Learning all about the important rules of research
By: Melissa Morgan
Fritz Kennedy might understand more than most about magician Harry Houdini’s life and character, but he still questions some of his adventurous antics.
"Why would anyone want to jump from a high cliff with their hands tied up?" he asked.
Fritz, a fourth-grader at Brooks Crossing Elementary School, tried to find the answer to this question and more about the mysterious magician while doing research on Mr. Houdini for an assignment in Neel Desai’s fourth-grade class.
In the Brooks Crossing Media Center on Jan. 27, Fritz rattled off facts he collected about Houdini as he explained his project, called a box report.
"When he was 9 years old, he made an elephant in the circus disappear, and people say he died in all different ways," Fritz said.
Mr. Desai said he is proud of all the facts his students remember about the subjects they picked for the project. After introducing several biographies to the students and providing some background on each person, Mr. Desai asked the students to select someone they were interested in researching.
After they completed the research, students covered an old cereal box with paper and glued on pictures and facts about their subject, such as anecdotes or unusual stories about the person, hobbies and what made them famous.
Students said they had fun decorating their boxes, but Mr. Desai said finding the actual facts was the hard part. Instead of relying on basic research, Mr. Desai required them to use three different sources and learn about the proper way to use the library in the research process.
Third- through fifth-grade teachers at Brooks Crossing are required to work collaboratively with media specialist Valerie Burnett on at least one research project per year. Ms. Burnett teaches the students to incorporate three sources into the final project including a circulating book, the Internet and an encyclopedia make a bibliography, and use the Alexandria Digital Library.
"It’s important that we teach them to get information from a variety of sources, the proper way to do research and how to use the library," Ms. Burnett said. "We need to show them there is more than one place to find information."
Ms. Burnett shows students how to use an encyclopedia just to get an overview of the research subject and to use a data bank to collect important information. She said the data bank is a worksheet with research questions to help guide the students and help them pick out only relevant and interesting facts, instead of copying the book or encyclopedia word for word.
Many fourth-graders who completed the bibliography box report said using the Internet was their favorite and easiest research tool because the information was available at the touch of a button.
"The Internet was the easiest because I found more interesting information, and it was right there instead of looking through a whole book," said Sarah Ayad, who researched comedian Bill Cosby.
Fifth-graders in Barbara Bowen’s class also recently used the Internet and other sources to complete their research project on the Civil War. Students worked with Ms. Bowen and Ms. Burnett to find out about one person they felt made an impact on the war.
Tim Von Thun decided on Ulysses S. Grant, the Union Civil War general who went on to become the 18th president of the United States.
"I found out so many interesting things about him," he said. "The Internet had everything I needed."
Not every student, however, preferred doing Internet research.
Gabriel Khaselev, who reported on Confederate Civil War Gen. Robert E. Lee, said the book she read helped her the most.
"The Internet only had things he did in the war, but the book told about his life and how he grew up," she said.
After completing the project, Ms. Bowen said the students made a Civil War Memorial in the hallway using the research they collected. Some students also chose to give oral presentations about their Civil War subject to the class.
"Since I learned so much, I thought it would be a good idea for everyone else to know also," said Gabriel.
Ms. Bowen said she is excited her students enjoyed doing the research.
"They are going to need to know this skill throughout their lives," she said. "They need to be in charge of learning. If they learn the proper way to research from the beginning, they will have to have confidence to handle anything that comes their way."
She said learning how to do research is a skill students will carry with them throughout their educational career.
"They need to know what kinds of sources are out there and how to find them," she said. "This sets the course for their learning."

