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These penpals can be either the old fashioned snail mail or e-mail the
teacher.  His addresses are:
Roger Thomas
Mountain View Middle School
2400 Perry Avenue
Bremerton, WA 98310
roger@orca.esd114.wednet.edu

Nancy Cave
Mountain View Middle School
Librarian
2400 Perry Avenue
Bremerton, WA 98310

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Date: Fri, 19 Feb 1999 11:46:17 -0600
From: "Johnson, Barbara" <bhjohnso@ALBRIGHTMAIL.ALIEF.ISD.TENET.EDU>
Subject: Hit: Research Methods (besides Big Six)-Long

Dear All:
There were many requests for a hit on this topic. The responses are
below. I've deleted signature lines within the hit to save some space.
(Please don't be offended!) Thanks for all your help! :-)

Barbara Johnson, LMS
Albright Middle School
Houston, Texas 77083
School < bhjohnso@albrightmail.alief.isd.tenet.edu
<mailto:bhjohnso@albrightmail.alief.isd.tenet.edu>  >
Home < bjohnson@netropolis.net <mailto:bjohnson@netropolis.net>  >
"When you know that you don't know, you've got to read"  (Solomon B.
Fuller 1872-1953)


Take a look at FLIP it!(tm)  as an alternate (and much more
user-friendly) to Big6.
There's a very bare-bones website at
http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/pds/techissues/flipit.html
<http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/pds/techissues/flipit.html>  There have
been articles in Library Talk and Teacher-Librarian, and the book is
available from Linworth Publishers.
I've used FLIP it!(tm) very successfully with gr. 4 + up.  Several
middle/high schools are now using it as the de facto problem-solving
strategy across all curricular areas., with great success, and we've
found it especially useful with special ed kids.
Please post a hit if you come up with anything useful.
My own alternatives:
I'm not sold on BigSix.
I use Preview, Do, Review with younger students and am fond of the Nine
Step Plan (see below)
You can find it at
http://edweb.camcnty.gov.uk/hinchingbrooke/original/bignine.html
<http://edweb.camcnty.gov.uk/hinchingbrooke/original/bignine.html>
Unfortunately I don't find it very memorable. I've used it sucessfully
as a handout with empty boxes below each Step where students write their
findings as they come across them.
I've also tried to simplify the 9 into 6 by combining 2 and 3, combining
2 3 and 4, omitting 5 ... but I'm still not entirely happy with it.
There's also the PLUS model, which is simpler and more memorable.
Purpose (identifying the purpose of the assignment)
Location (finding relevant information resources related to the purpose)
Use (selecting and rejecting information and ideas, reading for
information, note taking and presentation)
Self-evaluation (did you apply the information skills successfully, what
did you learn)
More details of that in Teaching Information Skills in Schools by James
E Herring, Library Association Publishing, London.
Here's the basic info on The Nine Step Plan.
Its origin seems to be in "School Libraries: the foundations of the
Curriculum" published in 1984 by HMSO in the UK. ISBN 011 630713 7
Page 9 says: "... there are few information-handling tasks ... which do
not require the stages analysed by a recent Schools Council / British
Library committee;
The Nine Question Steps
1.      What do I need to do? (formulate and analyse need)
2.      Where could I go? (identify and appraise likely sources)
3.      How do I get to the information? (trace and locate individual
resources)
4.      Which resources shall I use (examine, select and reject
individual resources)
5.      How shall I use the resources? (interrogate resources)
6.      What should I make a record of? (recording and sorting
information)
7.      Have I got the information I need? (interpreting, analysing,
synthesising, evaluating)
8.      How should I present it? (presenting, communicating)
9.      What have I achieved? (evaluation)

