THE NATIONAL STUDENT RESEARCH CENTER
(NOTE: This file contains Part I of a detailed description of
the student research and publication process which is called
the Student Research Center approach to instruction.)
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Instructional Approach - Part I
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TABLE OF CONTENT
I. Student Research Center Approach To Instruction
II. Educational Objectives
III. Student Research and Publication Process
IV. Student Writing, Editing, And Abstracting
V. Quantitative Skills
VI. Higher Order Thinking And The Scientific Method
VII. Paradigm
VIII. Research Across The Curriculum
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I. Student Research Center Approach To Instruction:
The National Student Research Center (NSRC) at Mandeville
Middle School in Mandeville, Louisiana, U.S.A. facilitates the
establishment of Student Research Centers in schools across the
United States of America and around the world. The NSRC
disseminates the innovative, highly effective, and empirically
validated Student Research Center approach to instruction. The
instructional approach is an interdisciplinary, student
centered, and high technology program dedicated to promoting
higher order thinking skills, language arts skills, scientific
process skills, and technological literacy. It is based upon
the constructivist learning model and emphasizes;
* hands-on and inquiry learning in cooperative research
teams directed towards conceptual understanding,
* authentic instruction in higher order thinking and process
skills via the use of the scientific methods in ongoing student
research in all subject areas across the curriculum,
* problem solving within a societal context,
* the integration of science with all other curriculum
areas,
* the use of high technologies such as computers, CD-ROM and
laser-disk players, and telecomputing networks, and
* the regular publication and circulation of experimental
and survey research in printed and electronic journals of
student research
The Student Research Center approach to instruction focuses the
learning process on learning how to think and discovering
knowledge rather than the memorization and recall of facts and
figures.
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II. Educational Objectives:
The following educational objectives are emphasized in the
Student Research Center approach to instruction:
1) Increase the utilization of the scientific methods by
encouraging all students to conduct ongoing scientific research
projects exploring concepts, topics, issues, themes, and
problems throughout the school year.
2) Increase the utilization of the scientific methods by
encouraging all students to conduct scientific research
projects in all subject areas across the curriculum.
3) Improve science process skills and higher order thinking
skills such as research, creative problem-solving,
conceptualiza-tion, comprehension, hypothesizing, designing
plans, observation, measurement, analysis, evaluation,
assessment, drawing conclusions, synthesis, generalizing,
application, and composition by requiring students to regularly
conduct and publish research utilizing the scientific methods.
4) Increase the relevancy of learning by requiring that
research projects address a topic of interest related to the
student's world.
5) Provide opportunities for students to become actively
involved in independent self-directed study by allowing them to
develop their very own science learning units which include
hands-on and inquiry activities as part of ongoing scientific
research projects.
6) Provide significant motivation for student scholarship by
publishing and widely circulating scientific journals of
student research on a regular basis.
7) Improve computer skills by requiring students to use the
personal computer in the writing and editing of their research
projects and the publishing of their local scientific journals.
8) Improve telecommunication skills by requiring students to
utilize telecomputing networks for collaborative research with
students in other schools at the local and national levels.
9) Improve mathematical skills by requiring students to use
random sampling techniques in collecting survey data, and
simple statistics, percents, averages, frequency counts,
charts, and graphs in the analysis of data.
10) Improve writing skills by requiring students to write and
edit their scientific research papers and abstracts till they
are grammatically correct, letter perfect, and scientifically
sound.
11) Improve library research skills by requiring a
comprehensive review of the literature as part of all
scientific research projects.
12) Improve communication skills by requiring students to work
in cooperative research teams and to make formal presentations
of their completed research projects to a school audience which
are videotaped for student/teacher evaluation at a later date.
13) Provide increased opportunities for interdisciplinary
study by requiring students to apply skills and concepts
learned in all curriculum areas toward the completion and
publication of scientific research projects.
14) Increase scientific literacy in all students regardless of
their sex, cultural, ethnic, or economic background, but
especially in female, handicapped, disadvantaged, and at-risk
students by requiring all students to work in heterogeneous
cooperative research teams.
