High School / Secondary

Assignments specifically geared toward grades 9-12.

Submitted by Tessa Withorn on April 15th, 2019
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Short Description: 

The goal of this activity is to explore spaces, services, and information literacy (IL) concepts through problem-based scenarios, guided discovery, and peer teaching. Ideal for orientations for K-12, undergraduate, transfer, or graduate students, but can also be used for instruction requests with no clear research assignment or at the start of a research project. Students work in groups to find solutions to a scenario using guided directions and tools, and then teach the rest of the class based on their findings. The activity takes approximately 30-45 minutes, including student presentations, depending on class size and complexity of scenarios.

Attachments: 
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Problem-based Scenarios for Library Instruction Lesson Plan.docxdisplayed 1789 times23.76 KB
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Problem Based Scenario Worksheet Template.docxdisplayed 1017 times26.62 KB
Learning Outcomes: 

After this activity, students will be able to:
● Describe study spaces and services within the library
● Navigate the library’s website
● Describe how the library provides resources necessary for academic success

Individual or Group:

Course Context (e.g. how it was implemented or integrated): 

Scenarios in the lesson plan have been used for a first-year English Composition course with about 15 students and no research assignment, but the instructor wanted a broad overview of the library, and a new student orientation for 30 transfer students.

Assessment or Criteria for Success
Assessment Short Description: 
Ask students to write down 1 thing they learned and 1 question or thing they are still unsure about. Answer any remaining questions.
Potential Pitfalls and Teaching Tips: 

Timing: Works best when scenarios take approximately the same amount of time for each group to explore and answer the So What? question. Or, have a back-up activity or task for students to work on if their group finishes early.

Complexity and discovery: In crafting your scenario and guided instructions, think about what students might already know and how they can use that knowledge to think about libraries and information literacy in new ways. The goal of the scenario should be more than just completing a simple information retrieval task or learning how an information system works. Focus on getting students started by suggesting tools and strategies they may be unfamiliar with, but encourage students to explore, discover, and reflect on the scenarios in relationship to their own processes and experiences.

Suggested Citation: 
Withorn, Tessa. "Problem-based Scenarios for Library Instruction." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2019. https://projectcora.org/assignment/problem-based-scenarios-library-instruction.
Submitted by Amanda M. on April 12th, 2019
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Short Description: 

Each year, I host an Art+Feminism Wikipedia edit-a-thon and I often get students who are new to Wikipedia editing, as well as students who show up for class credit. To help engage students in different activities on Wikipedia, I created the following BINGO cards. These can be used by instructors or event organizers in any way that fits your approach to edit-a-thons. I always provide instruction and an Art+Feminism research and event guide to help everyone get started editing. These BINGO cards are especially useful for new editors and content creators.

Attachments: 
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Wikipedia bingo small.pdfdisplayed 1586 times181.88 KB
Learning Outcomes: 

Students will build skills and knowledge in the variety of ways that they can improve Wikipedia pages.

Information Literacy concepts:

Individual or Group:

Suggested Citation: 
M., Amanda. "Wikipedia Edit-a-thon BINGO." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2019. https://projectcora.org/assignment/wikipedia-edit-thon-bingo.
Submitted by Beth Hoppe on February 18th, 2019
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Short Description: 

This activity provides an interactive, student-centered, fun opportunity to explore skills of critical thinking and evaluation of resources. By allowing students to connect those things that they already know (even if they don’t know they know it) to larger concepts, we encourage them to trust themselves and to begin to develop their intuition as scholars, moving away from checklists and formulas for resource evaluation and toward a thoughtful critique of sources based on individual need and use.

Attachments: 
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Sphere of Discourse: What, how-to, why, etc.displayed 2043 times16.97 KB
Learning Outcomes: 

Describe different sources of information
Articulate benefits/drawbacks of information sources
Consider information as influence
Investigate role of various media in different forms of "conversation" (scholarly, popular, etc)
Define library spaces/terminology/sources

Individual or Group:

Course Context (e.g. how it was implemented or integrated): 

The Sphere of Discourse works well in courses that may traditionally get an orientation to the library. It can be modified to work for specific disciplines or contexts.

Potential Pitfalls and Teaching Tips: 

This activity requires space!

Suggested Citation: 
Hoppe, Beth. "Sphere of Discourse." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2019. https://projectcora.org/assignment/sphere-discourse.
Submitted by Katrina Stierholz on December 12th, 2018
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Short Description: 

Students learn about innovation, the distribution of innovation across the country, and what can be patented. Working in groups, they examine patents and consider the changes the patents brought. They then use a mapping program and interpret data from that map to consider how local resources promote innovation.

Attachments: 
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Lesson plan (pdf)displayed 1121 times153.12 KB
Learning Outcomes: 

Students will be able to • define innovation, • define patents as protection of intellectual property, • explain how patents promote entrepreneurship, • interpret a map of patents assignments by county, and • explain the relationship between education, research institutions, and the frequency of patents and innovation.

