Research, Technology and the Common Core

The importance of research skills for today’s students is clearly delineated by the Common Core State Standards:
To be ready for college, workforce training, and life in a technological society, students need the ability to gather, comprehend, evaluate, synthesize, and summarize information and ideas, to conduct original research to answer questions or solve problems, and to analyze and create a high volume and extensive range of print and non-print texts in media forms old and new. (CCSS,2013 March. Introduction p.3)
These skills are addressed explicitly in several Common Core Standards. Standards for writing, for example, call on students to
  • “Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects based on focused questions, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation” (WHST 7-xx).
  • “Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, assess the credibility and accuracy of each source, and integrate the information while avoiding plagiarism” (WHST 8-xx).
  • “Draw evidence from literary and or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research” (WHST 9).
 

Today's research requires merging a wide range of  literacy, analytical and technical skills:

There is a tendency to view teaching standards in isolation, as a set of independent objectives to be checked-off.  But understood as a framework to develop deep critical thinking skills, the Standards must be approached in a more integrated fashion. The arc of a research project from conception to final presentation, done correctly, certainly addresses the explicit research/technology oriented standards mentioned above. However engagement in research involves much more. Indeed this was the intention inherent in the development of the standards. From the introduction:
Research and media skills are blended into the Standards as a whole. The need to conduct research and to produce and consume media is embedded into every aspect of today’s curriculum. In like fashion, research and media skills and understandings are embedded in the Standards rather than treated in a separate section. (CCSS Introduction P.3)
An examination of the phases of research reveals the interdependence between research, media skills and numerous other Common Core Standards:

Planning & Investigation Phase (Find and vet sources):

The initial preparation and early stages of a research project involves several key skills:

Develop Research Questions: The teacher or, at the secondary level the students, must design “research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question)” (CCSS WS-7 – Grades 8-12):
  • Search for and evaluate sources (WHST-08)
  • Initial examination of websites for relevance and credibility (WHST-08)
  • Analyze the material collected (multiple)

Locate and Organize Source Material: Digital resources need to be saved and categorized for easy retrieval, requiring several steps:
  • Collect and organize source material (WHST-08)
  • Develop and assign categorization scheme
  • Write descriptions of sources to briefly summarize the source
  • Collaborate to share resources (WHST-06)
  • Search and filter saved sources for easy retrieval
  • Filter sources to select the relevant content
 
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There are several excellent tools to aid students in building citations.

Analysis Phase:

Once sources have been explored and vetted, the next step involves analysis of the content to extract meaning and relevance to the research topic.  Many Common Core standards directly address the following skills:
  • Extract meaning from text (RH-04)
  • Find and evaluate claims and evidence (RH-8)
  • Categorize evidence
  • Paraphrase citations (WHST-08)
  • Examine points of view (RH-6)
  • Analyze overall structure of text (RH-5)
  • Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats (RH7).
  • Overall passage reading and comprehension (RH-10)
  • Assess relevance (WHST-08)

Production Phase

Once the writing is complete, the Standards call for students to produce and publish the research.  Again, aligning closely with many of the standards, this calls for students to
  • use technology, including the internet, to produce and publish the writing. (WHST-06)
  • collaborate with others in developing presentations. (WHST-06)
  • integrate and analyze information in different formats (charts, primary source images) to address the topic. (WHST-02a)
  • incorporate graphics and multimedia to increase comprehension. (WHST-02a)

Technology Transforms Research Process

Video: Quick overview of NoodleTools
Clearly technology has profoundly impacted the research process. From Google searches to sophisticated content-production platforms, there are many powerful tools at students' disposal. The challenge for teachers is to identify and strategically use the tools to aid in the higher-order cognitive skills: the categorization, analysis, organization and writing tasks that are the more difficult and most important elements of student research.

The research process clearly encompasses a very broad range of the essential skills our students need. Carefully implemented, well-selected digital tools can unleash students' creativity and greatly increase productivity while supporting the development of these abilities that are so important for their success.
See the upcoming Workshops and Summer Institute in collaboration with the UC Berkeley History-Social Science Project focusing on technology to support literacy and student research.
Photo Credits:
  • Student w/ Laptop - Creative Commons 2.5: OLPC Foundation:
  • "Citation Needed" - Creative Commons 2.5: Dan4t
  • "NoodleTools Mashup" by Devin Hess. Video excerpts: NoodleTools Tutorial. Music: Julian Smedley, performed by Kaila Flexer & Third Ear.