Digital Commons Network^™

Finding Physical Books, Amber Dierking

Lesson Plans

Topic: How to find physical books in the GVSU libraries

Objectives: Students will feel comfortable and will be successful searching for books on the library website. Students will successfully navigate call numbers, the stacks, check out, and holds.

Suitable Audience: Any classes which make significant use of/requires physical sources. This lesson has been used with Art History classes but could be adapted for others.

Search Engine Activity, Amber Dierking

Lesson Plans

This lesson/activity uses search engines as examples to think critically about information systems.

Objectives: Students will gain a deeper understanding of how search engines function, how those mechanics affect their results, and will consider how and why these differ from searching within library systems.

Plant-Based Meat: An Evaluation Exercise, Anna M. White

Lesson Plans

This lesson plan describes how to help students use evaluative criteria while investigating websites. It includes an overview of the SIFT method as well as three websites used for analysis based on the research question "is plant-based meat healthy?"

Bye Bye, Bycatch, Derek Jackson

Lesson Plans

Grade Level: 7th Grade Life Science

Using critical thinking skills to better understand how conservation engineering can improve sustainable fisheries.

Going Fishing In The Classroom!, Will Shoup

Lesson Plans

Grade Level: 4th Grade Life Science and General Science

The student will investigate and understand that organisms, including humans, interact with one another and with nonliving components in the ecosystem. Key ideas include that interrelationships exist in populations, communities, and ecosystems.

The Mystery Of The Oyster: What's In The Bag?, Julia Grenn

Lesson Plans

Grade level: 7th Grade Life Science and Biology

Students will use measurements and graphing to examine and assess how husbandry strategies and business decisions can impact the Eastern Oyster shape.

Hematodinium: A Blue Crab Parasite, Xuqing Chen

Lesson Plans

Grade Level: High School Biology

Students will use monthly survey data to measure percentage of infection, or "prevalence" of Hematodinium in adult and juvenile blue crabs and determine how prevalence changes through seasons.

The Case Of The Missing Penguins!, Claudia Moncada

Lesson Plans

Grade Level: 7th Grade Life Science

Students will gather and graph data to examine patterns in Adelie penguin populations in the Western Antarctic Peninsula and determine potential drivers for these patterns.

Cereal Killer: Diagnosing Oyster Diseases Using Pcr, Anna Poslednik

Lesson Plans

Grade Level: High School Biology

Understand the basis of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) by constructing a model of the technique using cereal and pipe cleaners

Who's That Phytoplankton?, Savannah Mapes

Lesson Plans

Grade Level: High School Biology

Students will assess harmful algal bloom diagnosis.

Mapping A Terrapin Town, Anna Caputo

Lesson Plans

Grade Level: 7th Grade Life Science and Environmental Science

In small groups, students will explore diamondback terrapin habitat requirements, conservation, and how land use planning can affect their population.

Watching Seagrass Breathe, Alyson Hall

Lesson Plans

Grade Level: 7th Grade / High School Life Science and Biology

Students will investigate how seagrasses act as primary producers in the ocean, why we care about them, and how scientists measure their rates of primary production and respiration.

How Can Communities Be Engaged In Climate Change?, Yao Wang, Qiong Wang

Lesson Plans

Grade Level: Advanced High School, AP, IB

Students will use materials to practice how stakeholders engage in climate change adaptation planning to make decisions for Lynnhaven (the second largest watershed) in the City of Virginia Beach. Their Lynnhaven adaptation strategy project will demonstrate that they understand what community engagement for climate change adaptation planning is and how to conduct five phases of community engagement.

Where Land Meets The Sea, Kayla Cahoon

Lesson Plans

Grade Level: High School Earth Science and Oceanography

Students will use graphs of sediment cores to determine how coast lines change.

Science Information Literacy Lesson Plan, Barbara C. Harvey

Lesson Plans

Students need to find “primary research” articles (also known as “scholarly,” “peer-reviewed,” or “refereed” articles), but how can they tell them apart from other types of articles, and where can they find them? This lesson is designed for a 50-minute session with student access to internet-accessible devices (laptops, tablets, etc.).

Cmj 310 Advanced Reporting Techniques, Kim Ranger

Lesson Plans

This lesson plan centers on helping students move from a general thought or idea to a specific angle that has not yet been reported for a news article. Students will learn about resources in the Multimedia Journalism subject guide to help them find background material, research their topic in appropriate resources, and conduct fact-checking. An example topic is demonstrated using the Find It! search.

Mary I Scavenger Hunt - Lesson Plan, Debbie Morrow

Lesson Plans

Describes the objectives and learning outcomes of the scavenger hunt activity.

