If you would like to engage your students in a hands-on research project where they put these ideas into practice, you could draw ideas from the following lesson plans written by Lisa Rothbard. Rothbard was a teacher in Oakland, CA who participated in the Educating for Democracy in the Digital Age Initiative.

 

Part 1: Selecting and Analyzing Evidence from Various Sources (link)

In this 2-3 day lesson, students select and analyze evidence from four different online sources all focused on their research question on a social issue.

 

Part 2: Source Credibility (link)

In this 2-3 day lesson, students analyze the credibility and relevancy of their online sources.

 

Part 3: Synthesizing Corroborating and Contradictory Evidence from Multiple Sources (link)

In this 1 day lesson, students synthesize and analyze the significance of corroborating and contradictory evidence from multiple sources when forming an argument in response to the research question.

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Part 4: Creating an Infographic (link)

You can now ask students to plan out and then create their own infographic summarizing what they learned from their research project.

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Extension Ideas:

 

You could also have students present what they learned through another visual format like PowToon or an Ignite presentation (also called a Pecha-kucha). Read these blogs to learn more about various tools to create more visual presentations in the classroom:

• Banning Posters and PowerPoints -- The Current blog post by Jennifer Ward

• PowToon Review -- Common Sense Media

• Pecha-kucha: Presentation as Performance Art -- The Current blog post by Elyse Eidman-Aadahl

• Teaching Presentation Skills with Ignite -- Edutopia blog post by Andrew Miller