Lesson MINI

LESSON MINI

Digital Research and Communication Skills

Grade:

3-5

Topic:

Digital Literacy

Unit:

Teaching for Tomorrow

Overview

In this lesson mini, students build digital literacy by evaluating online sources, conducting guided research on technology topics, and creating multimedia presentations. They also practice verbal and nonverbal communication to deliver their work confidently, strengthening both critical thinking and practical digital skills.

Ideas for Implementation

Digital literacy

Library media

Science

Social Studies

Learning centers

Intervention or enrichment

Interdisciplinary collaboration

STEM

Key Vocabulary & Definitions

authorship (noun): the origin of a written work

credibility (noun): the quality of being trusted and believed in, especially in relation to information sources

currency (noun): common use or acceptance; often refers to when the information was written and whether it is up to date

publisher (noun): a recognized organization that sends out and offers for sale digital and/or printed matter (e.g., Britannica)

reliable/unreliable (adjective): whether or not a source can be trusted to provide accurate information

source (noun): where information comes from

verifiability (noun): the ability to be proven true or correct

Authentic Learning Extensions

Authentic learning opportunities for studying digital research and communication skills involve real-world experiences and practical applications that help students understand key concepts meaningfully. Here are some examples:

Audiovisual Media Creator: Invite students to use digital tools to explore audiovisual media and create videos connected to the topic of study (e.g., digital tools). This approach allows students to be creative, edit content using technology tools, and internalize learning from school.

Digital Readers: Provide a list of articles related to your unit of study for students to discover and explore independently. As they read each text, invite them to evaluate the reliability of the source of information. This encourages students to apply new learnings and think critically.

Expert Speakers: Invite expert speakers to deliver a presentation on a selected topic of study (e.g., digital citizenship, artificial intelligence) to show students best practices for delivering a speech in front of an intended audience and to further explore current topics.

Presentation Day: Schedule a “Presentation Day” and invite students to deliver their presentations to family and friends. This encourages students to practice delivering speeches to an older audience and creates a link between school and home.

Choose Activity

LESSON MINI

Digital Research and Communication Skills

Activity

1 :

Evaluating Digital Information

By the end of the activity, students will be able to analyze online sources using evaluation criteria to determine their trustworthiness and reliability.

30-40

Minutes

Materials and Resources

Materials

Whiteboard and display

Writing utensils

Resources

Implementation

Prepare for the Activity: Select additional online sources for students to evaluate.

Tell students that during today’s activity they will examine different online sources and discover what makes some sources more trustworthy than others.

Begin by asking students, “When you need to find information, where do you look?” Allow students to share their responses. Then display the T-Chart graphic organizer and distribute one to each student. Write “reliable sources” on one side and “unreliable sources” on the other side, instructing students to copy the corresponding words on their own organizers. Ask students to think about sources they trust (reliable) versus sources they might question (unreliable), and have them record their ideas in each column.

Invite students to share their thinking with the whole group while you record their ideas on the displayed graphic organizer. Guide students to notice patterns in their responses by asking, “What do you notice about the sources in each column? What makes the sources in one column different from the sources in the other?”

Ask students, “What questions might we ask ourselves when we find information online to help us decide whether we can trust it?”

Display the Evaluating Resources graphic organizer and distribute one to each student. Explain that they will use this guide to investigate different sources and discover what makes them trustworthy.

Review the key areas for investigation that appear in the graphic organizer by asking questions related to the terms used in each section:

authorship: the origin of a written work. Is the author an authority or a reliable source on your subject? If you are feeling sick, who would you call? A doctor or a police officer?

publishing body (publisher): a recognized organization that sends out and offers for sale digital and/or printed matter. Can I find this information in online books, magazines, or newspapers?

point of view: a personal perspective or opinion. Is this information personal? Does it have an agenda?

bias: an attitude that always favors one way of feeling or acting over any other. Does this information focus on only one side of the story?

credibility: the quality of being trusted and believed in, especially in relation to information source. Does the website include a bibliography and acknowledge its sources?

verifiability: the ability to be proven true or correct. Can the information be confirmed?

currency: common use or acceptance. Is the information current and up to date? When was it written?