15) Create more positive attitudes about science and careers
in scientific professions by exposing students to meaningful,
enjoyable, and successful scientific research learning
experiences.
16) Encourage students to become active change agents for the
betterment of the quality of life by providing authentic
opportunities for the scientific study and creative solving of
problems affecting their community and world.
17) Improve utilization of elementary, middle, and secondary
student scholarship by publishing and widely disseminating
scientific journals of student research on a regular basis.
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III. Student Research and Publication Process:
The Student Research Center approach to instruction emphasizes
the use of the experimental and descriptive survey research
designs. Other research designs or methodologies such as
historical, developmental, case study, correlational, quasi-
experimental, and causal-comparative can be used as well
(Siegle, 1993)
The basic learning process emphasized by the Student Research
Center approach to instruction includes the following steps for
experimental research projects. First, students form
cooperative research teams at the local or national level
utilizing the NSRC's Electronic School District. Cooperative
research teams usually have no more than four members. Next,
students choose a topic of study in which they have a personal
interest and complete a Scientific Research Contract. The
topic is most often, but not always, related to the curriculum
content or thematic unit being studied. Then the students
complete a scientific method time-line for completion of the
research project. They then write a statement of purpose or
research idea. Next, students complete a review of the
literature related to the research topic. Afterward, students
develop a hypothesis to be tested. Then students develop a
methodology utilizing a control and experimental group in which
they clearly identify the dependent and independent variables.
A list of materials needed to conduct the research is also
developed.
Students usually spend two to three weeks actually conducting
the experiment, making observations, and recording data in a
systematic way. Afterward, students compile and complete an
analysis of all data using simple statistics and present the
data in chart and graph form. Then students accept or reject
their hypothesis and write a summary and conclusion. Next,
students form a student action committee to apply the
information they have generated toward the amelioration or
further explication of the concept, topic, issue, theme, or
problem they studied.
Each step of the research process must be express in written
form and edited until it is letter perfect, grammatically
correct, and scientifically sound.
Students then make a formal presentation of the research
project to an audience at their school which is videotaped for
review at a later date by teacher and students. Next, students
compose an abstract of the entire written research project for
publication in their local scientific journal and/or the
nationally circulated printed and electronic journals published
by the NSRC. Students then complete desk-top publication of
their school-based journals and circulate them throughout the
school and local community. Journals are catalogued into the
reference sections of all school libraries. The journals of
student research are published on a regular basis during the
school year.
The learning process is basically the same for descriptive
survey research projects, except that students develop a
methodology utilizing a "students questioning students" format.
In this research, the measurement of attitudes and opinions,
sound questionnaire development practices, and random sampling
techniques are emphasized. Here the students construct a
questionnaire about their research topic. Then they draw a
random sample of the school's student population to which they
administer the questionnaires. Questionnaires can also be
distributed to other students across the nation and around the
world using the NSRC's Electronic School District. Once the
questionnaires are completed and returned, the students score
them and analyze the responses. Students then proceed with the
research and publication process as explicated above for the
experimental research project.
It should be noted that all learning activities listed above
are just as applicable to students who choose to work
individually.
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IV. Student Writing, Editing, and Abstracting Skills:
Student work in each step of the scientific method must be
expressed in written form. It is very important that peer and
teacher editing of the written expression for each research
step be completed before moving on to the next step of the
process. All written work must be grammatically correct,
letter perfect, and scientifically sound before it can be
accepted by the teacher for placement in the student's
portfolio and later publication.
Editing of all written work is first done by students in
cooperative learning groups. One-on-one teacher/student
editing is done afterwards. Students should be taught and
practice editing skills which will allow them to easily correct
errors in spelling, punctuation, capitalization, grammar,
vocabulary, sentence structure, order of presentation,
organization of paper, and clarity of ideas (Malkofsky, 1982).
After the entire research project has been completed and the
research paper written, students must summarize their work into
an abstract for publication in the local and/or national
printed or electronic journals of student research. The
abstract writers must include all the main ideas and supporting
details, and reword and reorganize information in order to
ensure that the abstract accurately reflects the text of the
research paper.