Information Literacy concepts:

Additional Instructor Resources (e.g. in-class activities, worksheets, scaffolding applications, supplemental modules, further readings, etc.): 

Florida, Richard. “The Geography of Innovation.” Citylab blog post, September 2017; https://www.citylab.com/life/2017/08/the-geography-of-innovation/530349/

Assessment or Criteria for Success
Assessment Short Description: 
Assessment is in lesson plan.
Suggested Citation: 
Stierholz, Katrina. "Demonstrating the Distribution of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Using Patent Data and a Mapping Tool: GeoFRED® Marks the Spot." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2018. https://projectcora.org/assignment/demonstrating-distribution-innovation-and-entrepreneurship-using-patent-data-and-mapping.
Submitted by Carolyn Caffrey on December 10th, 2018
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Short Description: 

This assignment was created for a credit bearing course for first year students. It's designed to help students take what they've learned about algorithmic bias from the course lectures and readings and apply it to their own search practices. They also critically analyze search results for advertisements and compare DuckDuckGo to Google. [You could also look at this assignment as an adaptation of Jacob Berg's wonderful, "Googling Google," assignment at https://www.projectcora.org/assignment/googling-google-search-engines-ma... ]

Attachments: 
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analyzingsearchengines_assignment.docxdisplayed 1321 times534.31 KB
Learning Outcomes: 

Students will be able to: -identify advertisements within a list of search results -discuss the role advertising plays in how search results are ordered -describe how search results are impacted by human biases in their ranking algorithms

Discipline: 
Multidisciplinary

Individual or Group:

Course Context (e.g. how it was implemented or integrated): 

This assignment occurred early in the semester as we discussed algorithms, bias, and filter bubbles. Students were asked to draw on class discussions and lectures on page rank, the history of search engines, and filter bubbles. Other assigned material going into this assignment the IRL podcast episode "Social Bubble Bath" and Eli Pariser's TED talk on filter bubbles. Students commented that they enjoyed this assignment, weren't aware that Google was an advertising company, and were unfamiliar with DuckDuckGo. The course itself was designed and taught by me (a librarian) as part of our first year seminar program.

Assessment or Criteria for Success
Assessment Short Description: 
Assignments were evaluated using the rubric from the attached assignment sheet. In general, students had difficulty identifying all of the advertisements. While students had no difficulty analyzing gender bias or racism in the image results, they did struggle with the phrase "god" in identifying how the results may privilege particular narratives and identities over others.
Potential Pitfalls and Teaching Tips: 

Be careful with the choose your own image search --- several students picked topics such as our institution name or vague concepts like "music" which didn't as clearly illustrate the course concepts. In the future I would remove the choose your own option for the image component. This assignment was designed with first year students in mind.

Suggested Citation: 
Caffrey, Carolyn . "Analyzing search engines: What narrative is told through the algorithm." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2018. https://projectcora.org/assignment/analyzing-search-engines-what-narrative-told-through-algorithm.
Submitted by Pascal Martinolli on July 24th, 2018
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Short Description: 

Comment envoyer une minorité d'étudiants surmotivés sur des objectifs pédagogiques intégrés et connexes dont le parcours est structuré ?
1) Faire une courte introduction engageante (15min.)
2) Identifier la minorité surmotivée et leur distribuer un parcours.
3) Assurer une supervision mininal avec un suivi distant et ponctuel au besoin.
Avec 2 exemples de parcours: une auto-initiation en 5 niveaux pour contribuer à Wikipédia; et un programme de 12 semaines pour démarrer un blogue sur un sujet de recherche.

How to get the few really motivated students involved? By asking them to fulfil « side-quests » learning activities in a structured itinerary :
1) Present a short but engaging initiation [sur quoi?] (15 min.) ;
2) After identifying the motivated students, give them a formal checklist [pour quoi?];
3) If needed, provide minimum mentoring and follow-up
Here are two examples : 5-steps self-initiation on how to contribute to Wikipedia and 12-weeks program to start a blog on research topic.

Learning Outcomes: 

Contributing to Wikipédia and starting a research blog.

Individual or Group:

Course Context (e.g. how it was implemented or integrated): 
Additional Instructor Resources (e.g. in-class activities, worksheets, scaffolding applications, supplemental modules, further readings, etc.): 
Potential Pitfalls and Teaching Tips: 
Suggested Citation: 
Martinolli, Pascal. "Missionner les étudiants surmotivés sur des objectifs connexes / Self-driven side-quests with minimum mentoring." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2018. https://projectcora.org/assignment/missionner-les-%C3%A9tudiants-surmotiv%C3%A9s-sur-des-objectifs-connexes-self-driven-side-quests.
Submitted by Pascal Martinolli on July 24th, 2018
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Short Description: 

Synthèse ludique des ateliers d'évaluation des sources. Peut être utilisé comme récompense : un exemplaire plastifié est offert à l'étudiant qui trouve l'erreur volontairement insérée dans la formation (les autres n'ont que la feuille en papier). Autre utilisation : trouver le document le plus faible parmi vos références, ou parmi les références du syllabus de tel cours.

Gamified summary for the evaluation of sources activity. A laminated copy could be used as award for the first student who discovers the mistake deliberately put in the learning activity; the other participants only get a paper copy of the sheet. Another use : in a list of bibliographic references, find the weakest one.

