Collaborative Digital Citizenship Unit Plan

Title of Unit
Developed By

Strategic Searching
Grade Level
Shannon Moore and Alisa Ingwersen
Stage 1 - Identify Desired Results

6th grade

Content Standards
ISTE 3. Research and information fluency
Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information.
a. Plan strategies to guide inquiry
b. Locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use information from a variety of sources and media
c. Evaluate and select information sources and digital tools based on the appropriateness to specific tasks
d. Process data and report results
ISTE 5. Digital citizenship
Students understand human, cultural, and societal issues related to technology and practice legal and ethical behavior.
a. Advocate and practice safe, legal, and responsible use of information and technology
b. Exhibit a positive attitude toward using technology that supports collaboration, learning, and productivity
c. Demonstrate personal responsibility for lifelong learning
d. Exhibit leadership for digital citizenship
ISTE 6. Technology operations and concepts
Students demonstrate a sound understanding of technology concepts, systems, and operations.
a. Understand and use technology systems
b. Select and use applications effectively and productively

Understandings
Overarching Understanding
Understand the reasons for strategic internet searching
Importance of having a plan before research begins
Effectively and efficiently use tips, strategies, and time when
compiling research
Related Misconceptions
Ask.com and Wikipedia are resourceful search tools
Anything I find on the internet is true

Knowledge

Essential Questions
Overarching
To
How do I find what Im
What am I
looking for online?
What are s
Why do I need a plan
to help me
before I start searching?
What are th
of a search

Skills

Students will know

How to effectively and efficiently search for something
online
The five step plan for conducting research online
What reliable websites look like

Students will be able to

Use the five step plan to search for answers t
Apply tips and strategies to their researching
Identify reliable web-sources
Use specific websites to assist their research

Stage 2 Assessment Evidence

Performance Task Descriptions
Lesson 1: Students will read the Tips and Strategies for effective searching. After completing the silent reading
pairs) will use the tips and strategies learned and provide examples of each using a Web 2.0 presentation tool.

Lesson 2: Students will view the S.E.A.R.C.H. PowToon video first. Once students have completed the first step
choose a question (provided by the teacher) to answer using the S.E.A.R.C.H. strategy. Students will work indep
this project. Products will be presented in an infographic format.

Lesson 3: Students will put their new knowledge and skills to use by competing in the A Google A Day challen
Assessments
Project Based Learning:
1. Tips and Strategies w/ examples
2. S.E.A.R.C.H. Infographic
Interactive Learning Google Search
Quick Quiz

Stage 3 Learning Plan

Web-based unit will be conducted over a period of five days
For the first lesson of this unit, students will work with a partner to complete the assignment.
Lessons two and three will be self-paced
After lesson two, students will take a Quick Quiz to move on to lesson 3
The rubric for both projects will be the same and are provided on the lesson page for students to access.
The winner or winners of the Google challenge will receive bonus points on either project.
Evaluation

Based on the results/grades from the projects, students exceeded the expectation that Mrs. Ingwersen and I had hoped fo
very little trouble navigating the website for each lesson as well. There were a few students who struggled to compose t
examples for the Tips and Strategies project, but with a little guidance they were able to move on. Overall this was a gre
and the students truly enjoyed the change of pace for learning. One recommendation that I would change, if I were to do
to have a separate how-to for word documents. Many students wanted to complete their quiz on the computer but bec
when the document wouldnt work right. Even though they are sixth graders, I was expecting them to understand and
navigate a working document better than they did.

RESOURCES

Name: ___________________

Quick Quiz
Strategic Searching

1. A strategy is:
a) A course of action designed to help you reach a goal or result
b) A fraction of a larger amount
c) A word that helps you search online

2. Cindy heard a new song on the radio. She wants to search for it online, but she can only
remember one line of the song. Which of the following strategies should Cindy use to search for
this song?
a) Include the date she heard the song on the radio
b) Add synonyms to a few of the words she remembers
c) Use quotation marks around the line she remembers

3. What is the first step you should take when you want to conduct an online search?
a) Select research questions
b) Extract keywords and terms
c) Run your search

CATEGORY
Presentation

Points______

Distinguished
30-28

Above Mastery
27-24

Mastery
23-20

Below Mastery
19-16

Novice
15-0

The project flows

well, keeps the
attention of the
audience and is
very interesting.

Project flows well

and is interesting.

Majority of project
flows well and has
some interesting
items included.

Majority of project
is disjointed and
interest level is
sporadic.

