Information Skills — Grade 8

Underground Railroad quilts: Fact or folklore?

In this lesson, students explore the controversy surrounding a book entitled Hidden in Plain View: A Secret Story of Quilts and the Underground Railroad, which was published as a non-fiction account of fugitive slaves sending coded messages through quilt patterns. Students evaluate numerous sources and assess the validity of each in an attempt to determine if the quilt codes are fact or folklore.

Format: lesson plan (grade 8 and 11–12 Information Skills and Social Studies)

By Abby Stotsenberg.

Literature biography project

For this project, students will learn to develop the various processes used in researching and writing a biographical research paper, including brainstorming, note taking, outlining, creating a bibliography, and writing the final draft. This project is designed to act as an independent study geared toward AG or Level 3 and Level 4 students, but each step in the research process can also be taught directly to students in the classroom.

Format: lesson plan (grade 6–8 English Language Arts and Information Skills)

By Sandra Dail.

E-pal adventure

Students will be paired with an e-pal they will hopefully meet during their 8th grade trip to the coast.

Format: lesson plan (grade 8 English Language Arts, Information Skills, and Social Studies)

By Hilda Hamilton.

Back to the future!

In this lesson plan, students research the history of an important invention and present what they've learned through an annotated timeline, historical fiction journal accounts, and VoiceThread technology.

Format: lesson plan (grade 8 Information Skills)

By Diane Ruby.

Resources on the web

Nearsightedness

This lesson gives students the opportunity to examine the nature of scientific research in the context of research pertaining to myopia, or nearsightedness. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 6–8 Information Skills)

Provided by: American Association for the Advancement of Science