Copyright © 2014 by Kids’Research Partners (KRP)

Parents/TeachersGuidebook

The Young Person's Guide to Doing Research

Second EditionSeptember 2014

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This guidebook is a companion to your student’s research Guidelines. It provides exercises for developing research skills, learning objectives for each section within the student Guidelines, description of each step of the research process, special instructions, hints for completing tasks, and a description of skills that students will build with each task that they complete.

Copyright © 2014 by Kidz Research Partners (KRP)

Parents/TeachersGuidebook

The Young Person’s Guide to Doing Research

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Introduction

Welcome to this research guidebook and the world of inquiry. Children are naturally inquisitive, open-minded, and as we know, they love to question everything around them. As caring adults that want the best for our children and the next generation of visionaries, we have a duty to give our students the skills they need to embrace their inquisitive nature and be better prepared to meet new challenges in the future.

KRP’s aim in offering this tutorial is to encourage and enable students to develop curiosity, interest and enjoyment towards research and the methods of inquiry; to gain new knowledge and understanding of the world around them; and to acquire the skills that they need to effectively communicate their ideas to others.

What is research? Generally, research can be defined as the process of being curious about a topic, gathering information, and coming to new understanding about it. There are various types of research methods such as fundamental, applied, quantitative, qualitative, and scientific research. Although these are different, they all follow a similar series of steps that come to some conclusion or new understanding about their subject. These guidelines apply to fundamental research: a method for knowledge enhancement, and done for the welfare, of humans, animals and the plant kingdom welfare.

Why teach your student research skills?Research skills are a set of tools that are used to systemically inquire, investigate, think critically, and problem-solve. Skilled researchers are in great demand both in educational institutions and businesses. Colleges and businesses need people who have the skills to examine an idea and convey their findings to others. Universities such as Harvard, Stanford and UC Berkeley are incubators for innovation and many new products and services such as Yahoo and Google were developed by students working within the spaces of these schools.

Your role as parents and teachersThe parent’s role is to help students develop their research skills. Inquiry-based learning is driven by students. When they are free to be curious, they are motivated to learn and develop a sense of ownership about their research project. Parents and teachers can best serve their students by acting as coaches and facilitators who help learners question, seek, and arrive at thoughtful conclusions.

Important Note: With the freedom to inquire, children may find it challenging to stay focused on each task and the process overall. Parents can help their students overcome this challenge by keeping them organized and focused on completing each task in an agreed on amount of time.

Why do people conduct research?

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People do research to:

• focus on their interests;

• learn something new and expand their view of the world;

• challenge themselves in new ways;

• develop and hone their problem-solving and communication skills (written and oral)

• help them do better in school and throughout their careers.

Exercise 1Exploring reasons for doing research

Exercise Objective: To learn what research is and why people do it. To open your student’s minds to the benefits of learning these skills.

Directions: Turn to page 3 of your student’s project Guidelines and talk withthem about the meaning of research and why people do it.

After you two have discussed the various possible reasons for doing research ask your student why they may want to learn research skills and conduct research projects.

Research ProcessResearch is a continuous cycle

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Conducting Research (projects)

6Evaluate Project

1Choose Topics

3Find

Answers

4Organize Findings

5Present Findings

2Develop

Questions

Reflecting

Stor

yTe

lling

Shapingthe storyExploring

and recording

Being Curious

Inquiring

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Reflect

On the

Project

To complete their project, your student will:

Step 1: Choose a research topic.

Step 2: Develop guiding questions for their research topic.

Step 3: Find answers to their guiding questions.

Step 4: Organize their findings.

Step 5: Create a presentation and communicate their findings.

Step 6: Receive feedback from their audience after they give their presentation.

Step 7: Reflect on what they learned and consider their audience’s feedback.

Your Student’s Research Project

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You can help your student by making suggestions about their topics and questions, supporting them as they search for information, and being present as they create and practice their presentation.

Step One: Choose a Topic

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Go with your student to page 8 of their research Guidelines and work with them to choose a research topic.

Description: Choosing a topic is essentially a brainstorming exercise that starts with noting any ideas that comes to mind, creating a list of these ideas, then eliminating ideas from the list until there is just one left to be researched. Ideas can come from current school lessons or anything in the past, present, or future.