Model how to investigate a source by displaying the Artificial Intelligence article. Work together as a class to explore each section of the graphic organizer and record your discoveries. To address the Conclusion section of the graphic organizer, ask students, “Based on what we discovered, how would you describe this source?” (Possible conclusion: This source is reliable because it was published by Britannica, which is a credible source; it offers a neutral point of view that is up to date; and the information in the article can be confirmed.)

Divide the class into small groups of three or four students. Provide each group with a printed Collection of Reliable and Unreliable Sources and a Discovery Notes handout. Have students use the Evaluating Resources graphic organizer to determine whether each source is reliable. Note: Mix up the items before distributing the sets. (Answers: the article, news source, and educational website are reliable sources; the advertisement, social media post, and discussion board are unreliable sources.)

Ask the groups to record their discoveries on the handout using these sentence frames: “We think this source is trustworthy because ___” and “We have concerns about this source because ___.”

Bring the class back together, and invite groups to share their discoveries. Ask, “What patterns did you notice across the different sources? What surprised you during this investigation?”

Close the activity by displaying additional examples of online sources and asking volunteers to share what questions they would ask to evaluate each source. Encourage students to explain their thinking process.

Differentiation and Variations

Language Support: For students who benefit from additional language support, provide key vocabulary cards with visual representations of terms such as author, website, trustworthy, and purpose. Offer sentence frames such as “I think this source is ___” and “The author is ___” to support participation in discussions. Consider pairing English language learners with supportive peers and providing materials in students’ home languages when possible. Pre-teach essential vocabulary before the activity, and encourage students to use both verbal and visual explanations when sharing their thinking.

Adapted Number of Sources: Depending on students’ needs and/or time constraints, consider offering fewer sources for them to evaluate (e.g., two to four). This allows students to participate in the task and work toward the learning objective using a more manageable approach.

Digital Exploration: Provide a relevant theme (e.g., artificial intelligence, technology tools, technology in schools), and have students search for a reliable online source using the Evaluating Resources graphic organizer. This benefits students’ learning because it promotes independent research skills and practical application of new learning.

Student-Created Criteria: Instead of using the pre-made guide, have students work together to develop their own questions for evaluating online sources based on their initial discussions. This variation encourages critical thinking and collaborative problem-solving.

Collaborative Teaching

One Teaching, One Assisting: For collaborative teaching and learning environments, this learning activity is well suited to a One Teaching, One Assisting strategy. In this model, one teacher leads the activity while the other circulates, assisting individual students as needed. This ensures that when students encounter difficulties, they receive immediate help in the form of personalized support and answers to their questions. By addressing students’ unique needs and keeping them on track, this approach enhances individual learning experiences and fosters a supportive classroom environment. Studies indicate that immediate feedback and individualized attention can significantly enhance student understanding and retention of material.

Activity Introduction: The lead teacher begins by defining the words reliable and unreliable in the context of digital sources. The assisting teacher distributes the T-Chart graphic organizer and guides students to write “reliable sources” and “unreliable sources” as the column heads, offering support as needed.

Evaluating Resources: The lead teacher distributes the Evaluating Resources graphic organizer and explains that students will use it to evaluate the reliability of various sources. The assisting teacher reviews the key vocabulary and guiding questions that appear in the organizer. The lead teacher displays the Artificial Intelligence article and guides a class evaluation of the source using the graphic organizer.

Group Work: The lead teacher divides the class into small groups, provides the printed Collection of Reliable and Unreliable Sources and the Discovery Notes handout, and explains that students will record their conclusions about each source on the handout. The assisting teacher circulates and offers feedback and individualized attention to students.

Activity Wrap-Up: The lead teacher closes the activity by displaying additional examples of reliable and unreliable digital sources and calling on volunteers to evaluate the sources on the spot and justify their ideas. The assisting teacher circulates, offering personalized support as needed.

Digital Research and Communication Skills

Activity

2:

Digital Research Methods

By the end of the activity, students will be able to use digital research skills to collect and organize information from at least three different reliable sources to explore a research question.

