The Thought That Counts
Virginia Rankin -- School Library Journal, 8/1/1999
Six Skills That Help Kids Turn Notes into Knowledge
Virginia Rankin (rankinv@bvelnet.bellevue.k12.wa.us) is teacher-librarian at Odle Middle School, Bellevue, WA. This article is adapted from her book, The Thoughtful Researcher: Teaching the Research Process to Middle School Students (Libraries Unlimited), which was published in June.
My summer school professor wasn't sure I belonged in his class. "What's a librarian doing in a class on thinking?" he asked. My classmates appeared just as baffled. Taken aback, I managed to mumble that I believe research is a thinking process. I was there, I said, to discover strategies to help my students become thoughtful researchers.
That awkward moment several years ago was the beginning of my exploration of thinking skills. Indeed, to show my teacher that a librarian did belong in the class, I came up with projects demonstrating how students could apply specific thinking skills to various steps in the research process. In one unit, students would use evaluation skills to gauge the usefulness of reference sources. In another, they'd use problem solving to develop a research plan. Later, I began exploring how to help students create high-quality research projects ("Get Smart: The Crucial Link Between Media Specialists and A+ Student Projects," SLJ, August 1996, pp. 22-26). This led me to focus on the final stages of research, as students prepare to communicate the results of their inquiry.
Rather than merely paraphrase what they read, I want my middle school students to engage in the kind of higher level thinking outlined in our professional literature. That means they should be able to organize and analyze information in a new way, to make inferences and draw conclusions. Ideally, students will "construct" meaning from their researchA3that is, they'll reflect on it in such a way that they will come up with ideas they didn't get from a book.
The question, of course, is how do we get students to take these sorts of intellectual leaps? I've found the answer lies in very consciously teaching them to apply certain thinking skills to their research -- skills like comparing and contrasting, classifying things by category, and identifying causes and effects. When we do this -- when we ask students to look at the causes and effects of a controversy, or put a series of events in sequence and find the crucial turning points -- we give them tools for making sense of their information and gaining new understanding. For example, below I talk about an assignment in which students were studying precolonial Native American tribes. When we asked them to compare and contrast traditional tribal culture to life in contemporary America, it spurred some of them to say things like, "Our culture is violent; theirs wasn't." That kind of comment shows that students haven't just copied down notes but have thought about their research and gained insight from it.
Still, there are always some students who seem confused and frustrated when asked to do something like compare and contrast two cultures. That's why it's helpful to use graphic organizers -- T-charts, Venn diagrams, and other simple tools that give students a visual framework for applying thinking skills to their research. It's also helpful to ask "extension questions," follow-up questions that prompt students to draw conclusions about the information in their graphic organizers.
There are six key skills that help students make sense of their research. They are: comparing and contrasting; sequencing; classifying; identifying cause and effect; problem solving; and decision making. I've taught these skills to middle schoolers, but they would be equally effective for high school students and, in some cases, older elementary students.
Below are examples of techniques for teaching thinking skills. I've also included the sorts of graphic organizers and extension questions that help kids understand what they need to do.
1. Comparing and Contrasting
A few years ago, a teacher and I developed a research project on Native Americans in precolonial times. For the project, eighth-grade students were divided into various tribes and told to write a speech welcoming a visitor. The speech was to present vital information that would enable a modern American time traveler to understand the tribe's people and live peacefully among them.
In the first two years we ran the project, we found that some students caught on quickly, automatically comparing tribal culture with contemporary American culture and finding similarities and differences. But other students floundered, writing speeches that sounded like encyclopedia entries.
I decided to add an extra step to the process. I told students that before writing their speech, they should compare and contrast their tribal culture with contemporary American culture. I also used the graphic organizer and extension questions outlined below. This time, all the students got the point of the exercise.
On a T-chart like the one above (Figure 1), students listed the values, beliefs, and customs of both cultures. Then, on a Venn diagram, they sorted out similarities and differences.
Extension questions:
- What important differences do you need to tell a stranger about?
- What unique aspects of the culture would a contemporary American find exciting or interesting?
- Are there some values or beliefs that the two cultures share that might help a modern visitor feel more comfortable?
2. Sequencing
When students research a historical topic, like the Battle of the Bulge, they can get lost in a succession of "and thens," unable to see the forest for the trees. When they investigate a complicated process like the making of a film, they may not see how scriptwriting connects to editing or financing. In both cases, it can help to arrange things in sequence.
This is a good time to use a flow chart (Figure 2). By limiting both the size and number of squares, students are forced to focus on what's important.
Extension questions:
- What are three crucial steps in the making of a film?
- How would things be different if one step in the sequence didn't happen?
- How does one step in the process (you choose) relate to what came before it and what came after?