Brainstorming to help choose a research topic

1) Think BIG about an idea;

2) Pick a few ideas that you like the most; and

3) Decide on one idea that you want to learn more about.

Skills Developed: Free-thinking, brainstorming, and organizing thoughts.

Parent's/Teacher’s Role: Help your student think of a topic by suggesting lessons that they could review for ideas, remind them of questions that they have in their everyday life, or bring up news and events that they found interesting in the past.

Suggestions/Remarks: The Internet is also a useful source for exploring ideas. Instructions for using the Internet are available on page 13 of the student Guidelines. Work with your student to search for ideas on the Internet.

Exercise 2: Brainstorming for topic ideas

Step 1: In 5 minutes, write as quickly as you can, any idea that pops into your head. Let your mind take you from one thought to the next to the next. Keep writing your ideas down until you’ve generated a long list.

Step 2: Narrow down the list to no more than 3 ideas that interest you.

Step 3: Decide on one idea that interests you the most.

Step Two: Develop Guiding Questions

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Description: This is a critical part of your student’s research, because it will guide their inquiry and help them develop a presentation that provokes the interest of the audience. If your student’s questions are not clear, then the rest of the research is unlikely to be successful.

Skills Developed: Critical thinking and sentence construction

Research is based on inquiry and discovery. Researchers ask questions that help them discover how their world works.

There are three main types of questionsFactual (literal) questions are those that require the researcher to retrieve facts about a given topic. These types of questions usually start with who, what, when, where, why and how.

The answers to factual questions form the foundation for higher-level (interpretive and evaluative) questions. If we don't know the "facts" about something, our interpretation and evaluation of something will probably be flawed.

Interpretive questions ask for answers based on what people think about evidence that they find while answering factual questions or reading assigned texts. These questions ask what can be inferred by the facts. See page 23 of the student Guidelines to learn about observations and inferences.

Evaluative questions ask for some kind of opinion, belief, or point of view. Answers to this type of question depend on a person’s knowledge and experience.

Evaluative questions rarely make good questions for inquiry-based projects, because they ask for an opinion without regard to facts about the topic of inquiry.

Parent's Role: With your student, review the descriptions above. Then GO to page 11 of your student’s Guidelines and help them follow the directions for developing their guiding questions. Your student should start with a general question to help define their topic and then use deeper questions to learn more about the topic.

Suggestions and Remarks: Interpretive and evaluative questions should be asked after factual questions are completed. The answers to factual questions can be used as facts to ask interpretive and evaluative questions later in your conclusions if your student wishes to.

Step Three: Do Your ResearchLearning about information sources and searching methods

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Description: This is a searching exercise to help the student learn how to look for information and use it. Students look through all types of sources that could have relevant information to answer their guiding questions.

Skills Developed: Computer and Internet operation, online searching (using Google and Bing), online information review and information collection, library familiarization, library resource collection, identifying experts, and interviewing techniques.

Parent's/Teacher’s Role: Help your student search for information. Have a discussion with them about what it is and where it is found. Help them learn how to search for information and use it for their research.

Not all information is equal: Go with your student to page 12 of their Guidelines and discuss the characteristics of information with them. Some pieces of information just replicates others, and some is not complete. Just because someone finds an answer in one source does not mean that they have found a complete or correct answer. The researcher should search several sources before settling on a correct answer. And sometimes it is useful to use contradicting information to come up with what is considered the best answer. Verify that your student has looked through all of the sources of information that are available to them.

Accompany your student to a local library, use the library catalog to locate sources, and collect information from the sources that are necessary for their research.

Help your student identify experts and conduct expert interviews. Your student should read articles about the topics, see who is quoted in the articles, and consider the authors too as someone who they can contact to ask questions about the topic. Help you student develop questions to ask the experts and help them set up times and venues for talking with the expert.

Suggestions and Remarks: Instructions and samples are found on the following pages. Students may need help operating a computer, using the Internet, operating search engines, developing key words, identifying answers to their questions and obtaining it.

Pages 10 through 13 explain (of this Guidebook) source characteristics and how they can be used.

