The document describes a classroom activity where 7th grade students researched different types of energies in pairs. They were assigned one of seven energy sources and tasked with finding pros and cons online. Most students succeeded in finding relevant information from multiple websites and evaluating website quality despite the teacher's expectations. Student feedback showed they considered factors like readability, multimedia, date, and reliability when judging websites. The teacher was positively surprised by students' independent research skills and engagement with the online learning activity.

1. By: Melissa Thompson
September 22, 2011
CEP 806

2. Ideas
 When thinking of all the possibilities of what
my 7th grade students should research on their
computer I decided it would be good for them
to research a science topic that is popular and
highly talked about in today’s society. The
topic I thought would be thought provoking
to students and something they would be
interested in is Energy.

3. Ideas
 When I decided Energy would be a good topic for students to
research and find on the computer I felt that I needed to narrow
down the search for students since there are so many energy
sources out there.
 Students would be working with a partner they choose and will
be assigned to research pros and cons of a specific energy.
 The specific types of energies that were assigned to the students
included…
 Solar Energy
 Wind Energy
 Nuclear Energy
 Water Energy
 Coal
 Natural Gas
 Oil

4. Goals for Students
 My goals for students included…
1 Researching sites on the internet with a
partner finding pros and cons of a specific
type of energy that was assigned to them.
2 Students going to at least 5 websites relating
to their topic.
3 Students determining, rating and explaining
why they thought the 5 sites they chose were
good or bad.

5. Goals for Students
1 While students found 5 sites and rated them on
a survey sheet, they also needed to explain why
they thought the various sites were good or
bad.
2 After students filled out the survey sheet they
needed to take screenshots of 3 sites they went
to and email the screenshots to me.
3 In the email students needed to write an
explanation of why they used these sites and
determined if they were good, bad or helpful.

6. Predictions
 Before students preformed the inquiry activity on
the computers I predicted that they would have a
hard time determining which sites they considered
good or bad. I thought students would have a lot of
questions about the topic, how to search the topic
and find arguments both positive and negative
about the energy source.
 I predicted these outcomes due to seeing 7th grade
students in the past struggle with finding
appropriate sites. I have found that there is too
much information on the web and students struggle
with determining what is reliable and accurate.

7. Explanation
 I figured students would have a lot of questions
about how to research as they are so use to
teachers providing them with everything they
need. Another characteristic of middle school
students is they pick and choose when they want
to listen to the teacher and don’t always absorb
the instructions. To my surprise, all my students
did a very good job listening to me when I
explained the activity and what they had to do
and not too many questions were asked when
students were searching sites on the internet.

8. Inquiry Plan
 After I assigned the students their topic I also
gave them a survey questionnaire to fill out
describing every step they took in their
research.

9. Inquiry Plan
This was the survey sheet students had to fill out about the sites and information
they found while researching the internet on Pros and Cons of Energy.

10. Examples
On the following pages are…
 Examples of a few students findings.
 Questionnaire surveys.
 Website screenshots.
 Quotes of students’ reactions are also
included.

11. Patterns of Data
Group #1 Findings on Pros and Cons of Water Energy

12. Patterns of Data
Group #1 Continued – Pros and Cons of Water Energy
“The first website was not so good
because of lack of pictures, the article
wasn't verified and the content was hard
to understand.”

13. Patterns of Data
Group #1 Continued – Pros and Cons of Water Energy
“The second website was helpful because it had
videos, diagrams, lots of information, and subtitles
but it had too many ads.”

14. Patterns of Data
Group #2 – Pros and Cons of Oil Energy

15. Patterns of Data
Group #2 Continued – Pros and Cons of Oil Energy
“We think that ehow.com is
an exceptionally great
informational and helpful
site about the pros and cons
of oil energy.”

16. Patterns of Data
Group #2 Continued – Pros and Cons of Oil Energy
“We think that
nuclearpowerprocon.org
is helpful because it gave
lots of information
although there were no
pictures. One
disadvantage of this site
though, is that it has not
been updated since
1988.”

17. Patterns of Data
Group #3 – Pros and Cons of Coal Energy

18. Patterns of Data
Group #3 – Pros and Cons of Coal Energy
Students in this group
said the sites “was
helpful because it
was easy to use.”

19. Patterns of Data
Group #4 – Pros and Cons of Solar Energy

20. Patterns of Data
Group #4 continued – Pros and Cons of Solar Energy
Students in this group
said this was a good
site because it had a
lot of good information
about solar energy.

21. Emergent Ideas
 I was very impressed with the ability my students
had on researching their topics. They far exceeded
my expectations. I thought they would need more
teacher direction and guidance. I thought I would be
answering more questions and redirecting their
research.
 I feel these positive results were due to the thorough
explanations I gave to students prior to the activity
and the clear expectations that were set. Students
were very engaged and excited about the lesson.
This was an affective learning activity and I will plan
more activities of this nature with my students.

22. Questions
 Did the students pay attention to the
citations?
 Did the students notice the date the sites
were put together?
 Did the students questions the reliability of
the website?
 Were the students engaged and on task?

23. Student Responses
 After conducting this research assignment in
class with my students we discussed during
the next class period what students found,
liked or disliked about the websites they
researched.

24. Student Responses
 Some of the comments students contributed
included…
 Students rated good websites having…
 Large writing to read and understand
 Pictures and video tutorial
 Appropriate for students at the middle school level
 Students rated bad websites having…
 Not enough information
 Information being out of date
 Not having enough pictures, videos or graphs.

25. Conclusion
 Middle school students are more able than I
had anticipated in finding research on the
web.
 They were self directed learners and
enthusiastic participants when it came to
using the computer for learning and research.
 Students were able to problem solve on their
own and needed minimal adult guidance.

26. Conclusion
 Overall, I was surprised by my findings from
students conducting this online research.
First and foremost, this inquiry project made
me realize how middle school students think
about searches on the internet. From the
data provided in the presentation students
found some good websites that helped them
better understand pros and cons of energy
sources and then found some sites that were
not so good.