30-40

Minutes

Materials and Resources

Materials

Devices such as Chromebooks or tablets (one per student)

List of reliable sources related to technology tools (e.g., Britannica Artificial Intelligence article)

Whiteboard and display

Writing utensils

Resources

Implementation

Prepare for the Activity: Curate a list of 8–10 reliable articles about technology tools and their uses (e.g., Britannica Artificial Intelligence article).

Tell students that during today’s activity they will practice answering a research question using three reliable online sources to search for information about digital tools.

Begin by explaining to students that a research question is “a type of question that you answer by investigating and looking closely at different pieces of information.”

Write the following research question on the board: “What are some ways that digital tools affect our daily lives?” Tell students that part of an effective research process is to be able to collect information about a particular subject; in this case, the subject will be digital tools.

Display the K-W-H-L graphic organizer, and distribute one to each student. Invite students to write down everything they know about digital tools in the first box, “What do you know?” Provide a few minutes for students to complete this task independently, and then bring the class back together and discuss.

Ask students to continue to work independently and fill out the second box, “What do you want to know?” As students finish, instruct them to share their ideas with a classmate sitting nearby.

Bring the class back together, and invite students to share a question that came up in conversation. Then, as a class, complete the third box, “How will you learn it?” Guide students to think about what types of sources they will use to answer the question of how digital tools affect their daily lives.

Instruct students to use a device to work with a partner to research at least three reliable digital sources to answer the research question. Remind them that examples of reliable sources include educational websites, encyclopedias, and kid-friendly news sites.

Distribute a Digital Research: Note-Taking graphic organizer to each student.

Invite students to identify three reliable sources from the curated list, read the sources in pairs, and write on the handout what they learned from the sources about how digital tools affect their daily lives.

Gather the class, and facilitate a whole-group discussion to evaluate students’ findings. Ask:

What types of sources did you find?

What did you learn about digital tools?

Close the activity by directing students to complete the last box of the K-W-H-L graphic organizer. Ask them to think about the research question, then answer “What have you learned?” Provide students a few minutes to write down their learning, and then ask for volunteers to share what they wrote.

Differentiation and Variations

Language Support: For students who benefit from additional language support, provide graphic organizers that include key vocabulary terms with visual supports and home language translations when available. Allow students to complete initial brainstorming in their home languages before translating to English. Pair multilingual learners with bilingual peers or native English speakers for collaborative support during research activities. Offer sentence frames such as “Technology tools help people by ___” and “I learned that ___” to support academic language development. Consider providing audio recordings of key instructions and allowing students to use translation tools when reading digital sources.

Digital Sources: Invite students to research one curated digital source that outlines how digital tools affect daily life (e.g., consider providing the Artificial Intelligence article). This supports students’ learning by reducing the number of articles students have to read, while still allowing them to use online sources to answer a research question.

Online Research: Offer students the opportunity to conduct their own research using the Evaluating Resources graphic organizer to evaluate source reliability and answer the research question. This approach gives students more flexibility and freedom to apply the activity’s learning into actionable steps. This promotes the use of technology tools and helps students develop effective research skills.

Research Question: Adapt the research question to best fit your unit of study and help students expand their learning on a specific topic. This approach supports students because it allows them to apply digital research methods to build on their knowledge across subjects.

Collaborative Teaching

Team Teaching: For collaborative teaching and learning environments, this learning activity is well suited to a Team Teaching strategy. In this model, sometimes referred to as “tag team teaching,” both teachers deliver instruction together, often alternating or integrating their teaching styles seamlessly. This collaborative approach provides students with multiple perspectives and teaching styles, enriching their learning experience. By modeling effective teamwork and communication, this approach demonstrates how different viewpoints can enhance understanding and create a dynamic and interactive classroom environment. Evidence indicates that team teaching can enhance student engagement and provide a richer, more diverse educational experience.

Activity Introduction: Teacher A defines the concept of a research question and introduces students to the learning objective and research question of the day (“What are some ways that digital tools affect our daily lives?”). Teacher B circulates the room and offers support as needed.

K-W-H-L Graphic Organizer: Teacher B introduces students to the K-W-H-L graphic organizer while Teacher A distributes one copy of the organizer to each student. Then Teacher B guides students to complete the K, W, and H boxes of the organizer.

