Doug Johnson

Designing Research Projects that Kids (and Teachers) Love
Good research projects should not only teach important information literacy skills, but they should also

•     make school more meaningful and relevant for all students,
•     help students develop higher level thinking processes and exercise creativity,
•     reduce the temptation for students to plagiarize (and download papers), and
•     allow teachers to improve delivery of the content area curriculum.

This workshop reviews Bloom’s Taxonomy in light of designing research projects, offers strategies for teachers to determine the best places in the curriculum to integrate resource-based projects, and suggests ways technology can be a motivating factor in information processing. The workshop allows time for participants to practice revising traditional research projects and create and use some authentic assessment tools.

Handouts: Designing Research Projects Kids (and Teachers) Love

Written comments about this workshop:

•  Being a firm believer in research projects, I am often asked to mentor others in the area, and also in regards to student motivation and individual program differentiation. This should help impact students’ learning in a positive way and I thank you for that.
•  Hi, I wanted to tell you everyone loved your presentations. It was a great day. Thanks.
• I just found out that the 10th graders at my children’s school are doing almost all the exact things your school did in their memories project except for the production of a web page. My secretary came to work and said “my son is just so interested in social studies, this teacher is really great.” She is sending her son to school with your web address for the project and maybe they can take it one step further. I can’t think of a better way to put a teaching method to the test than to present it to a bunch of 15/16 year old boys. If it gets them motivated, it must be good.
• Really just wanted to take the opportunity to tell you how much I enjoyed your presentation at FETC. I have found a kindred spirit and have told many, many teachers that if they wanted kids to do a report” on something, why don’t they just have them Xerox the encyclopedia page and turn it in. I agree that it is sSOOOO important that they DO something with the information.