Session 12: Antidotes to Plagiarism

A great reflection on the inquiry process comes form Blue Balliett’s novel Chasing Vermeer. Ms. Hussey the sixth grade teacher “announced on the first day of school that she had no idea what they were going to work on that year, or how. ‘It all depends on what we get interested in – or what gets interested in us.’” (6)

Balliett, Blue. Chasing Vermeer. NY: Scholastic, 2004.

iWonder

Instruction

Focusing Questions

How can educators create assignments that will lead the student to become an engaged investigator?

How can librarians and teachers collaborate in the Connect and Wonder stages to create an overarching / essential question focused research units?

What’s the Problem?

I’m Done!

Look it up on Google

Take the first results

Print everything

Look at it

Open a Word processor

Paste interesting bits together

From “Beyond Cut-and-Paste”by Debbie Abilockhttp://www.noodletools.com

When students plagiarize, they are not learning.

In an online environment, the temptation to plagiarize is even greater.

We need to think about creating assignments that engage students and that are relevant to the ways they communicate and the experiences they have had.

The Tragedy of Plagiarism

Designing Projects with LPP(Low Probability of Plagiarism)

According to Doug Johnson, LPP Projects:

Have clarity of purpose and expectations.

Give students choices. Are relevant to the student’s life. Ask students to write in a narrative rather

than an expository style.

Primary Research QuestionsTopic: ANIMALS

Secondary Research QuestionsTopic: MY STATE

My research is about an animal My research is about the economy of a state

What methods has my animal developed to help it survive?

What role has manufacturing played in an assigned state’s economic development?

What animal would be best for my family to adopt as a pet?

How can one best prepare for a career in manufacturing in my area?

How can our school help stop the growth in unwanted and abandoned animals in our community?

How might high schools change their curricula to meet the needs of students wanting a career in manufacturing in my state?

Clear? Choices? Relevant? Narrative?

Teacher/Librarian Goals

Collaborate to determine the essential question to focus students on authentic research.

Create a timeline of due dates for each stage of the research process.

Teach note-taking using methods such as IIM notefact sheet or dual index card method.

Introduce relevant graphic organizers for student to investigate and express.

Design culminating products that require original expression.

Clearly indicate learning goals and expectations.

Learning Goals, Students will:Understand the overarching essential

question.Connect the topic to their own experiences.Use sources to acquire background

information and brainstorm ideas for further information.

Write questions independently based on key ideas or areas of focus.

Define the purpose of the inquiry and align the question and investigation with the purpose. (i.e. social studies centric or science centric).

Learning Goals, Students will:

Use online databases to locate newspaper and magazine articles.

Use organization strategies to make sense of information.

Create products and communicate results in a variety of formats: using maps, drawings, graphs, and charts to communicate meaning.

Evaluate and reflect upon their research process.

Formulating Good Questions

Red cube: who, what, when, where, why, how

Blue cube: will, would, did, can, is, might

 Green cube: list, contrast, compare, verify, predict, analyze

http://www.iimresearch.com/

After the topic has been introduced and teacher has provided the essential question, students use the red and blue cube to formulate 3-5 powerful questions of their own which will guide them through the research in order to answer the essential question. The green cube indicates the level of thinking.

P.R.O.V.E.

Students use different resources to PROVE the answers to their research questions. Students can use notefact sheets or the 2 index card method to write notefacts of research findings and to keep track of resources used (works cited).P - Pose a questionR - ReadO - ObserveV - VisitE - Examine

Nottage, Cindy and Virginia Morse. Independent Investigation Method: 7 Easy Steps to Successful Research for students in Grades K-12. NH: Active Learning Systems, 2005.

Making Assignments Relevant

What experiences have kids had? Being evicted? Being an immigrant? Being a kid? Finding a job? Moving to a new neighborhood? Being in a restaurant? Being in a laundromat? Going to the mall?

What kinds of communication are they familiar with given their experiences?

Engaging them by product

How can students communicate their learning? Brainstorm ways people communicate outside of school. For example, “How do people communicate at home?”Phone messages

scrapbooks

recipes

Guided Practice

With the example of Ecosystems, I am going to design an LPP project for 6th graders.

How would a study of ecosystems look like as a recipe? What ingredients do you need in a tundra? In a desert?

Recipe for a desert

Ingredients:

Directions:

Work Time

Getting started

I want you to create a LPP project on ancient civilizations.

Today and everyday I’d like us to create assignments that are relevant to the way kids communicate and to the experiences kids have had.

Put the fun back into it!

Work Time

Decide in which fun, relevant way or ways students could communicate their learning. Example: They use calendars. Have them make a calendar.

Ask yourself, “What would a Chinese emperor’s calendar look like in?” What would phone messages look like? Recipe for a child living in Ancient China?

Work Time

Hint: Recipes for ancient Chinese food does not work. They can copy. Visualize the fusion of traditional report content expressed in a familiar mode of communication.

Create an assignment or list of choices of assignments for students.

Refer to REACTS Taxonomy handout if you are stuck.

Use page 3 of Participant Agenda to record planning.

Share

Share: Great LPP assignment ideas

New York City Curriculum Resources Information Fluency Continuum

Phase: Investigate p. 18Indicator: uses a variety of search engines to do

advanced searching

New York City Performance Standards Applied Learning Standard 3a: Gather information to

assist in completing project work Applied Learning Standard 3b: Use information

technology to assist in gathering, organizing, and presenting information

Standards

Technology StandardsISTE National Educational Technology Standard (NETS)

Standard 5: Technology Research tools: -- Students use technology to locate, evaluate, and collect information from a variety of sources -- Students use evaluate and select new information resources and technological innovations based on the appropriateness to specific tasks.

Standards

Evaluations

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Thank you