Research and Investigation Guides

Provides scaffolding to support student inquiry learning, including links to interactive tutorials and resources for each process step.

Secondary (6-12) Information Literacy Process Model and Interactive Research Guide

Time Frame

• Two 50 minute class periods for exploration and research
• Two 50 minute class periods for policy debate and creation
• One 50 minute class period for reflection

Notes to the Teacher

• Collaborate with your School Library Media Specialist for integration of 21st Century skills instruction.
• To facilitate the collaborative nature of this project, consider creating a project-based wiki or using another Web 2.0 tool (VoiceThread, MindMeister, Groupsite.com, etc.) as a collaborative workspace. See your Library Media Specialist for help, or visit the BCPS Resource Wiki for Software, Assistive Technologies, Web 2.0 Tools, Digital Content, and Resources.
• Prepare students with background on Andrew Jackson and the Native American tribes by incorporating Safari Montage videos and included assessments.
• Use the linked BrainPop activities, graphic organizers, and quizzes to check student understanding of the video conten in the Scenario.
• After reading the background article on Indian Removal, direct students to highlight or note key words to use in their independent search queries.
• Use the Web Research Guide as a diagnostic tool or to review effective Internet search strategies, Web site evaluation and source citation.
• Consider showing clips from the film Dances with Wolves (1990) to initiate discussion about Native American culture and clips from the film Avatar to incorporate the extension activity.

Supplemental Teaching Resources

• Andrew Jackson: Good, Evil, and the Presidency on PBS: Includes links to lesson plans, webquests, activities, and primary sources.
• Library of Congress Web Guide on Indian Removal: American Memory Historical collection including primary texts, bibliographies, maps, and external links.
  
• Safari Montage Videos:
  Indian Removal
  Freedom: A History of US? Liberty for All?
  Chapter 3: Old Hickory - The Presidency of Andrew Jackson and the Plight of Native Americans
  The Cherokee
  The Seminole
  
• BCPS Office of Library Information Services: Reference Desk, Resource Wiki for Software, Assistive Technologies, Web 2.0 Tools, Digital Content, and Resources, Podcasting: Learning To Go, Video to Go
• Promethean Planet - search for interactive flipcharts (free account).
• Teacher's Domain - search for digital media (free account).
• Thinkport - interactive media, tools, lessons, and links from MPT.

Curriculum Standards Alignment

BCPS Curriculum for
Grade 8 Social Studies
(BCPS)

Grade 8 Social Studies- Nationalism and Expansion in America

O-18 The student will investigate the presidency of Andrew Jackson in order to determine its impact on government policies and on the American people.
KSI-C Explain the impacts of the Indian Removal Act on Native Americans.

O-19 The student will investigate westward expansion in order to determine its role in the social, economic, and political development of the nation.
KSI-A Describe the government strategies used to acquire new territories.
KSI-B Describe the impact of Manifest Destiny on westward expansion.

Maryland State Curriculum for Grade 8
Social Studies
(MSDE)

Standard 5.0 History - Students will examine significant ideas, beliefs, and themes; organize patterns and events; and analyze how individuals and societies have changed over time in Maryland and the United States.

Indicator 3. Evaluate westward movement in the United States before 1877.
Objectives
a. Explain the political, economic, and social factors that motivated people to move west
b. Describe the government strategies used to acquire territory
c. Analyze the impact of westward movement on relations with Native Americans, such as treaty relations, land acquisition and the policy of Indian Removal

Maryland State Environmental Literacy Standards
(MSDE)

Standard 7: Environment & Society
The student will analyze how the interactions of heredity, experience, learning and culture influence social decisions and social change.

Maryland Technology Literacy Standards for Students
(MSDE)

College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Reading
Key Ideas and Details:
1. Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.
2. Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.
Craft and Structure:
4. Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone.
6. Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text.
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas:
7. Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse formats and media, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.
8. Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, including the validity of the reasoning as well as the relevance and sufficiency of the evidence.
9. Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches the authors take.
Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity
10. Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently.
College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Writing
Text Types and Purposes:
1. Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
2. Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content and well-structured event sequences.
Production and Distribution of Writing:
4. Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
6. Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others.
Research to Build and Present Knowledge:
7. Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects based on focused questions, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.
8. Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, assess the credibility and accuracy of each source, and integrate the information while avoiding plagiarism.
9. Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
Range of Writing:
10. Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences.

Standards for the 21st-Century Learner
(AASL)

1.1.1 Follow an inquiry-based process in seeking knowledge in curricular subjects, and make the real-world connection for using this process in own life.
1.1.6 Read, view, and listen for information presented in any format (e.g. textual visual, media, digital) in order to make inferences and gather meaning.
2.1.1 Continue an inquiry-based research process by applying critical-thinking skills (analysis, synthesis, evaluation, organization) to information and knowledge in order to construct new understandings, draw conclusions, and create new knowledge.
2.1.2 Organize knowledge so that it is useful.
2.1.6 Use the writing process, media and visual literacy, and technology skills to create products that express new understandings.
3.1.1 Conclude an inquiry-based research process by sharing new understandings and reflecting on the learning.
3.1.6 Use information and technology ethically and responsibly.