Inquiry Project

Sandra L. Dubridge
Ideas, Predictions and Explanations

 As a high school student the word research seems

like a overwhelming task.
 Students have a difficult time understanding how to
look up reliable information and where to look up
reliable information.
 For my project I wanted to create a
student driven rubric that will allow
students to quickly and easily
determine if a website is reliable.
General Information

 As stated in the Bertram Bruce article,

Searching the Web: New Domains for Inquiry,
students have a vast amount of information they can
access on-line. The trick becomes finding
information that contains “quality and relevance.”

 Within the rubric, I also wanted to incorporate the

ideas from the Johns Hopkins University article
about being biased, staying current, producing
reliable credentials and authorship.
Ideas, Predictions and Explanations

 My project started as a class discussion on

the element Iron and its different uses.
 We went to the computer lab and I asked the
students to look up information on the
element Iron and its different uses.
 The students had to document the sites they
visited and what information they obtained
form each site.
Ideas, Predictions and Explanations

 I predicted that the majority of the students would go

to Google and type in Iron.

 The students would then get a list of websites

and begin their search.

 I figured Google was a well known, easy to use, site

that provided the students with quick access to large
amounts of information.
Ideas, Predictions and Explanations

 Within my group we all made predictions that

the students would use Google to get a list of
reliable websites to use for their project.
Ideas, Predictions and Explanations

 We also agreed that many of students would

use a reliable website but would unable to
identify reasons why it was reliable.
Ideas, Predictions and Explanations

 Once the students had looked at many different

websites, my overall goal was to create a rubric for
evaluating websites to make research easier in the
future.
 I wanted to highlight several main points to help
students wade through the muck that can be the
internet.
 This rubric could be used for future science research
projects as well as research projects across the
curriculum.
Description

 As the students worked on their project, I

figured we would stop periodically and talk
about what websites they were looking at
and why they were reliable.
Description

 The
problem came as soon as we got to the
computer lab.

 Veryfew students used Google or any other

search engine for that matter to look up
websites that would provide them with
information on Iron.
Description

 Instead, the majority of students went to the website

Wikipedia as their only source for information.

 The idea of looking through multiple websites that a

search engine provided seemed silly to them.

 Why take the time to look at so many different sites

when all the information they needed was right at
their fingertips on Wikipedia.
Student Data

 Pleaseclick here to watch a short video

on why my students and even fellow
teachers use Wikipedia to gather
information.
Student Data
 Shown are the three websites
that the students claimed to use 14
most often when doing
research. 12
10
 In nearly every class Wikipedia 8 Wikipedia
was used most frequently to 6
look up research related Google
4
information.
2
Yahoo
0
 Students claimed that the

1st Hour

2nd Hour

4th Hour
3rd Hour
information on Wikipedia was
easier to understand, easier to
navigate through, and was
indeed reliable.
Student Data

 Many students claimed that Wikipedia was easy to

use.

 I think the Bruce article on New Domains explains

why students use a website such as Wikipedia. The
size of the web can be very overwhelming and the
sheer volume of information can be frustrating. By
going to a website they are familiar with, they do not
need to spend time looking at hundreds of websites.
Student Data

 Thewhole idea of using Wikipedia directly

conflicted with my goal to create a rubric for
identifying reliable websites.

 Wikipedia may provide a lot of information

but reliability goes out the window!
Student Data
 At this point I seemed to be so far from my original goal of
creating a rubric for reliable sources.

 I was totally shocked by the outcome of my project. All this

time and effort and the only real thing I had to show for it was
the fact that students and teachers have gone unchecked using
Wikipedia for everything they do!

 One student even said,

“If its not on Wikipedia its probably not worth looking up.”
-Kayla Anderson
Emergent Ideas

 Although I was frustrated, we sat down the

next day and I was determined to create my
rubric and make the students more aware of
how to search for information.

 I also reread the Johns Hopkins University article on Evaluating

Information Found on the Internet, to make sure and include
similar criteria for my classroom discussion.
Emergent Ideas

I started by opening Wikipedia and searching

for the element Iron.
 I demonstrated to the students how easy it is
to change any piece of information simply by
editing the page to make it say whatever I
wanted it to say.
 We then discussed why Wikipedia was not
reliable and that there were better websites
available.
Emergent Ideas

 As a group we used the digital projector to find a

website that was reliable, such as the
American Chemical Society website, and looked up
information about the element Iron.

 We discussed several reasons why the it was

reliable and using the American Chemical Society
website the students brainstormed ways to check
and see if other websites were reliable.
Emergent Ideas

I have learned that by having the students

generate the ideas they have ownership over
the process and a much higher level of
commitment.

 After reviewing the American Chemical

Society website the students generated a list
of requirements for a website to be
considered reliable.
Emergent Ideas

Characteristics of Reliable Websites:

(Created by St. Louis High School Chemistry Students)
3. You should be able to find where the website comes from.
4. There should be an author for the website.
5. The author should have available contact information.
6. The websites usually produce better information when they
end in .org, .edu or .gov
7. There should be information on when the website was last
updated.
8. The information should not favor one side or the other.
Emergent Ideas

 We then looked at websites that helped

explain if a website was reliable or not. The
students even found templates used to
evaluate websites.
 Some of the websites included:
American Library Association
Cornell University Library
UC Berkeley - Teaching Library Internet Workshops
Emergent Ideas

 Using the criteria that the students generated and

actually understand, I am hoping we can continue to
produce quality “research” and incorporate reliable
websites into our assignments.

 I would like to continue this process in my classroom

for the next couple of weeks and have the students
create an actual “website reliability” worksheet that
we can be used for the rest of the year.