The Dr. Cook Detective - Research Skills Lead to Homeschoolers Success
By Mimi Rothschild
Reading, writing and arithmetic are important basic skills for a homeschool student to learn, but it is vital that they also learn the advanced research skills needed for success in a rapidly changing world. This is especially true given the increasing importance of higher-level thinking, research, and writing skills necessary today. Unfortunately a recent report by the National Commission on Writing reveals that 75% of high school seniors never receive writing assignments in social studies, nor do they perform long-term projects. This report also shows that 50% of high school freshman lack the ability to “analyze or synthesize information.” Don’t let your homeschool become a statistic.
Research skills are difficult to teach your homeschooler. They are not like spelling and math skills, where there is only one correct answer. They are not like reading skills with the answers to the 5 W’s (Who? What? Where? When? Why?) stated within the passage. Homeschoolers must be taught that research is a process that focuses on essential skills.
To learn these skills, homeschoolers should choose a topic that interests them, than identify a problem to solve, or a question to answer. Next homeschoolers must identify sources of information necessary to answer the question, or solve the problem. Now they should locate the information necessary, and organize it so that they may evaluate it completely and draw original conclusions to their question, or devise solutions to their problems. Homeschooler should than communicate these results, or conclusions effectively through a written paper or a spoken presentation.
There are six essential ways homeschool parents to help their children develop higher-level thinking skills. Brainstorming helps activate the homeschoolers prior knowledge, and helps reveal more interesting topics. Parents should help the homeschooler figure out a good research question that will require original thinking. The child should be involved in selecting the right sources to answer the question. Use sources other than just the encyclopedia. Newspapers, photographs, editorials, and books are also valuable sources. Remember there are also electronic sources available now. The homeschooler should be allowed to select the type of project they will do. The last step involves helping the homeschool student create a checklist of all the things necessary to create an excellent project. This should include a good title, different sources, accurate spelling, and a reasonable conclusion. This list will help the homeschooler plan the project, as well as being useful for assessing the project and giving helpful feedback on how it may be improved.