From Now On
The Educational Technology Journal
 Vol 15|No 4|April|2006
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A Review . . .
Internet Based Student Research: Creating to Learn with a Step-By-Step Approach

by Jamie McKenzie

About the author

Keane, Jacqueline. Internet Based Student Research: Creating to Learn with a Step-By-Step Approach, Grades 5-12. Worthington: Linworth, 2006.

Jackie Keane offers up a no-nonsense approach to student research activities and shows how they can be enriched and enhanced by smart use of new technologies. Her own classroom experience shines through this guide to good practice.

Drawing upon years of work with students and other teachers, Keane presents a model that she calls C.I.D.E. - each letter standing for a stage in the process: Concept, Investigation, Design, and Execution. The model is briefly outlined in this month' issue of FNO: "Creating to Learn:
Has technology fulfilled its promise in your classroom?"

While grounded in good theory, this book is filled with carefully structured strategies for launching project work in an organized fashion. Keane leads the classroom teacher step by step through the process and provides many handouts for use with students to enrich their thinking and improve their skills.

Keane's suggestions will strike teachers as realistic and manageable as she shows how to manage limited time and cope with the pressures of high stakes testing.

A sample of headings from the Table of Contents demonstrates the practicality of Keane's approach.

Investigation 23
1. The Information Challenge 27
. . . Diagram the Research Topic 28
. . . Tracking Ideas Visually 31
2. Research on the Internet 33
. . . Browsing Online Directories 35
. . . Targeted Searches 41
. . . The Visible and Invisible Web 44
. . . Research Checklist 55
. . . Authentication 56
3. Organization 59
. . . Bookmarking Web Sites 60
. . . Creating "Index Cards" 62
. . . Savvy Investigation Checklist 70
. . . Rubric: Investigation Phase 71

This is an excellent handbook for teachers who wish to infuse smart use of technologies into their study of key curriculum concepts. Keane shows how we can take students beyond mere gathering to deeper levels of understanding and the creation of information products.

While Keane's approach to research makes a great deal of sense, teachers would be wise to caution students against relying upon digital information sources alone when studying important issues and concepts. Keane is silent on print resources that will often prove essential when conducting an investigation.

You can buy Jackie Keane's book, Internet Based Student Research:
Creating to Learn with a Step-By-Step Approach,
at http://store.yahoo.com.

Back to April Cover

You can buy Jackie Keane's
book, Internet Based
Student Research:
Creating to Learn
with a Step-By-Step Approach
at http://fno.org/fnopress/books.html