I hope there is enough room for my 2 cents worth as well.
I KNOW that students coming over from the Middle School next door received
research skills instruction, I have watched my collegue do it. I know that
she even took over for an English teacher and taught the research paper in
an English class. 9th graders coming from other schools I KNOW also received
instruction. Still, I expect next year's 9th graders to act like the don't
know anything. Some observations;
Every teacher has a different idea of what a research assignment is. What
"skill" was used for one teacher doesn't always carry over to another
teacher. One teacher is happy with "just google it" another wants MLA
standard footnotes from an MLA book that is 10 years out of date. Students
may not get another true research assignment requiring research skills until
late spring, long after the instruction from last year has been forgotten.
In too many cases they won't get one at all that year.
Some of the search tools and strategies change from year to year. Last year
we had some online databases purchased by the district. This year the
contract expired and before a new contract was put in place 3/4th of the
year was gone. So now I am scrambling to introduce databases to students who
maybe were instructed in their use last year but haven't used them all this
year.
Any skill students see as relevant and necessary they keep. If most of the
research assignments are "tell me what you know about", then any information
skills gained won't stick.
I wish I had the answer. But I do wish that teachers would all get on the
same sheet of music regarding what a good research project is.
Deborah Stafford
Gen. H.H. Arnold High School
Wiesbaden, Germany
deborah.stafford@t-online.de
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