high-school-student-work

Research Course Presentations

Tue, 18 Dec 2012 14:21:49 +0100

In the 11th grade research course, students were asked to give a presentation on their work so far and talk about their next steps in the Extended Essay. Here is one example for an EE in Physics from student, Daniel M! Great job!!

IB Reseach Course

Wed, 10 Oct 2012 01:04:32 +0100

New this year to ISP has been the research course -- required for all of our diploma programme juniors. The new course addresses how to begin the research process, how to inquire, how to research deeply, and how to add to the academic discourse in their subject area. Students are more engaged in this than I have ever seen anyone be in the research process!

    Seniors are complaining that they didn't have a research course!
    A junior taking the class said, "I used to hate EBSCO [a database], but it's actually cool."
    Another enrolled junior says, "I am finding so much stuff on the databases! It's like, seriously, I can't stop finding stuff!"

They are truly tuned in to the research process and finding out that the dreaded research paper can actually be fun! I'm so looking forward to seeing them as they progress this semester--can't wait for your final presentations, guys!

Starting the year off strong!

Wed, 10 Oct 2012 00:56:00 +0100

9th grade history classes came in on week one for a research refresher course--preparing them for a heavy year of research ahead!

We reviewed how to search, where to search, our new databases, what makes a good source, plagiarism, and citation. The students were excited and surprised that the work we did in 8th grade was already coming in handy in high school. Nice job 9th grade!

Una presentación sobre presentaciones! - A Presentation about Presentations!

Fri, 11 May 2012 16:32:31 +0100

In 9th grade Spanish class, the students, in preparation for a class presentation, were given a presentation about what mediums they could use to create presentations and tips on how to present more effectively. Students explored Powerpoint, Prezi, Popplet, Google Presentations, Photostory3, and more in order to critically think about when one medium of presenting might be better or worse than another.

IB Film Studies Research Seminar

Fri, 11 May 2012 16:32:36 +0100

IB Film students were just about to start on a series of research heavy final projects. In order to support them in this endeavor, we had a research seminar specific to their task for class.

Students were led to explore the features and materials in Ebrary and EBSCO, as well as how to broaden and narrow their search terms in order to get the best search results for film topics!

Panamanian Studies - Panama History Video Project

Thu, 10 May 2012 15:27:53 +0100

Students in high school Panamanian Studies are in the process of creating a video of Panamanian colonial history. After trying in vain to find a video online to teach students about this topic, the Panamanian Studies teacher and myself decided that we would fill the online gap by having students make their own video to post.

Students researched independently, created a storyboard to organize their video, and filmed the sequence of events and information. This video will be posted on YouTube for other teachers to use and will also be shown to the Middle School Panamanian Studies classes.

9th grade Mini-Research Assignment

Thu, 10 May 2012 15:22:58 +0100

After seeing the improvement that 10th graders made by doing this seminar and mini-research assignment, 9th grade history students also went through the same process!

Students were asked to use the library databases to research a list of information on food item. They were to take this information and use it in a mini-research paper with proper MLA style in-text citation. Students turned their assignment in via email and after grading them each class met again to talk about what items in this process seemed to still be tripping them up. 9th grade students asked great questions and greatly improved their searching and in-text citation skills for future writing and researching!

10th grade Mini-Research Project

Thu, 10 May 2012 15:23:45 +0100

In order to help 10th grade students with in-text citation and other general research skills before embarking on a larger higher-stakes research paper for History class we created a low-stakes research assignment in order to practice those skills in a controlled setting.

Students were asked to use the library databases to research a list of information on food item. They were to take this information and use it in a mini-research paper with proper MLA style in-text citation. Students turned their assignment in to me via email and after grading them each class met again to talk about what items in this process seemed to still be tripping them up. Students asked great questions and greatly improved their searching and in-text citation skills for future writing and researching!

9th Grade Crusades Paper and Presentation

Thu, 10 May 2012 15:14:34 +0100

9th grade History students came in to research the different phases of the Crusades. I gave a presentation about how to use library databases to find good sources about the topic of the Crusades, how to narrow and broaden their search as needed, and how to quickly decide if a source is good or not.

Students then used the library resources to research and create their group presentation and paper about their phase of the Crusades.

10th Grade Literature Research Seminar

Thu, 10 May 2012 14:55:21 +0100

10th grade Literature students participated in a research seminar. This seminar covered the basics of researching, how to choose a research topic, how to find good sources, databases through the library, and source citation.

Students then completed a research task for their upcoming written term paper about George Orwell's novel 1984.