Digital Research: Teacher A instructs students to use a digital device (e.g., a Chromebook) to work with a partner to read at least three reliable digital sources from the curated list of articles to answer the research question. Teacher B distributes a Digital Research: Note-Taking graphic organizer to each student.

Activity Wrap-Up: Teacher B gathers the class and facilitates a whole-group discussion to evaluate the findings. Teacher A invites students to complete the L box of the handout and share what they learned.

Digital Research and Communication Skills

Activity

3:

Digital Presentations

By the end of the activity, students will be able to create an original digital presentation that effectively communicates information about technology in daily life using at least two different media elements.

30-40

Minutes

Materials and Resources

Materials

Completed K-W-H-L graphic organizer and Digital Research: Note-Taking graphic organizer from Activity 2

Devices such as Chromebooks or tablets (one per student)

Examples of Media Elements

Model Presentation: The Impact of Digital Tools on Daily Life

School-approved digital design tool

Whiteboard and display

Writing utensils

Resources

Implementation

Prepare for the Activity:

Prepare a model slideshow presentation titled “The Impact of Digital Tools on Daily Life” to set expectations and show best practices.

Consider teaching research-related lesson minis found on Teach Britannica, such as “Presenting Information.”

Select examples of different media elements (e.g., audio, video, text, images, animation).

If available, consider inviting a technology specialist or library media coach to model how to use digital tools and create effective digital presentations.

Tell students that during today’s activity they will work on creating an original presentation to explore how technology affects daily activities.

Activate students’ background knowledge by asking open-ended questions such as these:

What are digital tools, and where can we find them?

What are some ways you use digital tools at home and at school?

Begin by distributing a printed copy of the Research article and a Note-Taking graphic organizer to each student. Ask students to work in pairs to read the “Research Process” section of the article and identify key steps on the graphic organizer. Encourage students to use short phrases, abbreviations, and drawings in their notes.

As students finish, bring the class back together and review the key steps of a research process. Record students’ ideas on the board, without adding your own interpretations, allowing students to identify patterns such as the following:

Step 1: Choose a research topic or research an assigned topic.

Step 2: Collect information from primary or secondary sources. Explain to students how to distinguish the two types of sources. For example: “Primary sources are works that give original information. They offer firsthand accounts of events. Examples include diary entries, interviews, letters, and photographs. Secondary sources provide secondhand information, summarizing, analyzing, or interpreting material from primary sources rather than giving original information itself. Examples include textbooks and encyclopedias.

Step 3: Take notes of key observations and facts.

Step 4: Create a written report and/or oral presentation.

Ask students to think about presentations they have seen and what made them memorable or interesting. Pose questions such as the following:

What made a recent presentation you watched stand out to you?

Why might that presentation have been effective?

What ideas do you have about how to create effective slideshow presentations?

Show students a model slideshow presentation titled “The Impact of Digital Tools on Daily Life” or, if available, a short clip of a student delivering an effective digital presentation, and invite students to observe and discuss what they notice about effective digital presentations. Through discussion, guide students to discover principles such as the following:

Keep bullet points short and focused.

Support your ideas with visuals.

Include interactive elements such as polls or games to engage your audience.

Practice, practice, practice!

Write the phrase “media elements” on the board and ask students to discuss what they think this phrase might mean. Through questioning and examples, help students discover that media elements include components such as audio, video, text, images, and animation and make digital presentations more interesting.

Display examples of the different types of media elements, and ask students to identify how each one might help communicate information effectively.

Guide students to recognize that including different media elements in their digital presentations will engage their audience!

Explain that students will work with a partner to create an original presentation about technology using a school-approved digital design tool. Ask students to consider the question “What are some ways that technology affects our daily lives?”

Tell students that they should include five to seven slides in their presentations. Emphasize that the presentations should be 5 minutes long and that both group members should speak for approximately the same amount of time.

Encourage students to think about their own experiences with technology at home, at school, and with their friends.