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V. Quantitative Skills:
The Student Research Center approach to instruction emphasizes
the application of mathematical skills by requiring students to
use random sampling techniques in collecting survey data, and
simple statistics, percents, averages, frequency counts,
charts, and graphs in the analysis of all data.
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VI. Higher Order Thinking Skills and the Scientific Methods:
The Student Research Center approach to instruction teaches the
four "R's" of education: Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, and
Research. The research process utilizing the scientific
methods is emphasized in order to develop higher order thinking
skills (HOTS) in students. Bloom (1956), in his seminal work A
Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: The Classification of
Educational Goals, and Brunner (1977), in his classic The
Process of Education, have clearly demonstrated that the
scientific methods are some of the most objective, logical,
rational, and highest forms of thought.
Too often, the classroom curriculum is oriented to lower order
thinking skills such as memorization and recall of facts and
figures. The Student Research Center approach to instruction
moves away from passive student drill and memorization of facts
and figures. Instruction moves toward active, hands-on,
problem solving, student-centered involvement in the scientific
research and publication process as a mechanism for learning
higher order thinking skills, as well as relevant concepts,
facts, and figures.
The scientific methods and the research process are excellent
vehicles with which to teach numerous higher order thinking
skills in an interactive and enjoyable way. Each step of the
research process affords meaningful opportunities for students
to utilize the following critical thinking skills:
comprehension, conceptualization, hypothesizing, designing
plans, observation of detail, comparison, deriving
relationships, analysis, evaluation, assess-ment, synthesis,
interpretation, drawing conclusions, generalizing, application,
composition, and abstracting.
The scientific methods and research process are also emphasized
to insure that scientific reasoning is an integral part of the
hands-on experience which might otherwise become a thoughtless
performance of routinized tasks.
The Council of Chief State School Officers, in a policy
statement adopted in 1990, underscored the importance of higher
order thinking skills being taught in all classrooms and made
available to all students, especially to disadvantaged children
(CCSSO, 1990). The Student Research Center approach to
instruction strongly emphasizes the teaching of higher order
thinking and process skills to all students, with special
emphasis given to at-risk, minority, female, and handicapped
students who have traditionally lacked mastery of scientific
and mathematical skills and are significantly under-represented
in the scientific professions.
With the Student Research Center approach to instruction, the
teaching of the scientific methods and the research process is
a creative art requiring teacher and students of all learning
abilities to utilize the highest forms of rational and
intuitive thought in all subject areas across the curriculum.
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VII. SCIENTIFIC METHOD AND HIGHER ORDER THINKING SKILLS:
BLOOM'S
SCIENTIFIC METHOD HIGHER ORDER THINKING
SKILLS SKILLS
1. STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
OR RESEARCH IDEA CONCEPTUALIZATION
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2. REVIEW OF LITERATURE COMPREHENSION
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3. DEVELOP HYPOTHESIS APPLICATION
HYPOTHESIZING
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4. METHODOLOGY DESIGNING PLANS
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5. LIST OF MATERIALS DESIGNING PLANS
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6. OBSERVATION @ DATA COLLECTION FORM DESIGNING PLANS
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7. BEGIN EXPERIMENTATION/OBSERVATION OBSERVATION
AND DATA COLLECTION MEASUREMENT
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8. ANALYSIS OF DATA ANALYSIS
(SIMPLE STATISTICS/ DERIVING RELATIONSHIPS
CHARTS/GRAPHS) COMPARISON
EVALUATION
ASSESSMENT
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9. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS SYNTHESIS
INTERPRETATION
DRAWING CONCLUSIONS
GENERALIZING
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10. APPLICATION APPLICATION
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11. COMPLETE REPORT DUE COMPOSITION
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12. ABSTRACT DUE ABSTRACTING
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13. SEND TO LOCAL/NATIONAL JOURNAL PUBLICATION
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VIII. Research Across the Curriculum:
Students studying in the Mandeville Middle School Student
Research Center are required to conduct and publish a minimum
of one scientific research project utilizing an experimental or
survey design during each nine-week grading period. Students
must express each step of the scientific method in written
form. They and the teacher must edit their scientific writings
until they are letter perfect and grammatically correct. Then
they must summarize their writings into a one page abstract and
publish it in a scientific journal of student research. Many
language art skills which are normally taught out of English
and Spelling textbooks are naturally taught during this
continuous researching, writing, editing, rewriting, and
publishing process.
