Inquiry: 101: Goal 1

Lesson Plan for SMART Goal One: The student will ask how they can design a research question dealing with 20^th century U.S. history that is narrowly focused and based on a topic that’s engaging to them personally.

Outcome One: Students will choose a topic in U.S History on which to base their research question.

In order to model an effective research question, the librarian and/or professor will ask students to consider something that will likely be of interest to them, such as: Did the selection of Barack Obama as the Democratic Party Nominee lead to a greater levels of political participation and higher levels of voter turnout among 18 – 22 year-olds in the 2008 Presidential Election?
The librarian and/or professor will ask them to contrast that to a second research question such as How did Barack Obama affect politics? and lead a discussion asking students compare the two questions and imagine the different sorts of results they might get from each. The librarian and/or explain that the second question is ill defined as it doesn’t specify what point of President Obama’s political career they will be looking at nor does it state what aspect of politics they will be considering; partisan politics, political participation, foreign relations etc? All will explore why the first question, with its narrower focus might provide a better platform on which they can build their papers.
The librarian and/or professor ask that the class (usually made up of 25) break into groups of three to five and devise a research question in U.S. history based upon an article that appeared in the New York Times that week. When finished, they’ll select a group spokesperson to demonstrate what article they used and how they devised their question, including whether they rejected any questions before settling on the final one.

Outcome Two: Students will narrow the topic to something that is of personal interest or particularly engaging to them.

Students (depending on class size) will be broken down into equal sized groups of three to five.]
Students will watch Librarian demonstrate how to access the New York Times database and search for articles.
Each student will be asked to conduct searches for two articles from the current year on topics on which they might base a group research question. The can use the New York Times, Google, Wikipedia or any tool of their choice.
Those articles will be discussed by the group, which selects one article on which to base their group question.
All group members will work together to craft a research question that has a sufficiently narrow focus.
Students will select a group spokesperson to show their article to the class using the instructor’s workstation and computer. They’ll then tell the class the research question they chose and take questions/comments from their peers.
Ongoing/formative assessment will be provided through conversations with peers, group discussions, questions from classmates and feedback from librarian/professor.

Outcome Three: Students will formulate a question about 20^th century U.S History which is centered upon the relationship between at least two variables. That question, which should be of personal interest or particularly engaging to them, will be used as the research question for their semester-long research project.

Following the library instruction session, students will have to submit their reference question to the class’s drop box for review by the professor and librarian
Must also submit finalized research question to E-Learn’s research discussion forum
That question must be accompanied by a one paragraph explanation as to why this topic is of particular interest to the student
Librarian and Professor review submission and provide feedback/suggestions for revisions

Technology and Differentiated Instruction:

Students will be provided with a variety of materials that will allow them to engage in learning in different ways - reading the New York Times, listening to news stories, watching broadcasts. They will then work in a group and present their findings to the class, providing both a verbal and visual explanation of how they developed their research question.