Research+Using+21st+Century+Tools

**Step 3: Research using 21st century tools**
 * Article 3**
 * Research: ** Study and investigation, especially to discover new facts - Oxford Dictionary

Effective independent learners are information literate. In other words, they know how to research, manage and use the information they find. If you have undertaken a learning project of your own this summer; want to make a good start on new exam courses or would like to fit into what future employers are looking for, then the skills of being an //effective// researcher are crucial. The speed and ease with which we can find information these days is amazing thanks to the 21st century learning tools available - to those of us fortunate to have access to them. There are new challenges though: //How can you use these tools to enhance your learning effectively? How can you be sure that what you are learning is true?// Let’s get back to Benjamin Bloom. Remember him? He was the guy who came up with // Blooms Taxonomy //; he showed how the basic level of thinking and learning begins with knowledge and understanding, and then progresses to higher-level skills like analysis and evaluation. Here is how it works with the 21st century researcher: The first basic skills required of the 21st century researcher must be to attain in-depth Knowledge and Understanding of their topic. The most obvious thing to do first is grasp an overview of what you are trying to find out about. Then you need to deepen your knowledge and clarify your understanding through more detailed study. Here are some ideas: If you’re an auditory learner, then you must make the effort to seek out appropriate Podcasts on your topic. The number of informative and fun Podcasts available for free download from the I-Tunes store is impressive, but you can also access them through a general search if you’re not a Mac user. I’ve named a few at the end. Podcasts are an excellent tool for keeping your brain alert and ticking over, they’ll often grab your interest and you’re guaranteed to learn something new. For those visual learners out there, it goes without saying how easy it is to watch a small film clip on your topic through U-tube. Increasingly, full documentaries related to all subjects are becoming easier to watch or download. I’ve named a couple at the end. There are also many suitable Wikis out there that are great for a general search or a quick fact check. For educational purposes, a search on Wikispaces.com will steer you towards good information, much of it produced by educators and students. You may even find suitable online lessons available on your search, although many of these are still in their advent. Just over 19% of Chinese people have access to the Internet and the digital divide is growing due to factors such as insufficient infrastructure and high online charges- //http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_divide// As you acquire knowledge and understanding of your topic area, you need to work on Application. This is when you think about the information you are dealing with by choosing //which// information you will use and //how// you will interpret it. Make sure that you engage with what you are reading, watching or listening to. Take notes of the important things to help you remember. Don’t be afraid to skim the information and summarize it in your own way. Storing information is essential for two reasons. Firstly, you may need to check your information later on to clarify what you have learnt. Secondly, all research that is used in a final piece of work must be referenced. To produce an accurate bibliography, you need good information about the origins of your sources. With a book you can simply write down the author name, date of publication and page numbers you used, for example, but what’s the quickest way to store information you access through the web? – How about Social bookmarking? Delicous.com is just one example of what you can sign up to for free. You can create tabs to store your bookmarks in groups, and of course collaborate and share what you have found by asking your buddies to join your network. Analysis is an important element of the research method, as it requires you to think critically about the information you have used. As you research, you may need to question and compare sources of information; anyone can publish to the web and not all books will provide accurate information. Think carefully about: When the information was produced Where it came from What type of information it is Who produced it? Why it was produced All of these questions get you to think about whether the information is written from a particular point of view, or for a particular audience. Most information is likely to contain some kind of opinion, which doesn’t make it useless altogether, but just be careful: are you being informed or persuaded? To collate your information you need to organize or assemble it to fit into your line of research. All research projects need a focus question to clarify exactly what you are trying to find out about. This is all about Synthesis **:** How will you now blend your research to fit into that focus question? A good synthesizer knows how to organize what they know into headings that guide them to an answer. They don’t just splurge everything they know. They sort it. All researchers want to find answers and once they’ve found them; they need to make an overall judgment. This is all about evaluation. We make judgments all the time: who’s the best band? Which movie do we like the most? Often, we find ourselves defending our preferences; we form an argument. We look for evidence or ammunition (!) to argue our case. Think about your evaluation for your research topic. How will you argue your case? What is your overall judgment? How to research, and create a Bibliography: [] Podcasts: //Brainstuff// – science, //LearnOutLoud// – biographies; //Philosophy Bites// – if you’re soon to begin IB, this may be useful for TOK. Free documentaries online: [] -, from Science, Health to History or try PBS.org for a range of topic areas. If you go to: [], you can watch recent biographies on the 7 US Presidents.
 * Finding information**
 * Books:** Accessing the right information is the first step for the independent inquirer. Published books and articles will always be essential learning tools, so don’t let these go out of fashion and make use of your school or public libraries by reading the appropriate texts for your area of study. As 21st century learners, you have greater access to published texts than ever before; in the form of e-books that you might either download or read on a Kindle for example. Many are also available as audio books-great for the auditory learners out there.
 * Internet:** It’s easy to find information on your topic using Google, but you might not necessarily be accessing the best information. There are a number of search engines that you can access but you need to decide on which suits your needs. Why not begin by using the free tools on Noodletools.com, which will help you to decide on which search engine will provide you with the best information? In addition, your school or local library may have a number of suitable online databases for you to access, such as //Questia School// or //Brainpop//.
 * Did you know?**
 * Selecting**
 * Storage**
 * Beware!** Plagiarism – to take and use information produced by others as one’s own
 * Analysis**
 * Collating**
 * Concluding**
 * Useful web links:**