Project does not

flow at all, is
poorly presented,
and has no
interest.

Makes good use of

font, color, graphics,
effects, etc. to
enhance to
presentation. Images
are used to enhance
the information and
support the text.
Placement of
images is
appropriate.

Makes use of font,

color, graphics,
effects, etc. but
occasionally these
detract from the
presentation content
.

The workload is
divided and shared
equally by all team
members.

The workload is
divided and shared
fairly by all team
members, though
workloads may vary
from person to person.

The workload was

divided, but one person
in the group is viewed
as not doing his/her fair
share of the work.

Content is well
organized using
headings or bulleted
lists to group related
material.

The product
shows significant
evidence of
originality and
inventiveness.
The majority of
the content and
many of the ideas
are fresh, original,
inventive, and
based upon
logical
conclusions and
sound research

Attractiveness Makes excellent

Points______

Workload
Points_____

Organization
Points_____
Originality

Points_____

use of font, color,

graphics, effects,
etc. to enhance
the presentation.
Images are used
to enhance the
information and
support text.
Placement of
images is
pleasing to the
eye.

150-140 Distinguished
79-0 Novice

Use of font, color, No graphics or

graphics, effects
scanned images
etc. but these often used.
distract from the
presentation
content. Images
have relevance to
information. Not
enough images
used.
The workload was
not divided OR
several people in the
group are viewed as
not doing their fair
share of the work.

The workload was

not divided and only
one or two people
worked on the
entire presentation.

Uses headings or
Content is logically
bulleted lists to
organized for the most
organize, but the
part.
overall organization of
topics appears flawed.

Content is limited in
organization and
does not flow well.

There was no clear

or logical
organizational
structure, just lots of
facts.

The product shows

evidence of
originality and
inventiveness. While
based on an
extensive collection
of other peoples
ideas, products,
images and
inventions, the work
extends beyond that
collection to offer
new insights.

The work is a
minimal collection
or rehash of other
peoples ideas,
products, images
and inventions.
There is no
evidence of new
thought.

The product is not

original and does
not show any
evidence of new
thought.

The work is an
extensive collection
and rehash of other
peoples ideas,
products, images
and inventions.
There is no evidence
of new thought or
inventiveness.

134-120 Above Mastery

Total Score__________________________________

119-100 Mastery

99-80 Below Mastery

TIPS FOR STRATEGIC SEARCHING

Directions
Use the following searching strategies to conduct an effective and efficient online search.

1. Use multiple, specific, descriptive

keywords for narrower results.

Example: Searching for concerts will lead to a

variety of musical events, ticket purchasing
opportunities, and tour dates. Searching for
underground hip-hop shows Bay Area will lead
to narrower, location-based results.

2. If at first you dont succeed, try

synonyms.

If youve tried searching for rare cats but havent

found what you are looking for, try searching for
exotic cats, rare felines, or exotic felines.

3. Place quotation marks around

specific words or specific phrases
youre looking for.

If you want information on the presidents

residence, search on White House rather than
white house.

4. Add a minus sign before a word

to show that you dont want that
one included.

If you are searching for mullet but you want the

fish and not the hairstyle, you would enter:
mullet -hair.

5. Look for two words at once by

placing OR between them.

If you want information on Cornell but youre not

sure whether its a college or a university, search
on Cornell College OR University. (Note: the OR
has to be capitalized!)

6. Search for and pay attention to

URL domain types.

If you are searching for parks and you include

.gov as a keyword, you should receive
government websites in your results. If you are
searching for parks and you include .com as a
keyword, you should receive results that are
companies related to parks.

.com = company
.gov = government website
.edu = educational institution
.org = organization

7. Specify the format of the

information youre looking for.

Many search engines will allow you to search

exclusively for images, videos, news, blogs, or
even scholarly articles. Different types of
information will help you in different ways.
If you search for military service, the following
information will tell you different things:
Blogs: Peoples opinions about military service.
Video: Videos related to military service. Some
might be made by anyone, while others might be
created by news outlets, organizations, or the
government.

8. Use advanced search options on

a search engine.
9. Once you have your search
results, use them!

News: The latest news articles and stories

related to military service.
You can often specify dates, exact words youre
looking for, or even languages you want in your
results in search engines such as Google, Yahoo!,
or Bing.
Searches enable you to access the huge store of
information on the Web, so take some time to see
whats out there! Dont just look at the first
results, and dont rely only on familiar sources
like Wikipedia or About.com.