Attachments: 
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foutaisometre-french.pdfdisplayed 1754 times278.34 KB
Learning Outcomes: 

Summary of the evaluation of sources activity. Wrap-up.

Individual or Group:

Course Context (e.g. how it was implemented or integrated): 
Additional Instructor Resources (e.g. in-class activities, worksheets, scaffolding applications, supplemental modules, further readings, etc.): 
Potential Pitfalls and Teaching Tips: 
Suggested Citation: 
Martinolli, Pascal. "Foutaisomètre / Bullshit-o-meter." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2018. https://projectcora.org/assignment/foutaisom%C3%A8tre-bullshit-o-meter.
Submitted by Jennifer Smith on July 11th, 2018
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Short Description: 

This short lesson introduces identifying search terms with a Koosh ball. The 10 minute activity can be used in one-shot instruction sessions or built in to credit bearing information literacy courses.

Attachments: 
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Activity instructionsdisplayed 3048 times250.75 KB
Learning Outcomes: 

Identify relevant search terms for a given topic.

Discipline: 
Multidisciplinary

Individual or Group:

Course Context (e.g. how it was implemented or integrated): 

This activity was originally designed for a patent searching session for an upper level engineering course. I used it to prepare groups for brainstorming keywords for their group invention. I have found that it easily translates to other multidisciplinary courses and can be used with groups or individuals.

Additional Instructor Resources (e.g. in-class activities, worksheets, scaffolding applications, supplemental modules, further readings, etc.): 
Potential Pitfalls and Teaching Tips: 
Suggested Citation: 
Smith, Jennifer. "What is this thing? Koosh balls and search terms." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2018. https://projectcora.org/assignment/what-thing-koosh-balls-and-search-terms.
Submitted by Jen Hasse on July 9th, 2018
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Short Description: 

A one-shot or seminar class on fake news tied to source evaluation. Examination of the factors at play in the creation of misinformation; insight into how to select sources; tools and strategies for evalutating content of stories, authors, and news outlets.

Attachments: 
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evaluating information - fake news & craap + stereotypes + epic.pptxdisplayed 1775 times2.87 MB
Learning Outcomes: 

● Students will discuss and reflect on their own encounters/experiences with “fake news” and erroneous information ● Students will investigate and consider different theories or explanations for why people fall prey to “fake news” ● Students will identify motivations for the creation of misleading or inaccurate information ● Students will be introduced to tools for identifying and counteracting fake news and develop their own strategies for weeding out problematic sources and selecting credible sources

Discipline: 
Multidisciplinary

Individual or Group:

Course Context (e.g. how it was implemented or integrated): 

This course is typically taught as part of a one-credit information literacy first year seminar. Class is 50 minutes once per week.

Suggested Citation: 
Hasse, Jen . "Fake News: Fight Back ." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2018. https://projectcora.org/assignment/fake-news-fight-back.
Submitted by Katrina Stierholz on June 24th, 2018
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Short Description: 

A hybrid teaching module with two elements: an interactive online module for students to complete ahead of class and a face-to-face lesson plan that builds on the skills learned in the online lesson. The in-class session provides students with a critical exploration of the purchasing power of minimum wages across states and/or the earnings gap between men and women employed full time.

The pre-class online course is titled: “FRED Interactive: Information Literacy” available through www.econlowdown.org. In the online course, students review a FRED graph made in the course; define the concepts nominal, real, and inflation; and discuss basic strategies for establishing the reliability of a data source.

The in-person class lesson is titled: ACRL Information Literacy Frames as FRED-Integrated Abilities: The frames Research as Inquiry, Information Creation as a Process, Scholarship as Conversation, and Authority Is Constructed and Contextual are highlighted. The instructor has two possible tasks for students;
-Option A, students work in FRED and use the formula real = (nominal/CPI)*100 to plot inflation-adjusted minimum wage rates for two states and compare the results.
-Option B, students work in FRED to plot and compare nominal and real earnings differentials for men and woman.

The lesson includes a variety of in-class and out-of-class assessment activities and links to resources and a glossary of terms provide additional learning opportunities.

Attachments: 
AttachmentSize
Keeping_It_Real.pdfdisplayed 1089 times281.15 KB
Learning Outcomes: 

Students will:

Create
❏ New FRED® graphs

Define
❏ Minimum wage
❏ Nominal and real wages
❏ Consumer price inflation (CPI)

Identify
❏ Metadata in a FRED graph
❏ Additional questions for further research

Describe
❏ The frequency of data collection
❏ The components of a data citation
❏ The difference between data sources and aggregators
❏ The reasons for knowing how data are collected
❏ The difference between nominal and real wages
❏ The issues of authority regarding trustworthiness, reliability, and credibility of data sources

Individual or Group:

Suggested Citation: 
Stierholz, Katrina. "Keeping It Real: Teach ACRL Information Literacy Frames with FRED data ." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2018. https://projectcora.org/assignment/keeping-it-real-teach-acrl-information-literacy-frames-fred-data.

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