Locating Information

At one time the responsibility for teaching students how to locate information rested with the professional school library media specialist. Now Ohio's Learning Standards recognize the enormity of this inquiry dimension and place the responsibility for instruction with every teacher in all disciplines. But it’s broader than just locating the information—it’s teaching the inquiry process.

Students must be able to find and use the best resources available which requires search skills. Beyond finding the information, this dimension also includes the ability to recognize when information is needed, explore relationships, take notes, summarize, and more. Students must be able to organize their information and manage the material. The high quality, digital, instructional resources from INFOhio are the perfect place for students to begin locating information. 

INFOhio Web Tools for Locating Information

• IWonder Genius Hour Lesson

Locating Information in Practice

Some students believe that all the information they need is freely available on the internet. They think typing a question into a general search engine will give them the best results. Help students understand that different resources retrieve different information and that better search strategies give better results.

1. Ask students if they like that your school is allowed to make rules about what they can and cannot wear to school events.
   • Do they know why your school is allowed to make rules about what they can and cannot wear?
   • Can what a person wears to school have any effect on learning?
2. Open 2 different resources.
   • One should be a general web search engine like Google, Bing, or Yahoo. What kinds of results will they get from a general web search engine like Google?
   • The second should be a resource that returns premium academic content like ISearch (find your school's ISearch on the INFOhio homepage). ISearch is INFOhio's tool that lets you search nearly all of the INFOhio digital instructional content, along with the contents of your school library, from a single search box.
     • What kinds of results do they think they will get from an academic search tool like ISearch?
     • What do they think they won't find in an academic search tool like ISearch?
3. Explain to students that there are resources or "databases" that focus on one type of resource or on one big subject area. Then show students the Grades 6-8 page or the Grades 9-12 page on the INFOhio website.
   • General databases and encyclopedias are a good place to begin looking for information about a research topic. Familiarize yourself with Explora for Grades 6-8, Explora for Grades 9-12, World Book Student, and World Book Advanced. Think about your students and show them how to find the best database or encyclopedia that best meets their needs as a learner. 
4. Open the material titled, Research and Inquiry Skills: Graphic Organizers. Scroll down and select a graphic organizer from this list to share with your students.  Teach students how to record the keywords they use and the results of each search using one of the graphic organizers. 
5. As a class, develop a possible research question related to the topic of schools making rules about what students can and cannot wear.  Ask students to take another look at the Grades 6-8 page or the Grades 9-12 page on the INFOhio website and list a few resources to explore.
6. Demonstrate the kinds of results you get when you type your entire research question in the general web search engine's search box. Explain that all search engines, including those specialized search tools, work best when you put only the most important words related to your research question in the search box.
7. Brainstorm good search words and phrases related to your research question.  Prompt students to think of synonyms or words and phrases closely related to the research question.
8. Encourage students to try some of their search words and phrases in the general web search engine, in ISearch, and in another search tool of their choice and make notes about the results they get. Remind students to track which search words and phrases they used in which tool.
9. Ask students to think about and respond to the following questions:
   • Did they find the exact same kinds of results in all 3 resources?
   • If they needed to find 5 reliable resources that would be acceptable for a research paper or presentation on their research question, could they do that in each of those resources?
   • Which search words and phrases gave them the best results?
   • Did they need to add or change any search words or phrases?
   • What are some of the pros and cons of each of the search tools they tried?

We know that children and teens are great at using tech and the internet to play and socialize. Teaching effective strategies for locating information helps children and teens begin to use tech and the internet for learning and working and prepares them for success in college and career.

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