Ideas From Readers Submit your story about how you've taught with The Times. Teacher: Carolyn Ross Institution: Hightstown High School, East Windsor, N.J. Grade Level of Students: ninth grade (14 years old) Idea: Personal Inquiry Projects - independent research into topics students care about - with side lessons on judging the reliability of sources. Why We Chose It: Students identify topics they care about, then use The Times to learn more about them, reading closely, researching and learning important information literacy skills along the way. This is a lesson we'd like to teach ourselves. What Ms. Ross Did and Why, in Her Own Words Each week my students do Kelly Gallagher's Article of the Week activity and annotate an article that I choose almost exclusively from The New York Times. This year we went further and also conducted Personal Inquiry Projects. In these, each student chooses a topic and does his or her own research to learn about it in greater depth. We had a fun class period when I conducted the introductory lesson for the unit, revisiting the many topics that we have covered thus far through clips from the Video index of NYTimes.com. Students were quick to identify topics that interested them, and we worked together to craft specific research questions. A Sampling of Topics Chosen by Students: Should college athletes be paid? What gender stereotypes exist in the media? What are SOPA and PIPA and how do they seek to regulate online piracy? What is the value of homework? Why are drivers increasingly distracted? What is the purpose of our new trade agreement with South Korea? What is the life of an Olympic hopeful? What is the Bloods gang? What security do prisons have and what responsibility do the institutions have to their prisoners? How are women affected by the increased gang presence in Mexico? Why do journalists risk their lives? Is it possible to eliminate war atrocities? The unit allows me to teach students how to identify reliable sources on the Web, how to research topics of personal interest, how to write annotated bibliographies and how to create effective presentations demonstrating findings. Even better, it allows me the opportunity to foster inquisitive spirits, discuss current events and issues, and learn more about my students. Often, I begin my hunt for relevant articles on The Learning Network: the blog has already done part of the work by identifying articles that are interesting to teenagers! How We Conduct Research The students refer back to the Articles of the Week we have read in class over the course of the school year in order to choose a topic. To narrow focus, they answer these questions: What is the question that you are interested in answering? What related, fact-based questions will you have to answer in order to arrive at an informed perspective on your larger research question? They next investigate source reliability and author bias, using the information provided and prior knowledge of research practices to complete a guided notes activity. To determine the reliability of a Web site, they look for "good signs" like URLs that end in .org, .gov or .edu, a professional and well-organized appearance and a clear "Contact Us" link, a sign that humans are actively maintaining the site. They also look for "bad signs" like the absence of an author's name or a "last updated" date - though a site last updated in 1998 can be even worse. Other warnings of unreliable content are the use of slang, obscenities or other emotional writing and a disaster of a design: ugly fonts, disorganized links, crazy colors. Next, students create charts that name a source and explain "How I Know It's Reliable." Example: They remember kids.nationalgeographic.com and write something like, "It's run by the National Geographic Society; my teachers used it in middle school, and the organization is in the business of spreading information about the world, so their business depends on them being accurate." They then answer these questions or complete these activities: What does it mean to corroborate a source? Briefly tell why you can't trust everything you read on the internet. List and explain at least three reasons why authors and websites might provide information that is not completely reliable. In your own words, define "bias." List and explain two sources that could be biased. How can you detect author bias? Students identify three sources they will use in their PowerPoint presentations. For each, they make a chart that shows: Exact URL: Author's name: Article title and publication title: (article titles in quotes, newspaper or magazine titles should be underlined) Date of publication or last update: Sponsoring institution (company, college, etc.): Date you accessed this Web site: Paraphrased notes: Site used for corroboration: Did this source feature advertisements? Did this source provide links to other reliable sources? Explain in detail how exactly you determined that this source was, in fact, credible. Keep in mind the initial markers we discussed in class. The unit was really interesting - lots of successes and lots to learn from for next year. One big highlight was seeing the students really develop as Internet-information consumers. Once they truly understood Web site reliability, they came to value sites like the Times Topic pages, and use those kinds of credible sources as the foundations for their research. Here are some of my students" reflections on the project: I learned how to get my notes from a reliable Web site. I learned how to use GoogleDocs. I got to know everyone a little more through the topic they chose." -Morgan S. It's a general thing, but I realized how troubled the world is right now and it inspired me to try to fix it." -Victoria R. "I learned how to use the "Initial Markers" when looking for reliable sources." -Kelly S. One thing I've learned from this unit is how to do a presentation. I've realized I make my presentations too flashy. A simple presentation with contrasting colors goes a long way. You don't need a PowerPoint with 20 different colors on it." -Jess F. Would you like to see the handouts Ms. Ross gave her students? She's allowed us to share this PDF. Need more ideas to stimulate inquiry? We've just published 163 Questions to Write or Talk About, our compilation of all the Student Opinion questions we asked in the 2011-12 school year. Each leads students to a related Times resource, and all are still open to comment by anyone from 13 to 25 years of age.