Instructional techniques for teaching the research process: what works?

by: Sharon Hurlburt

The research process is one of the ways students today are able to experience scientific learning and are able to personally discover and grow intellectually.  In order for students to have these opportunities it is imperative that teachers provide (or given the chance to provide) the instructional guidance that is affective, and has a cognitive focus.  This is something I feel is not being done in the area city schools today.  Teachers need to have a thorough understanding of how students experience the research process and about how to facilitate student learning through research.  For years, process models of different forms of library research, and instructional research have been developed.  These process based models of instruction support my view that research is imperative to students' personal and intellectual growth.  The effective implementation of these models is highly dependent upon whether or not the students are at the cognitive level to abstractly construct a relationship between knowledge and information.  The teacher must be aware that students vary in level of cognition (Oberg 1999).  Students also experience very different feelings and thoughts as they use information.  Using the Canadian Process model, Alberta's Focus on Research model, and my own information we will explore this topic for the 5th grade level.

Research Advisor: William L. Hallahan, Ph.D., Nazareth College