NEW LITERACIES
Internet Inquiry Activity
EXPLORE ENDANGERED ANIMALS
Use the following 5-day plan to help students conduct this week's Internet inquiry
activity on endangered animals. Remind students to follow classroom rules when
using the Internet.
Identify Questions Discuss the lesson focus question: How can people help
animals that are in danger? Brainstorm ideas for specific inquiry questions about
endangered animals and survival. For example, students might want to find out
which animals are on the endangered list and what people can do to help those
animals survive. Have students work individually, in pairs, or in small groups to
write an inquiry question they want to answer.
Navigate/Search Review how to begin a simple Internet search using
a student-friendly search engine. Have students type keywords related to their
inquiry questions. Review the meanings of endings in URLs. Remind students
that .gov are government sites, .edu are education sites, .mil are military sites, .org
are organization sites, and .com are commercial sites. Point out that knowing the
meaning of these URL endings helps users evaluate the credibility of the Web site
and the reliability of the information.
Analyze Have students explore the Web sites they identified on Day 2. Have
them scan the sites for information that will help them answer their inquiry questions. Ask students to analyze the information and decide if it is relevant to their questions. Students can print pages that contain useful information and then highlight relevant details.
Synthesize Have students synthesize information from Day 3. Remind them that when they synthesize, they integrate important and relevant ideas from various
sources to find answers to their inquiry questions.
Communicate Have students share their inquiry results. They can use a word
processing program to create a short informational article for a newsletter about
endangered animals.
RESEARCH/STUDY SKILLS
Outlining/Summarizing
TEACH
Show students a road map and explain that it is a guide. Have them suggest what
this guide is for. Help students to see that the map is like a guide to a place. Point
out that an outline is like a guide, or a plan, for written work. Review the following
terms and concepts.
- A summary is a statement of the most important ideas about a topic or text.
You can summarize what you read and learn.
- An outline is a way to organize ideas in a summary. An outline shows main
ideas and details.
- An outline can be used to put information together from two or more sources.
- Outlines go from general to specific information following a format that uses
Roman numerals, capital letters, and Arabic numerals.
On the board, write the outline shown below. Point out the use of Roman numerals,
letters, and Arabic numerals. Suggest that students use the outline as a guide for the
following activity. Students work in pairs to collect information about a sea creature.
Each partner uses a different reference source to find information about the size and
diet of the sea creature. Together they combine notes to create an outline. Provide
reference materials. Ask the following questions.
- What details might be included for the main idea, size?
(weight, height, length)
- What details might be included
for the main idea, diet? (kinds of
plants, kinds of meat)
ASSESS
As students take notes and work on outlines, check that they understand the
difference between main ideas and details. The format should resemble the sample
above.
For more practice or to assess students, use Practice Book 3.1 p. 140.
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