RESOURCEFUL RESEARCHERS
TROPICAL RAIN FOREST

TEACHER GUIDELINES

Tropical rain forests are an interesting, emotional issue well covered in print and media. By the ninth grade, students have studied rain forests so they have some prior knowledge of the issues surrounding them. For these reasons,  the tropical rain forests of Latin American were chosen  as the vehicle to present information literacy skills to RBHS freshmen. 

INTRODUCTION

Working in groups of 3, students research a specific rain forest topic as it relates to the big problem: Should the rain forest be protected from further development? Students will be required to use a variety of library resources to locate information about their rain forest topic and present this information orally to the class. A rubric will be used to evaluate group and individual work. A brief quiz will hold students accountable for their listening skills.

BIG6 GUIDE TO INFORMATION PROBLEM SOLVING

• The classroom teacher will lead a discussion on tropical rain forests and perhaps use a writing exercise to review prior knowledge and build interest in the project.
• The librarian will introduce the library resources that are to be used for the assignment, explain each step of the assignment, and thoroughly explain what is expected of each student.
• Students will be placed in groups of three and assigned one of these topics:

Plants of the rain forest

Animals of the rain forest

Indigenous peoples of the rain forest

Businesses in the rain forest

Settlers in the rain forest

Ecotourism in the rain forest

• Students will use a graphic organizer to develop research questions around their topic.

The librarian will introduce the resources available in the RBHS library, always asking the question Why will this be a good source of information? Generic terms such as narrow or broad search terms, keyword or subject search, and Boolean search will be used.

The resources to be used for this assignment are:

• Electronic card catalog, CatalogPlus
• WilsonDisk (Readers' Guide)
• SIRS
• Electric Library
• CD-ROM, Rain Forest, ReMedia.
• Selected Internet sites

Students will use these information resources to locate information on their specific topic. In addition, students will use the photocopier, print from the computer, and save computer information to a disk to demonstrate ways to take information with them from the library.

Students will use the Cornell method for note taking and follow MLA style for citations. These will be explained by the librarian and the classroom teacher.

Students will take as position on the "big problem" and use the information they have gathered on their topic to support that position in a two-minute presentation to the class. Creativity and accuracy will be appreciated here!

A brief test will be given to assess students' knowledge of the library resources, their knowledge of rain forest facts, and their listening skills. A rubric will be used for individual and group self-evaluation of the entire project.

All notes, graphic organizers, and miscellaneous sheets will also be handed in for assessment purposes.

SUMMARY

Introducing ninth grade students to the process of locating and using information is the goal of this lesson. Students are introduced to the main resources in the RBHS library and participate in an activity that uses the information literacy process. In this way, students are much better equipped to work independently on other assignments.