Lesson Idea | 50 Mini-Lessons for Teaching Students Research Skills

For a number of years, Seth Godin has been talking about the need to “connect the dots” rather than “collect the dots”. That is, rather than memorizing information, students must be able to learn how to solve new problems, see patterns, and combine multiple perspectives.

Solid research skills underpin this. Having the fluency to find and use information successfully is an essential skill for life and work.

Today’s students have more information at their fingertips than ever before and this means the role of the teacher as a guide is more important than ever.

You might be wondering how you can fit teaching research skills into a busy curriculum. There aren’t enough hours in the day! The good news is, there are so many mini-lessons you can do to build students’ skills over time.

This post outlines 50 ideas for activities that could be done in just a few minutes (or stretched out to a longer lesson if you have the time!).

Learn More About The Research Process

Kathleen Morris has a popular post called Teach Students How To Research Online In 5 Steps. It outlines a five-step approach to break down the research process into manageable chunks.

This post shares ideas for mini-lessons that could be carried out in the classroom throughout the year to help build students’ skills in the five areas of: clarify, search, delve, evaluate, and cite. It also includes ideas for learning about staying organized throughout the research process.

Notes About the 50 Research Activities

These ideas can be adapted for different age groups from middle primary/elementary to senior high school.
Many of these ideas can be repeated throughout the year.
Depending on the age of your students, you can decide whether the activity will be more teacher or student-led. Some activities suggest coming up with a list of words, questions, or phrases. Teachers of younger students could generate these themselves.
Depending on how much time you have, many of the activities can be either quickly modeled by the teacher or extended to an hour-long lesson.
Some of the activities could fit into more than one category.
Looking for simple articles for younger students for some of the activities? Try DOGO News or Time for Kids. Newsela is also a great resource but you do need to sign up for a free account.
Why not try a few activities in a staff meeting? Everyone can always brush up on their own research skills!

For further information, visit Kathleen Morris website.