Model how to use the preferred digital tool. Ensure that students understand the tool’s basic uses and that they feel comfortable creating a digital presentation (e.g., model how to choose a presentation template, add slides, and insert different media elements into the slides).

Instruct students to use their notes from Activity 2 to complete the presentation (e.g., Digital Research: Note-Taking graphic organizer and K-W-L-H graphic organizer).

Encourage students to use visual aids and interactive elements to make their presentations engaging. Remind students that their presentations should include at least two different media elements. For example, a photograph can be one media element, and a text passage can be another; a video can be one media element, and a GIF can be another.

Assign students to complete their digital presentations with a partner.

Allot time for student pairs to complete their slides on their digital devices with their partners, and circulate the room to offer support as needed.

Bring the class back together, and ask students to share their successes and challenges in creating their digital presentations. Explain that during the next class they will share their digital presentation with their peers. Suggest that students prepare for their presentations by practicing in front of a mirror, with fellow classmates, and/or with family members.

Differentiation and Variations

Language Support: For students who benefit from additional language support, provide a vocabulary bank of key technology terms in their home languages and English, along with visual representations. Offer presentation templates with simplified sentence frames such as “Technology helps us by ___” and “One example of technology at school is ___.” Allow students to include audio recordings in their home languages with English subtitles, or partner multilingual learners with bilingual peers for additional translation support during the presentation creation process.

Written Response: Challenge students to produce a written response outlining what they learned about digital tools during the research and presentation creation process. This benefits students’ learning because it promotes critical thinking and fosters independent writing skills.

Research Question: Adapt the research question to best fit your unit of study and help students expand their learning on a specific topic. This approach supports students because it allows them to practice creating a digital presentation based on a current unit of study.

Collaborative Teaching

One Teaching, One Observing: For collaborative teaching and learning environments, this learning activity is well suited to a One Teaching, One Observing strategy. In this model, one teacher provides direct instruction to the entire class while the other observes student behavior and engagement to gather evidence of learning. This approach allows for detailed observation and assessment, helping identify students who need additional support or intervention. By focusing on student responses and participation, the observing teacher can ensure that the learning needs of all students are addressed and met in the activity. Research shows that targeted observation can lead to more effective intervention strategies, improving student performance.

Activity Introduction: Teacher A activates students’ background knowledge related to digital tools and instructs them to read the “Research Process” section of the Research article and take notes using the Note-Taking graphic organizer. Teacher B observes how partners interact and engage with the assigned material.

Research Process Review: As students finish, Teacher A brings the class back together and reviews the key steps of a research process. Teacher B observes how students respond to the information from the assigned text.

Presentation Delivery Tips: Teacher A reviews top tips for delivering effective digital presentations and provides a brief overview of the concept of media elements. Teacher B observes how students engage in the whole-group discussions.

Partner Work: Teacher A explains that students will work with a partner to create a digital presentation outlining how digital tools affect our daily lives. Teacher A also outlines the specific presentation requirement and models how to use different digital design tools. Teacher B circulates the room and observes how students manage to complete the assigned task.

Activity Wrap-Up: Teacher A brings the class back together, and asks students to share their successes and challenges in creating their digital presentations. Teacher B records students’ comments on the board.

Digital Research and Communication Skills

Activity

4:

Confident Communicators

By the end of the activity, students will be able to communicate complex ideas clearly and effectively for their intended audience through guided presentation practices.

30-40

Minutes

Materials and Resources

Materials

Devices such as Chromebooks or tablets (one per student)

Poster board (one for teacher)

Whiteboard and display

Writing utensils

Resources

Implementation

Tell students that during today’s activity they will work on communicating their digital presentations effectively for their intended audience: their peers.

Begin by asking students to work with their assigned partner and take a few minutes to review and proofread their digital presentations from Activity 3 on their devices. Emphasize that preparing a presentation is a process! Explain that it’s important to reread slides carefully and make changes as needed. This means checking for spelling mistakes and typos. Highlight that it’s also important to practice presentations!

After a few minutes, bring the class back together and ask them to share what they changed in their presentations. Write the following questions on the board, and ask students to consider each one:

Does your presentation have a title page?

Is your presentation well organized?

Are your slides easy to read?

