Accessing Free Research Papers for Middle School Science
One of the things that I struggled with when I began teaching was figuring out what research-based instructional strategies were appropriate for my classroom. Let’s be honest, I didn’t know where to begin to find what worked and what didn’t for the classroom.
The methods that I used for instructional strategies was to copy other teachers and through trial and error. I didn’t know what worked and what didn’t, according to the research. I had no clue how to access anything. I just figured I needed a subscription to research journals, which was not anywhere in my reach, and not in my budget, for sure.
Well, now I know how I can access some research that I can apply in the classroom right away!
Steps to Access Free Research Papers for Science Education
Step 1: Go to Google Scholar
The first thing that you need to do is go to scholar.google.com.
Google Scholar is a database that stores journal articles in academia. You can search for anything that you need to find research for. You can also sort by time and relevance.
You can also search for particular authors to view their profiles. My name is searchable in the system, although I have procrastinated on setting up a profile!
Step 2: Search for a Topic of Interest
So you want to incorporate research-based instructional strategies into your middle school science classroom? That is a great place to start.
In the search bar, type in something that you are interested in finding scholarly articles for.
Some examples for middle school science include:
– instructional strategies for middle school
– middle school science
– motivation in the science classroom
– science experiments in
– problem-based learning in middle school
– citizen science in middle school
The possibilities are endless!
One thing to note is that whenever you are searching and you want the search results to yield topics with the exact wording, you need to put quotation marks around it. For example, you would type “instructional strategies for middle school” in the search bar.
Step 3: Adjust the Date Range
Personally, I only like to look at articles within the last five years, so I adjust accordingly. When you read the research, in the introduction section, the authors will discuss older research that is relevant if needed.
Step 4: Click PDF or HTML
The last thing that you’ll need to do to access the research is to look on the right and click on a link that has PDF or HTML, and this will bring up the article.
There will not be a link on the right for each article, but there is a lot to choose from!
Step 5: Read Away!
That last step is to read the article and implement some research-based instructional strategies into your middle school science classroom!
Overwhelmed with all of the research-based strategies? Here’s some ideas on what to do when it’s just too much!
[…] Learn how to access free research papers. […]