As they delved into the material, with Pitel in the library media center to guide them when necessary, they sometimes found their topics were too wide or too narrow. Or they decided to pursue resources outside the school. At the elementary level, efforts may be hampered by inflexible schedules or the tendency of students to stay with one teacher too much. But in high schools, students are often constrained by short class periods and rigid content demands that make it hard for teachers to develop the flexibility needed for resource-based learning. For example, with high school students, Pitel says she concentrates on research skills that will be useful to them in college, including learning to use outside resources.
Short periods are impractical for that type of research.
Students start searching the newspapers, talk to their parents or others about what they are learning, and come back to class to dispense their findings. To study the impact of media violence, students conduct research in preparation for a multimedia presentation. Compare the number of violent acts across genres, use online search tools to find information on violence in the media, create a list of subtopics, and brainstorm keywords for them. Create a cartoon or comic strip on the subject, design an antiviolence program for the school, and determine an effective method for reporting findings.