Com 275: Foundations Of Communication Research, Kim Ranger

Lesson Plans

This lesson plan focuses on the research project for COM 275. A discussion of literature and theories in the disciplinary community of communications is included. Hands-on exercises include Find It! search, Communications Source, Web of Science, finding books, and using AND and OR.

Women In Higher Education - Primary Source Set, Freddy Enrique Moran

Lesson Plans

Higher education in America prior to the 19^th century looked a specific way, white and male, and while there have been many advancements in medicine, and teaching medicine, since then. An equally impressive jump forward socially for education happened during these time periods. Education as a whole saw drastic changes between the 19^th and 20^th century with the increasing enrollment of women in higher education. The evolution of higher education between 1870 and 1930 saw drastic changes to women enrollment within universities, going from 5% to 14% female enrollment at a higher professional degree seeking university. Even …

Oregon Trail, Heading Out West, Freddy Enrique Moran

Lesson Plans

Oregon Trail. Students will use a primary source journal and maps to build a picture of the hardships many individuals and groups faced on their trek out west and what are some push and pull factors that led to the decision to go.

Grade Level: 7-8

Lesson Length: 55 minutes

Purpose: Students will explore migration and be able to identify push and pull factors that applied to those embarking out west by using primary source documents from the Oregon Trail.

Learning Outcomes:

• Students will be able to list specific push and pull factors that led to people heading out …

Warfare In The 19th Century, Freddy Enrique Moran

Lesson Plans

Students will be learning about 19^th century warfare and challenges nations faced when fighting a war. The lesson will be accomplished through primary source journal entries and graphs.

Grade Level: 9-12

Lesson Length: 60 minutes

Purpose: Students will read the excerpt from multiple sources and will compare and contrast warfare from the 19^th century and the 20^th century.

Learning Outcomes:

• Student will have the ability to point to specific reasons as to what could have made the Civil War so deadly a conflict.
• Students will give specific examples as to how the Civil War changed/impacted …

Constructing A Search Strategy, Amber Dierking

Lesson Plans

This lesson plan covers the process of creating a search strategy: creating a research question, identifying keywords and other terms, organizing terms into a search statement, and choosing where to search. The intended audience is students in Capstone courses or other with significant semester-long research projects. The lesson plan and accompanying handout can be used for any subject area.

Concept Mapping Presentation, Emily Frigo

Lesson Plans

A presentation on concept mapping. Introduces the game of Taboo to build skills in coming up with various terms for different concepts. Expands on topics by asking questions.

Concept Maps: Refining Your Topic - Lesson Plan, Katie Alphenaar

Lesson Plans

This lesson will introduce students to pre-research using concept maps. It also introduces source credibility and library resources. They will get practice using the GVSU library search box, library databases, subject guides, and other tools.

Topic Development Lesson Plan And Worksheet, Kim Ranger

Lesson Plans

Students develop a concept map on a topic of interest. They then identify key terms and utilize different search techniques and tools to locate information in the databases in various formats. Lastly, students will answer questions regarding the credibility of their sources.

Concept Mapping Lesson Plan, Kim Ranger

Lesson Plans

Students develop a concept map on a topic of interest. They then identify key terms and search within Google/Wikipedia/GVSU Search to obtain information on the topic. Students develop a second concept map to reflect new knowledge found and compare to the first.

Pre-Research Strategy - Lesson Plan, Hazel Mcclure

Lesson Plans

Describes a classroom activity in which students brainstorm search terms for various student topics as a class, writing ideas on the board. Students will then search independently on their own topics. To conclude, students will report on the information found.

Summon Vs. Google Vs. Google Scholar, Mary Morgan

Lesson Plans

Students will gain awareness that they can, and should, evaluate potential sources for their value as background or direct source information by applying a readily found set of criteria (the “CRAAP test”). They will be introduced to several strategies for focusing their searches in various places including the library’s subscription resources, the open web, and a more academic sub-set of the open web via Google Scholar.

Digging For Data: Lesson, Katie Alphenaar

Lesson Plans

This lesson will introduce students to statistical databases where they can find “hard data.” They will practice using these databases by finding datasets, tables, or graphs for practice research questions.

Arming Of The U.S. Army During War 1861, Jessica Colfer

Lesson Plans

Grade Level: 9-12

Lesson Length: 60 minutes

Learning Objectives:

• The student will be able to identify the armament of the Union army at the beginning of the Civil War.
• The student will consider the preparedness of the Union and Confederate armies.
• The student compare and contrast prior knowledge about the Civil War to interpret historical documents.
• The student will be able to analyze and interpret a primary document.