Leszek H. Ward
Opening
Students should respond to the following prompt in their journals:
How do you find information when conducting research and how do you know you can trust it?
Students should share and discuss their responses. I expect that many students will mention Google.com or wikipedia.com in their descriptions of research strategies. After students share their responses, I will ask them if they can identify any weaknesses in how they conduct research and where they find information. I will then explain the strengths and weaknesses of Wikipedia; although it provides a valuable and often thorough overview of a topic, its openness precludes it from being a sufficient source. Students should rely on Web sites affiliated with educational or governmental institutions whenever possible to ensure their accuracy.
Research
Students will be divided into three groups and be assigned a topic to research for the class. Topics will be the Globe theater, the Blackfrars theater, and 17
th
-century exploration. Students should be made aware of the fact that they will be sharing their findings with the class in some form of presentation and that each student will need to use information found by other groups. Students should begin their research by visiting wikipedia.com for general background. They should use the information they find to formulate questions and topics for further exploration and use wikipedia.com references and/or "Google Scholar" to find additional information.
Presentation Prep15If students have completed their research, they should use the remaining class time to being constructing their presentations, which may take any form students decide to use but should be aimed at conveying their research findings to their classmates. Students who need the time to continue their research may do so. Presentations will be completed for homework.