3. Classifying
Classifying involves grouping things by common characteristics and then labeling them. It's one of the most basic thinking skills, vital to both note-taking and writing. Classifying is also helpful when a teacher wants students to draw general conclusions from specific investigations.
We do a project where students create a newspaper set in colonial times. They start by examining current newspapers to identify the different types of news stories: international, national, local, sports, lifestyle, etc. Once the class agrees on a list of categories, students use library resources to come up with colonial story ideas for each category. After each project group comes up with ideas, the editor assigns his or her reporters to cover specific stories.
A handy graphic for this assignment is a web (Figure 3). As in the example at left, types of newspaper stories would radiate from the center. Students' story ideas could then radiate from the types of stories identified.
Extension questions:
- Which categories yielded the fewest story ideas. Why might that be?
- Which categories led to the most interesting stories?
- Which categories and/or stories would most interest a colonial person?
Classifying can also be used effectively at the end of a project. I've done a project with our art teacher in which students list at least six words describing the work of famous artists they've researched. The teacher then compiles a list of all the words and gives it to students working in small groups. It's the groups' job to put the words into categories. As the last step, the class comes back together to name the most useful categories. Ideally, they'll have come up with most of the various perspectives from which paintings can be viewed -- the use of color, light, subject matter, etc. Through this activity, the class develops a common vocabulary about art that it can apply to the work of any artist.
4. Cause and Effect
Textbooks usually mention the causes and effects of major historical events, but many readers whiz right by these passages or don't really understand them. A simple graphic organizer can help young historians focus on cause and effect and select the most significant instances of each. It's also interesting to use this technique for contemporary issues like deforestation or gang violence. You can ask older students to make a more sophisticated analysis by looking at cause and effect from different points of view. Many students find it helpful to create "cause" and "effect" circles like the ones at right (Figure 4).
Extension questions:
- What is the most important cause of deforestation? Why?
- What is the most devastating effect? Why?
- How would a logger look at causes and effects of deforestation? An environmentalist? The leader of a developing country?
5. & 6. Problem Solving and Decision Making
A problem solver identifies potential solutions to a problem. A decision maker evaluates those solutions and chooses among them. When teaching these skills, it's usually effective to blend the two.
Students can use problem-solving and decision-making skills to tackle any number of historical, contemporary, or imaginary issues. For instance, history students will better understand decisions like dropping the atomic bomb or founding the League of Nations if they go through the same decision-making process as the leaders who made those decisions. Ask them to come up with other options for achieving the same goals and then choose the one they think would have worked best. History comes alive when students see it as the story of real people who had to make tough choices.
Schools themselves offer a wealth of problems to be solved: weapons on campus, unappealing or unhealthy cafeteria food, and sexual harassment are just a few. Students should begin their research with the existing policy, if there is one, then move on to resources such as magazine articles and the Internet. Once they've found possible solutions, they can present them to the administration.
When working with students on problem solving and decision making, it's helpful to give them guidelines. I've adapted the following from Barry K. Beyer's Practical Strategies for the Teaching of Thinking (Allyn and Bacon, 1987).
Problem Solving
1. Define the problem. It may be helpful to:
- break it into parts
- identify causes
- specify your goal
2. Devise plans for solving the problem.
3. Evaluate the plans.
4. Choose a plan.
Decision Making
1. Specify goals of decision.
2. Identify options.
3. Evaluate options.
4. Rank options.
5. Re-evaluate the two or three highest options.
6. Choose the best option.
Say your students are researching the Civil Rights movement. You can divide them into small groups to choose the best path to ending racial discrimination. Each group considers a range of options: freedom rides, sit-ins, voter registration, school integration, mass demonstrations and marches, etc. Students then report on the options and the group evaluates each one. In decision making, a good method for evaluating different options is to use a chart listing the advantages and disadvantages of each (Figure 5). The chart below was adapted from Patterns for Thinking, Patterns for Transfer: A Cooperative Team Approach for Critical and Creative Thinking in the Classroom by Robin Fogarty and James Bellanca (Zephyr, 1991).
Extension questions:
- Imagine that you are young, black, and living in the 1960s. Which strategy would you choose?
- Why?
Final Thoughts
These six thinking skills are probably being taught somewhere in your school. However, not all teachers make the connection between these skills and library research. Our job is to find the ones who are teaching thinking skills and make that connection for them. Or, we can introduce the subject of thinking skills if it is being overlooked altogether.
Matching thinking skills and assignments requires careful planning. Some of my initial inspirations seemed brilliant, but proved completely unworkable. It's wise to get a clear, step-by-step picture in your head of what you expect students to do and how you will prepare them to do it. But even before you work these skills into an assignment, first try applying them yourself. Compare and contrast library vendors, sequence a story in today's newspaper, or practice problem solving in your own life. Now you're ready to help students apply these skills to their own lives.
