Elizabeth Garrett-Thomas
March 13, 2011
EDT 520/522
Supported Research Project Design Document
Instructional Objectives:
In this assignment, students will learn to do research on an online encyclopedia for kids. ( They will use a graphic organizer to look up information about two African American heroes. They will look in the online biographies to obtain the information. From the information that they have, they will be able to compose an interactive Venn Diagram ( and write a compare and contrast paper about the two African American heroes. We did this assignment in February for Black History Month. It was very successful.
Students will be able to:
Use an encyclopedia (FactMonster) to conduct research.
Identify and read a biography
Use and compose a Venn Diagram
Write a compare and contrast paper about the two people
Research Process:
Students will be given the choice to choose an African American scientist/inventor, educator, entertainer, or Athlete. In each category, there will be a list of 5 people. They must choose 1 person from each category. The people are Benjamin Banneker, George Washington Carver, Charles Drew, Elijah McCoy, Madame CJ Walker (Scientist/Inventors) ; Mary McLeod Bethune, W.E.B. Du Bois, Booker T. Washington, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Charles Woodson (Educator) ; Louis Armstrong, Ray Charles, Nat King Cole, Billie Holiday, Lena Horne (Entertainer); Hank Aaron, Jackie Robinson, Michael Jordan, Bo Jackson, Jesse Owens, Wilma Rudolph (Athletes)
They will have 4 graphic organizers that will allow them write down important facts about their African American Leaders. They will also have to name the importance of their person in African American history.
They will learn how to use Fact Monster. They will learn what an encyclopedia is used for and will use it to look for the information for their people.
When they get to Fact Monster, they will click on people, look under biographies (which they have learned about in previous lessons) and click Famous African Americans. From there, they can pick one of the 4 categories and find their people in ABC order. They will copy their info on their graphic organizer.
They will pick two of the people they researched and create a Venn Diagram comparing and contrasting their African American heroes.
The Venn Diagram is an online interactive version that will be taught to the class to use. (
After they have completed their Venn Diagram, they can print it off and complete their compare and contrast paper in which they introduce their heroes, write about what is different about them and then conclude with a paragraph about how they are similar.
Rationale for using this tool:
The reason why I choose Fact Monster is because it is extremely kid friendly. I actually used Britannica Online for the school assignment that we did last month, but it is a school account and cannot be assessed from a home computer unless I have the administrator password from corporate. Britannica Online is installed on our school computers for easy use. Fact Monster can be used on any computer and this is important for this assignment because anyone can assess it at home if I choose to have him or her to do research at home. The site also has kid friendly games that will be helpful for learning about information. It also has a dictionary, thesaurus and other types of informational text sources that are easy for kids to use. Seeing that I have 3rd graders, I have to be cautious with the type of materials that shows up when they do a keyword search. Fact Monster is more of a controlled environment with pre-selected information, so I feel more comfortable with this option.
My students are familiar with Venn Diagrams because we use them very often. This Venn Diagram tool is online and they will use what they already know in a different way. The readwritethink site is really helpful because it is one of the few sites that has interactive charts as well as demos that the students can use and revisit if necessary.
Citation of References
For third graders, we are not quite on writing bibliographies, but it is important to give credit to where we get the information. We are going to copy the website that we received the information from. In this case it will be Fact Monster. So we are going to learn the importance of naming the website. We are learning to find the Who, What, When, Where and Why of informational text. It will be important to find who wrote the article, when the article was written and where the article was found. They will write this information at the end of their compare and contrast papers. (Website name, date of article, Article author if possible.)
Benefits of Technology
Technology is important for several reasons. Not only is it paving the way for the future, but also learning technology is a way to be successful in the future. When I was younger, we had the Encyclopedia Britannica Volumes, which were very expensive, heavy, and information began to become invalid with time. Information changes a lot and technology is a great way of keeping up with changing times. If something changes (i.e. someone passes away) the online encyclopedia is more likely to have accurate data about the people rather than a book or any printed information. With printed material, you will have to wait until the publisher releases a new edition and you will have to purchase it as well. Technology keeps things current and updated. For example, I can’t teach about the solar system with a book that still says Pluto is a planet. Technology updates all the time, which makes me a better educator because my information is legit. Examples likes this makes me thankful for technology.
African American Heroes Compare and Contrast Paper
CATEGORY / 4 / 3 / 2 / 1Graphic Organizer / Graphic organizer or outline has been completed and shows clear, logical relationships between all topics and subtopics. / Graphic organizer or outline has been completed and shows clear, logical relationships between most topics and subtopics. / Graphic organizer or outline has been started and includes some topics and subtopics. / Graphic organizer or outline has not been attempted.
Information / Information clearly relates to the main topic. It includes several supporting details and/or examples. / Information clearly relates to the main topic. It provides 1-2 supporting details and/or examples. / Information clearly relates to the main topic. No details and/or examples are given. / Information has little or nothing to do with the main topic.
Paragraphs / All paragraphs include introductory sentence, explanations or details, and concluding sentence. / Most paragraphs include introductory sentence, explanations or details, and concluding sentence. / Paragraphs included related information but were typically not constructed well. / Paragraphing structure was not clear and sentences were not typically related within the paragraphs.
Sources / All sources (information and graphics) are accurately documented in the desired format. / All sources (information and graphics) are accurately documented, but a few are not in the desired format. / All sources (information and graphics) are accurately documented, but many are not in the desired format. / Some sources are not accurately documented.
Spelling/Grammar / No grammatical, spelling or punctuation errors. / Almost no grammatical, spelling or punctuation errors / A few grammatical spelling, or punctuation errors. / Many grammatical, spelling, or punctuation errors.
Internet Use / Successfully uses suggested internet links to find information and navigates within these sites easily without assistance. / Usually able to use suggested internet links to find information and navigates within these sites easily without assistance. / Occasionally able to use suggested internet links to find information and navigates within these sites easily without assistance. / Needs assistance or supervision to use suggested internet links and/or to navigate within these sites.