1) Number of participants?

Two sections of 18 students each, 36 students in total.

2) Who was the audience for the class/workshop/activity?

This instruction session was designed for students enrolled in the University Preparatory Program, consisting of Chinese students who have decided to attend college in the United States and are enrolled in this program in lieu of preparing for the National College Entrance Examination.

3) Describe your experience planning with the instructor.

I met with the director of one of the sections once prior to the lesson. The director advised that the students were novices in research experience, and that each section was studying a different subject. The topics that the director wished to have covered were selecting trustworthy websites, navigating Tufts databases, keyword searching, and plagiarism.

4) What were your goals for the class/workshop/activity?

I sought to meet the goals requested by the director. The lesson I designed was comprised of three main parts: topic selection, basic searching techniques, and citations. Both sections were to receive identical lessons; only the illustrative examples were changed based on the subject the section was studying.

I used a combination of the AASL Standards Framework for Learners and the ACRL Information Literacy framework as the basis for designing the lesson.

Topic selection

This part of the lesson addressed the Frame Research as inquiry, and the Standards Inquire across the domains of Think, Create, and Grow (Standards I/A, I/B, and I/D), and Explore across the domains of Create and Grow (Standards V/A and V/D).

Basic search techniques

This part of the lesson addressed the frames Information has value and Scholarship as conversation, and the Standards Curate across the domains of Think and Create (Standards IV/A, and IV/B), and Explore across the domain Grow (Standard V/D).

Citations

This part of the lesson addressed the frames Authority is constructed and contextual and Information creation as a process, and the Standards Curate across the domain Share (Standard IV/C), Engage across the domains Think, Create, Share, and Grow (Standards VI/A, VI/B, VI/C, and VI/D).

5) Describe the session(s) and the logistics of any hands-on activities.

Unfortunately, one group experienced a delay that prevented them from participating in the first part of the lecture and the first activity.

The first part of the lesson involved constructing an appropriate paper topic from a more general interest topic. This was framed by creating a research question from a general topic. I walked the class through a few examples, and then gave the students some time to work on their own. The students were instructed to create two or three research questions based on their topic of interest, then pair up and share/workshop their questions with each other. Finally a few groups were asked to share, with each member explaining their partner’s topic and process to the class.

The second part of the lesson involved a lecture showing the layout of JumboSearch, developing keywords from a RQ, and Boolean operators. After the lecture the students formed groups of three. Each group received four index cards with RQs written on them. Students were tasked with converting the provided RQs into keywords, then to do the same with their own RQs. They were then asked to construct a few searches using Boolean operators. This portion of the lesson concluded with students sharing their process and workshopping as a class.

The final part of the lecture involved a lecture about the importance of citations, when to cite, and a brief overview of citation mechanics. I also provided a brief overview of citation managers. This portion concluded with unstructured free-time for the students to work on their own material. Many students took advantage of this time to ask me for help searching and other questions.

6) What went well? What might you do differently next time?

Overall this lesson went well. The language barrier posed a slight issue as I found myself struggling to explain more complex topics in simpler terms. In particular I would not frame the paper topic as a research question as that seemed to cause confusion for some students. Also, the students seemed to have very specific goals for the session. For example, in the Art History section, a few students came up to me after the lecture and asked for help finding a definition of “Baroque.” I believe this was given as an instruction to the students prior to the lecture. Because of this, I felt like in general, abstract approach to search techniques may not have been the best method of instruction. The students enjoyed the opportunity to expand their vocabularies while doing the exercise involving finding synonyms.