Search and Report: Pets
A mini-research project for students
[Nunber 2 in a series of 3]
Bill Pellowe (billp@gol.com)
Portions of this page will be included in an article appearing in Recipes
for Wired Teachers (1999).
Overview: This short project provides further practice in using the Internet
to find information about a simple topic which students may not know anything about.
The activities culminate in a student report to the class on pets common in North
America but uncommon in Japan.
Skill Area(s): Internet search, writing, summarizing, oral report
Specific Activities: search with Internet, write a report, use images from
the Internet, create a handout, give a report.
Time Frame: 4 or 5 class meetings of 60 - 90 minutes
Aims: To further familiarize students with search engines. To develop the
idea of searching for information for a later report. To develop summarizing skills.
To develop word processing skills.
Prerequisites: Students should already know how to use browser software, and
should be fairly familiar with the idea of using search engines and the basics of
using a word processor. They should also know how to save Internet images by, in
Netscape, right-clicking (Windows) or option-clicking (Mac) and choosing the "save
image" option (see "Links" for a tutorial page on saving images).
Students should also know how to insert these images into word processing documents
(in Word, simply choose "picture" from the "insert" menu).
Stage 1
Preparation:
Initial classwork:
Stage 2: Presentation
After students complete their reports, tell them that each group will give an
oral presentation of their reports. The oral presentation should include a handout.
Demonstrate how a handout should contain an outline of the main ideas which the students
will expand on as they give the presentation. (For example, Gerbil: Food: sunflower
seeds. You say, "Gerbils enjoy eating sunflower seeds, but be careful not to
give them to many! They can die if they eat too many.")
Variations: If a computer projector is available, students can use it to
display their handout on the overhead screen as a visual aid.
Teacher summary: Students learn and practice summarizing skills when they
create the handout for the presentation. Even though some students tend to copy text
off of Internet sites for their initial reports, the outline / handout discourages
plagiarism and encourages summarization.
Links: For a short tutorial for students on saving images from Internet pages,
see