Summer is a great time for planning big projects for next year’s class. In today’s climate, a teacher would be hard pressed to plan for a big project without considering having students research a topic online.
The problem is there are too many websites! A quick Google search on just about any topic returns hundreds (if not thousands) of results. Where’s a student to begin?
The May 2008 Reading Teacher includes a helpful article(opens in a new window)
on this very topic. The authors (Baildon & Baildon) offer a Research Resource Guide Sheet that helps students navigate three aspects of resources they might consider using: readability, trustworthiness, and usefulness.
Some school districts are working to develop standards and guidelines for their teachers (see Bellingham School District(opens in a new window) for an example) and other resources provide an exhaustive list of places to start (see Student Research Resources(opens in a new window)).
How do you help your students navigate online material? What resources have you found useful? Do share!