During the first nine-weeks in the Language Arts area of the
curriculum, students usually conduct a survey research project
related to language arts topics. Titles of some past research
projects published include: "A Comparison of Giants In
Literature," "Students Favorite Types of Books," "Student
Knowledge of Famous Quotes," "Who Has The Broader Vocabulary?
Boys or Girls," "Student Reading Habits," "Favorite Magazines
of Boys and Girls," "Which Type of Poems Do Students Like
Best?" "Student Knowledge of Greek Mythology," "Reading Habits
of Boys and Girls," "What Do You Like to Do? Read or Watch TV,"
"Identifying Types of Sentences," "Matching Definitions and
Words," "Who Spells Better? Boys or Girls," "Student Opinions
About Books," "Student Preferences: Video Games or Books,"
"Which Sex Knows the Parts Of Speech Better?" "Identifying
Famous Books and Their Authors," "Student Knowledge of Great
American Plays," "Student Knowledge of Louisa May Alcott," and
"Favorite Types of Books In the Sixth Grade."
During the next nine-week grading period, Language Arts
students usually conduct and publish a research project
utilizing an experimental design. Here students are actually
conducting scientific research that is usually confined to that
portion of the daily school schedule reserved for Science.
In the final two nine-week grading periods, Language Arts
students will again conduct survey research, but this time in
regards to local or global issues such as pollution, endangered
and extinct species, biogenetic engineering, child abuse, drug
abuse, gun control, recycling, ozone depletion, toxic waste,
the greenhouse effect, deforestation, animal rights, human
rights abuse, overpopulation, world hunger, poverty,
homelessness, energy use, student rights, assisted suicide,
health care, nuclear power, land-fills, social and familial
violence, power elitism, the threat of nuclear war, abortion,
the AIDS epidemic, war, genocide, the inequitable distribution
of the world's wealth, international relations, nuclear waste,
acid rain, air quality, crime, prejudice, racism, adoption,
energy shortages, political corruption, land use, peace, and
global security, etc..
In Math, students are encouraged to scientifically investigate
math concepts taught in the curriculum. Here students use the
scientific methods to prove many of the math concepts which
they have learned by rote from teacher lecture over the years
and have taken for granted as being true without any real
understanding. Students conduct and publish mathematical
research projects during the first and third nine-week grading
periods. Titles of some past research projects published
include: "Probability Theory and Rolling A Die," "Is Pi Always
Equal to 3.14?" "The Distributive Property of Multiplication,"
"Using Samples To Predict," "Is The Pythagorean Theorem True?"
"The Associative Property of Addition and Multiplication,"
"Surface Area: Is the Formula Always True?" "Probability Theory
and Drawing Chips Out Of A Bag," "Is Changing Mixed Numbers
Into Improper Fractions Needed Before They Can Be Multiplied?"
"Does Pi Multiplied by Diameter Always Equal The Circumference
Of A Circle?" "The Probability of Getting Heads or Tails In A
Coin Toss," "Is Euler's Formula True?" "An Algorithm For
Converting English Units of Liquid Measurement," "The
Commutative Property of Multiplication," "Frequency of Colors
In A Package of Skittles," "Is The Formula For the Areas Of A
Circle Pi Times Radius Square?" "Does The Algorithm for Adding
and Subtracting Integers Work?" and "The Relationship Between
The Area of Triangles and Rectangles."
