This activity is part of a larger class session focused on preparing students for their upcoming research projects. At this point in the semester students should have been introduced to a research project, but have not begun researching (or might not have chosen a topic). Students break up into groups of 3-4 students, depending on material availability. Each group receives a handful of construction materials (colored paper, play doh, magnetic tiles) to build a visual representation of research. Visual models should take 10-15 minutes to complete. At the end of the activity, the instructor brings the class together to discuss various visual models and how the models emulate the research process. (We first heard about the idea of creatively representing the research project from Marcela Y. Isuster from McGill University at LOEX 2019, this is inspired by their idea.)

This lesson was originally created to assist with organizing ideas and sources for a literature review, but was edited to simplify objectives and condense the lesson for shorter assignments 

I use this activity every year in the lab section of General chemistry. At this level of chemistry students are rarely doing research work that involves chemistry literature, and don’t necessarily have chemistry research questions or a need for understanding the library research databases for for the class. However, students at this level are engaging with science information in the classroom and outside the classroom, and this is a great opportunity to build skills needed to engage with information in online spaces. 

Since I developed this assignment, Mike Caulfield has developed a new framework based on the Four Moves, called SIFT. At this point I’ve stayed with Four Moves and a Habit because it comes with an open textbook that I can assign pre-class reading from, and because the named concept of lateral reading has been useful for students.

Many thanks to Andrea Verdan, Seattle University Chemistry, for her work on developing this lesson plan and developing the pre-lab quiz questions.

I use this activity every year in the lab section of General chemistry. At this level of chemistry students are rarely doing research work that involves chemistry literature, and don’t necessarily have chemistry research questions or a need for understanding the library research databases for for the class. However, students at this level are engaging with science information in the classroom and outside the classroom, and this is a great opportunity to build skills needed to engage with information in online spaces. 

Since I developed this assignment, Mike Caulfield has developed a new framework based on the Four Moves, called SIFT. At this point I’ve stayed with Four Moves and a Habit because it comes with an open textbook that I can assign pre-class reading from, and because the named concept of lateral reading has been useful for students.

Many thanks to Andrea Verdan, Seattle University Chemistry, for her work on developing this lesson plan and developing the pre-lab quiz questions.

The assignment took place mid-way through a Literary Los Angeles course. It was a 3-week assignment. The library workshop occurred in week one, after students formed groups and shared to a discussion post in Canvas what author/region/text they would focus on. The Liaison Librarian and Archivist led the library session.

The assignment took place mid-way through a Literary Los Angeles course. It was a 3-week assignment. The library workshop occurred in week one, after students formed groups and shared to a discussion post in Canvas what author/region/text they would focus on. The Liaison Librarian and Archivist led the library session.

This lesson plan was implemented in a Victorian Literature upper division English class. The Professor assigned students a final website project as an alternative to the research paper. On their website, they included the following pages: About, Timeline, Reflection, and Works Cited. This workshop aided students in creating and finding resources for their timeline, and provided citation guidance as well. Archives and Special Collections at our University has also used Knightlab Timeline to create a digital exhibit with student interns to be embedded into a departmental project.