Connect Instructional Activities - Guided Research

Description: Research is an essential skill. Memorization of facts and data will not suffice in most fields. Guided research coaches learners to how to perform research. Individually or in teams, conduct research by gathering, analyzing, evaluating, organizing and reporting on findings. Research skills, methodology, evaluation and reporting, quantification, synthesis, and skill development are the objective of guided research activities (UMUC, 2011).

• Best Practices for Guided Research (Horton, p. 202)
• • Assist learners in locating reliable sources of information.
  • Emphasize the importance of evaluating, selecting, and organizing facts.
  • Use probing questions to guide research.
• Best Practices for Research Activities – ensure that research activities connect learners to life and prior learning (Horton, pp. 202-203).
• • Emphasize locating sources of information and the process of analyzing data, not just the results that answer individual questions.
  • Offer learners multiple sources of information to choose from and require them to consult multiple sources.
  • Require analysis and synthesis to teach learners to apply what they gathered through research.