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Internet (World Wide Web)

The Internet is like a big library that computers (and other devices) can access from anywhere in the world. Just as anyone can access information sources such as books, magazines, newspapers and videos in a library, they can also access these sources in an electronic form on the Internet.

Looking for answers on the Internet To find information on the Internet:

1st, Use a search engine such as Google (www.google.com) or Bing (www.bing.com).

2nd, Enter (type in) your search term (words that describe questions about your topic).

3rd, Scroll down or use the direction keys on your keyboard to review the results of your search.

4th, Click on the highlighted links on the page to review each site and look for information that you can use for your research.

5th, Repeat your search. If you are not satisfied with your original search results, then you can try new words or combinations of words and search again. You can do this again and again until you think you’ve got the complete answer to your questions.

Internet(World Wide Web)Images Videos

Other Stuff

Social mediaPersonal opinions

Blogs

Governmentinformation

Commerce Sites(Amazon, etc.)

Documents From

Libraries

Company Sites

Where to Find Information Internet (World Wide Web), Libraries, and Experts

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Steps to Searching the Internet

Enter your searchterm here

Go to asearch engine

Scroll downresults page

using the direction keys

on your keyboard

4Click

on the highlighted

text to review the web page

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2

1

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Having trouble using the catalog or finding a location? Librarians love to help their customers. Please ask the librarian for help if you need it!

LibrariesThe library is a great place to find sources of information that you can use to answer your guiding questions. The library holds both print and electronic information, videos, and music. The library catalog helps you locate sources of information that are found in the library.

Using the library catalog

1) Find the library catalog. Libraries have catalog terminals throughout the building. Electronic catalogs are also available on library websites.

2) Enter your search term. These are the same terms that you used to search the Internet. Library systems also allow you to search by subject, source title, author, or key word.

3) Review your search results. Scroll down the results page or use the direction keys on your keyboard to review your library source results.

4) Select your resources. Click on the links and find the source location (library locator/call number).

ExpertsAn expert is a person that knows a lot about a topic. They might work in an area that involves your topic, or maybe they are in school and researched your topic too.

• Experts may live close to you or across the world.

• They may be able to answer your questions. If they cannot, maybe they will know where to go to answer them.

The Internet is a great source of locating experts. They can be found on:

• Personal or company websites. • Social media sites (such as Linked-in and Facebook).• Schools (educational institutions).• News articles.• Conference agendas.

Asking for Information• Contact experts by email or call them.• Introduce yourself (student and researcher).• Explain your research and interest in the topic.• Ask them if you could ask some questions. • Ask them questions about your topic.• Afterwards, thank them for their time.

Examples

University professorand researcher

News reporters

Museums staff

Local officials

Authors

Local expertsIf you look around your community, you might find people that can help answer your questions.

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Writing a Bibliography

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Description: This section describes how to create a bibliography - a list all of the sources that are used to conduct research such as books, movies, websites, expert interviews, or magazine articles. We have provided a simple, general style for your student to follow while conducting their project.

Skills Developed: Bibliography construction.

Parent's/Teacher’s Role: With your student, please turn to pages 18 - 21 of their Guidelines and using the samples create a bibliography.

Suggestions and Remarks: Keep in mind that there are numerous bibliographic styles available to researchers. This could be confusing to newcomers and veterans alike. In the future, other lessons, schools, or employers may require the use of different bibliographic styles that can be found on the Internet by Googling them.

Below, you will find a sample that illustrates how all of the information for a bibliographic entry is found directly from the source.

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The main reason for doing research is to learn about a topic and come to conclusions about what is learned.

Observations are anything that can be detected with the use of the five senses: sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell. Observations can be clues that a researcher sees, either literally (looking at something) or figuratively (reading about it). From these observations, researchers can make inferences.

Inferences are personal and contain opinion. An inference is the interpretation of facts. Inferences express probability, not certainty. They are based on personal observations or on the observations of other people.

By asking questions about your topic and finding answers to your questions, you can learn new facts about it. In research you make observations, learn new facts, then infer - make conclusions about the facts that you observed.

Remember that the same observations can lead to different conclusions, depending on the researchers’ perspective. This should be considered when coming to your own conclusions.

