Throughout the year, you might hear your child talk about doing a "mini-inquiry." In layman's terms, this means students are going to do research to find the answer to a question. We adults do it all the time and most of the time we turn to the internet to find the answer. Well, mini-inquiries are the perfect opportunity to teach research skills before embarking on a huge research project (which we will do a few times this year).

Last week students identified a question related to poetry that they wanted to answer. It was either related to poetry form or  related to the content of a poem. For example, one poem discussed a chickadee. We did a mini inquiry into "what is a chickadee?" One question that arose is "Who invented poetry?"

In order to find the answers to their questions, we created a list of ways to research, including looking in books, on the internet, on online encyclopedias, interviews, and surveys.  One particular tool that I introduced students to is 'Britannica Elementary' and "Britannica Elementary." We found that for some questions, the middle school version was more comprehensive. Some students wanted to finish their mini inquiries at home. Here is how to find the Britannica Elementary and Britannica Middle School through LION.

Log on to lion.dpsk12.org
Click on Resources
Go to Online Databases
Click on Britannica Elementary and Britannica Middle School

We also began to discuss choosing the best key words when doing a Google search. This is definitely a skill that will take a lot more practice. In the meantime, if you are helping your child do a Google search, discuss key words. Then when the results are posted, help your child determine which sites might be the best to start looking at to get information. We encourage students to stay away from Wikipedia only because the information can be altered by anyone.