News From the Nest- Spotlight on Learning: Independent Research Project
Spotlight On Learning
Independent Research Project
Presented by: Sarah Kehler
Subject: English 9
DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT
In this project, students are allowed to research anything that they would like to know more about. I give a few guiding questions to help them choose, like; does someone in your family have a mental illness you would like to know more about? Or is there an event in history that affected your family that you’d like time to be better informed about? Or would you like to start understanding more about what you want to be when you grow up?
The assignment is split into three sections, the research, the citations, and the organizing/writing, with the students getting separate grades for each. The marks students get for proper citations is equal to the weight of the actual writing, as I want to emphasize the importance of giving credit to information you find – a skill that becomes more and more important as AI becomes more pervasive in our lives. Also insert 1 to 3 photos (take a picture of the work or works.
TEACHER DESCRIPTION and / or REFLECTION:
This is an assignment that I’ve done in various forms for a number of years. My ultimate goal with it is to give students early baby steps toward the English 12 Research Essay so that they feel less overwhelmed by the mere idea of it.
As with any project, I get solid variation in kind of work I receive, but I often find that students who otherwise write with a sort of dull acceptance of necessary schoolwork all of a sudden write with a much more passionate voice. This is always great to read, and often allows me the ability to chat with kids about their own interests, which ultimately builds the social competency of the classroom as well.
For a long time now, I used the project to teach kids how to use sites like Wikipedia for good instead of evil, and how it can be a useful tool. This year I have been learning alongside my students how this project can utilize AI for good instead of evil as well. One student introduced me to Phind, an AI that cites its sources, which are something that the students can use. Another student was using a video for research and used AI to create a transcript of the video so that it was easier for him to take his research notes.
Next year I’m planning to preface the project throughout the year with several mini-research projects/paragraphs so that we have more consistency with the concept.
STUDENT REFLECTIONS:
Student 1: The research project was unlike any other projects I’ve done before. It gave students the opportunity to choose something they are interested in and show their knowledge while putting in full effort as this was a topic they chose, and it interested them. This project also gave us different options on how to make it to better highlight our strengths. Overall, this was a wonderful project that set us up for success and I really enjoyed it.
Student 2: I really enjoyed this project. This research project gave me so much free liberty to learn about whatever I wanted to learn about, and it gave me an opportunity to also educate others on a topic that should be talked about. This project allowed me to really talk about something I was passionate about, instead of something non-essential and useless. I loved learning more on topics I had not previously known about. In end, I really had fun doing this research project, and I would love to see something similar in the years to come.