Are all your media elements (e.g., videos or GIFs) working?

Does your presentation have five to seven slides?

Provide time for partners to make additional changes based on ideas discussed during the whole-group discussion. Model how to do this by asking students to refer to the questions discussed and edit their work as needed.

Ask students what they think might be important when delivering a presentation beyond just the content on the slides. Through questioning, guide students to consider both verbal and nonverbal communication. Ask, “What do you think is the difference between verbal and nonverbal communication?” Record students’ ideas on the board. Through discussion, help students discover that verbal communication involves spoken or written words, while nonverbal communication happens without words.

Display the T-Chart graphic organizer and distribute a copy to each student. Write “verbal communication” on one side and “nonverbal communication” on the other side, instructing students to copy the corresponding words on their own organizers. Invite the class to brainstorm examples of each in relation to delivering a good presentation. Through student suggestions, develop ideas such as the following:

Verbal communication: speak clearly and confidently; pay attention to your tone of voice; check your pace (that is, avoiding speaking too slowly or too fast)

Nonverbal communication: make eye contact with your audience; pay attention to your posture (that is, how you stand); dress for success

Encourage students to think about why verbal and nonverbal communication might be important when delivering a presentation to elementary school students. Pose questions such as the following:

Why might it be important to use clear slides and include media elements?

Why might it be important to make eye contact and dress appropriately?

Why might it be important to speak confidently?

Instruct students to work with their partners to practice their presentations using their devices for support. Encourage students to give each other feedback on their verbal and nonverbal communication. Model feedback examples and write a few comments on the board, such as “Nice job maintaining good posture!” or “I noticed you were reading your slides. Could you try presenting them again while making more eye contact?”

As students practice their presentations, circulate the room and provide guidance and feedback as needed.

Bring the class back together, and ask students to reflect on how ready they feel to deliver their presentations. Invite volunteers to share examples of verbal and nonverbal communication they observed or practiced.

Wrap up the activity by delivering great presentations as a class. Record students’ key ideas about the impact of digital tools on daily life on a poster board and consider displaying it in the classroom.

Differentiation and Variations

Language Support: For students who benefit from additional language support, provide presentation phrase cards containing helpful expressions such as “First, I will talk about,” “Next, we will see,” and “In conclusion.” Create visual cue cards with icons representing key nonverbal communication strategies (eye contact, posture, gestures) that students can reference during practice. Offer sentence frames specific to technology presentations, such as “This technology helps people by ___” and “One benefit of this technology is ___.” Allow students to record practice sessions on their devices to review their verbal delivery, and provide the option for students to include key vocabulary on their slides in both their home languages and English to support comprehension for diverse audiences.

Strategic Grouping: Strategically group each student pair with another student pair to practice their presentations and give each other feedback. This intentional approach benefits student learning because it builds classroom community and promotes teamwork.

Presentation Challenge: Challenge students to practice their digital presentations in front of family members or friends. Ask them to think about how their presentation delivery shifts depending on their target audience. This benefits student learning because it provides them an opportunity to practice thinking about different audiences.

Feedback Rubrics: Instead of closing the activity with a whole-group brainstorm of top tips for presentation delivery, assign students to work in small groups of three or four students to write a rubric that outlines the key considerations to keep in mind. Offer a template to frame students’ thinking. This benefits students’ learning because it promotes collaborative thinking to synthesize the key ideas covered in the activity.

Collaborative Teaching

Parallel Teaching: For collaborative teaching and learning environments, this learning activity is well suited to a Parallel Teaching strategy. In this model, the class is divided into two groups, and each teacher delivers the same activity simultaneously to their group. This reduces the student-teacher ratio, allowing for more interaction and individualized attention. With smaller groups, students are more likely to participate actively and receive immediate feedback, which fosters a deeper understanding of the content and promotes a more engaging learning experience. Evidence suggests that small-group instruction leads to increased student engagement and improved academic outcomes.

Digital Research and Communication Skills

Activity

5:

Minutes

Materials and Resources

Materials

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Resources

Implementation

Prepare for the Activity:

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Differentiation and Variations

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Collaborative Teaching

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