        And that's the basis of many of my projects. Hope it's useful

I recently took a class with Dr. Marjoire Pappas, one of the authors of
Follett's Pathways to Knowledge.  If you go to Follett's website, there
is an excellent description of the information process model.  In the
class, we also learned about FlipIt and I-Search.  These models also
have web sites.
I have used this method for several years.  I found it in a School
Library Journal.  The middle school and freshmen students use file
folders with envelopes in them.  I found that students did not want to
outline.  So, I teach brainstorming and notetaking.  Then we assign
topics.  They label the envelopes with the 3 major sections of their
paper.  They take notes on notecards and place them in the envelopes
that they belong.  Then when they write their paper, they can just take
the notes out and write the paragraphs one at a time.  They write an
introduction, 3 paragraphs and a conclusion (5 paragraph essay type).
They must cite sources.  We use MLA in the high school. The last
envelope is for their bibliography cards. I check their folders the
first day to make sure they are on the right track.  My teachers have
found this very effctive.
The article is entitled Pre-Search and is found in the SLJ March 1992.
It was authored by Virginia Rankin.  She is a Teacher-Librarian in
Bellevue Public School, Seattle, Washington.  It really helped my
students and my English teachers really appreciate it.
Also, I sell the file folders, envelopes, and note cards for $1.00.
They cost only about 50cents because I buy in bulk.  The money goes to
buy research materials.  It is a good trade off.  They kids appreciate
it.  Even when I don't require it, they ask for the file folders.
Barbara- We use the research process outlined in Barbara Stripling's
book,
Brainstorms and Blueprints.  We like it because it is adaptable to any
situation and can easily adapt one assignment to many ability levels.
It
really coordinates with the Big Six information problem solving model
but is
specifically for research.  The two don't seem competing but different
layers of the same thing although I don't directly teach both at once.
I
think that would be confusing.  Brainstorms is available through
Libraries
Unlimited I believe
What I have found to be the biggest problems related to doing research
is
the the part of the process I call presearch-identifying the topic (not
too big, not too small, have access to resources).  Unless this step is
done the rest is full of frustration.  When I work with a teacher to
design a research activity I create a handout walking them through the
project.  I begin with Presearch and explain what they should do during
this step.  {For example a state report we just started with 4th gders.
asks them to identify the characteristics of a place they would like to
live - suggested things to consider include-live near an ocean, in the
mountains, place with snow or not, what products are made there etc.
Once
such characteristics are identifued then find a state that fits the
criteria identified.  In this way they take some ownership of the
topic.}
Next step is the search or information collection/notetaking piece they
are most familiar with.  Sometimes I identify types of sources they need
to use.
Next step is Interpretation.  In designing a research activity I make
sure the students are asked to do something more than just take notes
and rewrite the facts to turn in.  I ask them to make the information
their own or do something with it in some way.  For example in a
connection with an animal report they had to find a fiction title with
the animal as a character, read it and include a paragraph explaining if
the book character's character traits were the same or different from
the behaviors discovered about the real animal through research.  In
connection with a biographical activity they had to recognize and
explain the link between the two individuals researched (we gave them
the pair of names).  We have asked them to pick a task done in everyday
life today and in colonial times and identify the piece of technology
used then and now and compare the two.  Again this step is frequently
passed over.
The final step is Communication or sharing results in some way.
This is bassically a simplified version of the Follett Pathways model.
It seems to be working for us in our 4th and 5th grades.  It is the
designing of the instructional activity that integrates thinking or
leads to a lot of copy and pasting from web sites.  The finished project
can be only a few paragraphs long, but if the student is made to think,
recognize relationships and draw conclusions which they can support much
is learned.
Track down a program called
Independent Investigation Method developed by Cindy Sheldon & Virginia
Morse
distributed by Active Learning Systems 800-644-5059
It offers a step by step approach to research that is easy for kids to
understand and implement. I use it with sixth graders. Most of whom have
never been taught how  to do research in an organized, painless way.
        two sites, I have discovered to be helpful are:
Tips for Teachers: Nashville Public Schools
(http://www.nashville.k12.tn.us/TIPSmanual/Appendices.html
<http://www.nashville.k12.tn.us/TIPSmanual/Appendices.html> ) and From
Now On; The Educational Technology Journal (http://www.fromnowon.org/
<http://www.fromnowon.org/> ) (Especially look at the articles on
questioning as a tool for teaching)
You can check out the INFOhio DIALOGUE Model for Information
Literacy Skills by going to
http://www.infohio.org/about/id_header.htm
<http://www.infohio.org/about/id_header.htm>
Hope this helps

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