In Science, students are required to conduct and publish one
scientific research project utilizing an experimental design
during each nine-week grading period. The topic of study is
usually centered upon the curriculum content being taught at
that time or a science related local or global issue. Titles
of some past research projects published include: "The Effects
of Saltwater Intrusion on Freshwater Plants," "The Effect of
Light on the Movement of Earthworms," "The Effect of
Temperature on the pH of Liquids," "Acid Rain and Plant Seed
Growth," "How Well Do Students Remember Written and Visual
Information," "Comparing Acid Values of Common Household
Liquids," "Growing Plants With Air and No Air," "How Carbon
Dioxide Affects the Temperature of Air," "The Effect of
Temperature on Yeast Growth," "How Does Age Effect Lung
Capacity?" "The Effect of Heat On the Rate of Dispersion,"
"Mixing Baking Soda and Vinegar," "Do All Rocks Have
Carbonates?" "How Acidic Is Rain Water In The USA?" "Growing
Plants In An Area With Very Limited Light," "The Reflection of
Light," "Growing Plants With Light and No Light," "Stimuli and
Response," "Birds and the Weather They Prefer," "The Dire Wolf
Project," "The Relationship Between Chemical Reactions and
Temperature," "The Greenhouse Effect," "Do Video Games Affect
Memory?" "An Effect of Gravity on Falling Objects," and "Does
Temperature Have An Effect On the Sprouting of Bean Seeds?"
In the Social Studies area of the curriculum, students are
required to conduct and publish one scientific research project
utilizing a survey design during each nine-week grading period.
The topic of study is always a science related local or global
issue. There is compelling evidence that the world is at risk.
Riding a tidal wave of despair and violence, humankind seems
Armageddon bound. The driving force towards this precarious
future is ignorance and a concomitant disregard for the major
local and global issues affecting humankind's continued
existence, especially by teachers and their young students.
The NSRC has an urgent dream of utmost importance. It
envisions young student researchers all over the world making
significant contributions to the study and amelioration of
these issues afflicting humankind's rapidly deteriorating
condition. Titles of some past research projects published
include: "Student Knowledge and Opinions of Nuclear Power,"
"Student Knowledge of Child Abuse," "Student Knowledge of the
AIDS Epidemic," "A National Survey of Students Regarding
Compensation For Slavery," "Student Attitudes About Gun
Control," "What People Would Actually Be Willing To Do To Save
The Rain Forest," "An International Survey of Student Knowledge
of Poverty in the USA," "Student Opinions About Smoking In
Public Buildings," "What Would You do If Someone Offered You
Drugs?" "Student Knowledge of Nuclear Arms," "The Ozone
Problem," "Student Knowledge of Breast Cancer," "Student
Opinions About The Women's Rights Movement," "What Students
Think About Racism," "Video Game Violence," "How Students Feel
About Gay Rights," "Anorexia Among the Young Female," and
"Student Knowledge About the Disposal of Solid Waste."
The teaching of the scientific methods, and the research and
publication process take up class time. Some teachers use the
Student Research Center approach to instruction just for the
Science Fair and/or Social Studies Fair. Others fully
implement the instructional approach and transform their
classrooms into Student Research Centers with a teaching
schedule that is synthesized into a continuous
interdisciplinary process of inquiry emphasizing scientific
research, publication, and deep conceptual understanding.
Other teacher fall somewhere between these two examples in
regards to implementing the instructional approach. In all
cases, teachers must make important decisions about what parts
of the traditional curriculum can be integrated, compacted, or
deleted without negatively impacting such things as a school
district's scope and sequence and standardized test scores.
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John I. Swang, Ph.D.
Teacher/Director
National Student Research Center
Mandeville Middle School
2525 Soult St.
Mandeville, Louisiana 70448
U.S.A.
Tele: 1-504-626-5980
Tele: 1-504-626-8778
FAX: 1-504-626-1640
America OnLine: NSRC MMS
Internet: nsrcmms@aol.com
This e-publication is made possible through grants provided by
the United States Department of Education, South Central Bell
Telephone, American Petroleum Institute, Intertel Foundation,
Springhouse Publishing Corporation, Graham Resources, Inc.,
Central Louisiana Electric Company, Louisiana State Department
of Education, National Science Foundation, Mandeville Middle
School Parent Teacher Association, Northern Life Insurance
Company, Gustav Ohaus Company, and Chevron Oil Company. The
National Student Research Center thanks these organizations for
their generous support of education.
© 1998 John I. Swang, Ph.D.