their research and writing summaries of the information they find. To begin, children participate in guided practice where...
The New York Times
Collateral Damage? Researching a Connection Between Video Games and Violence
Hook your class into an exploration of and discussion about violence in video games with a cute animal clip and a video game trailer. After a quick discussion about how media can affect mood, class members read a related article and...
EngageNY
Further Research: Local Sustainable Food Chain
Researchers review how to create citations, find reliable sources, and paraphrase. Next, using guided task cards and their researcher's notebooks, they investigate the question they developed in instructional activity eight about the...
EngageNY
Introducing Research Folders and Generating a Research Question
Take the next step in the writing process with a lesson plan geared towards the completion of writing an evidence-based essay about a rule to live by, as Bud did in Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis. Pupils collaborate with their...
EngageNY
Using Search Terms for Further Research: Industrial Organic Food Chain
Class members conduct independent research to continue examining the consequences of the industrial organic food chain from Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma. Pupils learn about source credibility and effective search terms, then...
Incredible Art
Artist Research Scrapbook
Art students get a chance to investigate a favorite artist in this two-week activity that asks them to research the life, the style, and the society in which the artist lived, and then to create a scrapbook for their subject. To conclude...
EngageNY
Documenting Research: Sorting and Recording Information About the Wheelwright
Fourth graders practice using a graphic organizer to record their notes and answer text-dependent questions while supplying evidence of how they found their answer. They focus on a machine called the wheelright, which was commonly used...
EngageNY
Researching and Note-Taking: Becoming an Expert on a Colonial Trade
Fourth graders work in small groups to become experts on different colonial trades in the eighth instructional activity of this unit. Working toward the long-term goal of writing a piece of historical fiction, young scholars read...
EngageNY
Listening Closely and Taking Notes: Colonial Trade Podcast About the Wheelwright
Voices from the past. Young scholars listen to a podcast interview with a historical re-enactor as they continue their research in the eleventh instructional activity of this unit on colonial trade. Applying their close reading skills,...
Curated OER
Research for State Brochures
Ask your young researchers to create a state brochure by working together to research Alaska and then use facts they have learned from the novel Woodsong to create a travel brochure about Alaska. Pupils must include a bibliography and...