Observations and Inferences

Exercise 3

Making Inferences

Exercises Objective: To help the student understand how to observe and make inferences.

Directions:With your student, observe each fact below, then make inferences about them, and make inferences in the corresponding blank space. There is no right or wrong answer. Inferences are just someone’s opinion about their observation.

Fact Inferences

The flower has red petals and thorns

The clouds above are dark

Steam is rising above the water

The dog is barking at the door

The siren blasting loudly

Step Four: Organize Your Findings

Description: In this section the student will learn how to organize all of the information that they found: answers to their guiding questions, any interesting facts that they found while reviewing the information they collected, and any inferences and conclusions that they came to while doing their research.

Skills Developed: Reading, identifying relevant information, making observations, inferring information, and creating outlines.

Parents/Teacher’s Role: Please help the student organize their data. Instructions and examples are given on page 24 in the student Guidelines and an outline for organizing their information is provided on pages 24 and 25.

Suggestions/Remarks: Please keep in mind and remind your student that research is presented like a story and should be organized as such. So, first they should start with information that is general and will help explain what the research topic is, then they should add details to define and explain the topic further.

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Page 24 of your student’s Guidelines and help them organize their findings.GO TO

Step Five: Present Your Research

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Description: In this section your student will learn how to present their research findings. Students are reminded again that presenting findings is like telling a story about one’s research. Presentations have an introduction, a main body and a conclusion. When a researcher creates their presentation, they take organized findings (from section 4) and place it in a format that is easy for an audience to follow. This section provides some ideas about why certain presentation types and formats may be used and gives some directions on the process of creating a presentation in each.

WE RECOMMEND THAT YOUR STUDENT ONLY USE POWERPOINT for their presentation. We provide some details of various types of presentation types and practices. For this presentation, we recommend that your student use PowerPoint. This is because:- PowerPoint is still the most common type of presentation tool used in schools

and workplaces, - It is available in most households (most computers have some form of MS OFFICE

tools) - It will be the easiest to use and present to your student’s audience.

Skills Developed: Typing and computer operation, PowerPoint skills, spelling, and thinking critically about organizing information and story telling

Parent's Role: Please help your student read through pages 26-32 of their Guidelines and help them create their presentation. Some areas where students may need help operating PowerPoint include creating new slides, creating text boxes, modifying font styles and sizes, and inserting (copying and pasting) images.

Go to page 26 of this Guidebook to consider the evaluation criteria that your audience will use. They can be useful guideposts to ensure that the presentation is well constructed and complete.

Encourage your student to practice giving presentations. See page 28 of this Guidebook for helpful hints on giving presentations.

Suggestions and Remarks: It might be useful for you and your student to do some Google searches on your topic and add the word “presentation” to find similar presentations that others have completed. These may give your student ideas about how to present their findings.

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PowerPoint PresentationsPowerPoint presentations include pictures, and clip art (animations), designs, tables, and simple texts. Presentations may include video and sound too.

Each presentation will have: • 1 title slide; then• 6-8 main body slides; and• 1 conclusion (or Summary) slide.

Some important steps to follow when designing your presentation:• Less is more. Use simple designs.• Standardize heading positions, colors and

styles throughout the presentation. • Colors should contrast the background. • Follow the same format with effects,

transitions and animation.• Fonts show be clear and easy to read from a

distance.

Text guidelines • Use bullet points (phrases not complete

sentences).• No more than 6 words a line.• No more than 6 lines to a slide.• Font size between 18 to 36 point.• Try to use bold font for most text on a slide.• Text should contrast with background.• Information should be simple and clear to

understand (just what’s needed).• Avoid abbreviations and acronyms.• Limit punctuation marks.

Clip art and graphics • Graphics should help the audience

understand the text, not overwhelm it.• No more than two graphics per slide.

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PreziWith Prezi zooming presentation software, you create an engaging experience that leads your audience down a path of discovery.

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Display Board Single and Tri-Fold

Display boards are simple, artistic and mobile ways to help tell the story of your research.

A display board is used at a competition, a showroom, in a classroom, at a conference, or in any situation where the researcher wants to have a self explanatory display and provide details through an oral presentation.

