Animal Research With Pebble Go (Part 3)

Learning Resource Type

Learning Activity

Subject Area

Digital Literacy and Computer Science

Grade(s)

2

Overview

Students will perform keyword searches inside Pebble Go courtesy of the Alabama Virtual Library to locate information about a chosen animal. Students will research that animal and create a one-pager as evidence of learning. Students will record their two favorite facts and draw a picture of their animal using a graphic organizer.

This learning activity was created as a result of the ALEX - Alabama Virtual Library (AVL) Resource Development Summit.

Phase

After/Explain/Elaborate
Digital Literacy and Computer Science (2018) Grade(s): 2

DLCS18.2.12

Conduct basic keyword searches to gather information.

UP:DLCS18.2.12

Vocabulary

  • search engine
  • quotation marks

Knowledge

Students know:
  • a search engine searches exactly what you type.
  • a search engine may only produce search results for one or some of your keywords.
  • using a plus (+) sign between words tells the search engine to search for all of the words and using a minus (-) sign before a word will exclude that word from your search.
  • putting quotation marks around a set of words or a phrase tells the search engine to keep those words together in a search.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • state important key words that pertain to a topic
  • use the plus (+) sign to tell the search engine to search for both words in a resource and use a minus (-) sign before a word to remove it from your search.
  • use quotation marks around a phrase to communicate to the search engine that they want that phrase to be found with the words in that order.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • search engines have to be told exactly what to search.
  • a search engine will search each word separately unless it is told it to search for a phrase or multiple words or to exclude words.

Learning Objectives

Students will use keyword searches to find information and answer research questions about animals.

Students will create an animal one-pager to communicate the information they learned about their animal.

Activity Details

  1. The teacher will pass out or ensure that each student has their research from the associated during activity - Animal Research With Pebble Go Part 2.
  2. The teacher will say, “Now that we have gathered information about our animals and recorded our information on our note-taking graphic organizer, it is time to create our animal one-pager.
  3. The teacher will say, "You will use the two facts that you circled on your note-taking organizer and transfer those to your one-pager in your very best handwriting.”
  4. The teacher will say, "After you have finished writing your two facts, you may draw a picture of your animal."
  5. The teacher will direct the students to revisit their animal articles in order to reference the pictures to help them draw a picture of their animal. The teacher will model the steps to access the animal articles through the AVL and Pebble Go. {Pebble Go is accessed through Alabama Virtual Library (AVL) - Click on “Elementary School” Click on “Pebble Go” Click on “Animals” then search for your animal.}
  6. The students will complete the animal one-pager independently. 
  7. The students will share their animal one-pager with the class using a Gallery Walk. A Gallery Walk is completed by having each student's work displayed on their desk or posted around the room. The students will walk around and view their classmates' final products.
  8. The one-pagers can also be printed and shared in the hallway or shared online using a digital platform such as Google Drive or Seesaw.

Assessment Strategies

The teacher will use the final product as an evaluation tool. The teacher will check for:

  • The students performed an accurate keyword search to find pictures of their animals.
  • The student included at least two facts. 
  • The product was free of grammatical and spelling errors.
  • The student did their best work to make the one-pager neat and legible.

The teacher will assess student understanding of how to locate information through questioning.

  • How did you find the information on your animal?
  • What keywords did you use in the search bar?

 

Acceleration

These students can create their one-pager poster digitally using the Animal Research Graphic Organizer in Google Drawings.  They can add their facts to the text boxes and take a picture of their animal drawing to add to the poster. If students have worked with Google Drawings before they should be able to do this independently or as a group together. If they are unfamiliar with Google Drawings the teacher will need to model how to use a text box and the camera function.

This acceleration activity also supports DLCS18.2.R6  Produce, review, and revise authentic artifacts that include multimedia using appropriate digital tools.

Intervention

These students can work together in a small group with the teacher to complete their one-pager.  

Variation Tips

Your school librarian could be a great co-teacher for this lesson.

This activity should be used in conjunction with Animal Research with Pebble Go Part 1 (before activity) and Animal Research with Pebble Go Part 2 (during activity).

Background / Preparation

  • The teacher will need to be familiar with navigating through the Animal articles on Pebble Go.
  • The teacher will need to be familiar with using Google Drawings in order to edit and/or print out the animal research graphic organizer.
  • The students will need to be able to transfer information from one source to another. 
  • Acceleration students need to be familiar with Google Drawings.

Learning Activity (Before)

Total Duration

16 to 30 Minutes

Learning Activity (During)

Learning Activity (After)

Materials and Resources

ALSDE LOGO