When using a display board, thinkabout the following:

Organization Ensure that your presentation goes from…• Top to bottom • Left to right …so your audience can quickly and easily follow it.

Font size Adjust your text fonts…• Headlines – 24 to 36 points • Text 18 - 20 points …to make the presentation easy to read from a few feet away.

Visual aidsAdd visual aids such as…• Photos, drawings, diagrams• Models• Tables (for numbers)• Experiment results…to make the presentation interestingand easy to understand.

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Tell Your story: Practice your presentation skillsOnce your student has completed their research and created a presentation, it is time to share it with their audience. A presentation should be no more than 10 minutes long (if they are doing a PowerPoint presentation there will be about 10-12 slides). While preparing for their presentation your student should make sure that they:

• Know their audience. Consider what their audience may already know about their topic. It will help you connect with them better.

• Plan carefully. Review their presentation to make sure that they aren’t missing anything. Your audience should not wonder what your presentation was about when the student completes it.

• Time the presentation. Plan to speak about one minute for each slide. Practice your presentation and time it to make sure that the student does not go over or under their allotted time.

• Speak slowly and clearly. Speak clearly, not too fast, naturally, and loud enough that everyone can hear what they are saying.

• Follow the text and pictures on your presentation. Your student will want their audience to follow them as they tell their story. If the student follows the text of their presentation, the audience will also be able to follow.

• Speak about, but DO NOT READ the information on your presentation. The presentation helps you know what to say and it gives the audience a guide to follow. But don’t read from the presentation, because it will get boring to the audience. Instead, while speaking, add more details and provide more examples.

• Practice your presentation. Good presentations take practice. Practicing will help your student be more confident and feel more natural when they get up in front of their audience and share their work. Practice will help their bodies and minds remember the pace and rhythm of their presentation. The presentation will be their cheat sheet and help you remember what you are talking about. You (the parent) should help them remember to keep going regardless of how it goes. If they have problems, they shouldn’t worry. It happens to everyone.

• Have fun with your presentation. Remind your student that, while they are presenting they are the expert. They should just enjoy the experience. It only lasts for a short time and they will feel accomplished afterwards.

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Step Six: Audience Evaluates the Project

Description: Your student’s audience will be asked to measure various factors about their presentation and research. Some factors that the audience will consider include: • Project completeness

• Completed all steps of the research process thoroughly

• Well edited and easy to follow

• Reviewed and used all types of sources

• Bibliography is complete

• Good use of visual aides

• Grammar and spelling errors• No grammar errors

• No spelling errors

• Amount of thought put into project and presentation• Words are clearly understood

• Voice easy to understand

• Good eye contact

• Scans the audience

Parents/Teachers Role: Provide the rubric and instructions to the audience. The Audience should be made up of your student’s family and peers.

- Please copy the rubric on the next page (p. 23) and pass the copies to the audience.

- -Please give them instructions to first read the criteria in each column and row of the rubric, then circle the appropriate marks as they observe your student’s presentation.

- Explain to your student that evaluations are meant to help them grow and develop their research skills.

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Research and Presentation RubricPlease observe the presenter and their w

ork, then circle the m

easurements that you think fits.

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Step Seven: Project Reflection

Description: Once they have completed their presentation, your student will give it to their audience. The audience will evaluate their presentation and give feedback. The student should use this feedback along with their own ideas about how things went during the project to reflect on it.

Skills Developed: Listening and learning, maintaining an open mind.

Parent's Role: With your student review audience evaluation sheets (rubrics) and ask your student what they thought about doing their project and presentation. Ask them what they think they would do differently in future research and presentations?

Suggestions and Remarks: Remember and remind your student that your audience is just providing their opinion about what they are observing during the presentation.

Go with your student to Page 36 of their Guidelines and follow the directions for reflecting on their completed research project.

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Thank you for choosing Kids’ Research Partners!

We hope that your student has enjoyed conducting research, completing their project and giving their presentation. We know that the research process will be useful throughout their lifetime. Therefore, we believe that it is crucial that they continue to practice the skills that they have learned doing their research.

Encourage your students to take every opportunity to wonder about ideas that pop into their minds, question the world around them, go find answers to those questions, and then tell someone what they’ve learned.