What information/sources were most helpful to you?
The sources we found most helpful were the ones that provided an overview of Dual Immersion Programs and listed the programs benefactors and purposes. The article developed at The University of California Irvine was helpful in the ways it provides us with research on backgrounds of bilingual education. It also encouraged parents to enroll their students in these programs based off of their remarkable findings on the program's benefits. Also, the sources that discuss two-way immersion programs are helpful because they allow readers to understand the breakdown of DI. It provides methods often used by these programs and the top targeted languages that these programs include.
What gaps still exist in your research?
After reviewing our group's outline, the research we provided still show a gap on the effectiveness of Dual Immersion programs closer to the Fresno County area. There are lists of programs in Fresno and Parlier Unified School District, however it does not provide us with the progress of these programs. Also, even though our sources provided great research on how effective and beneficial DI is, the sources still leave a gap in how far these programs have progressed in popularity. Sources told us that Dual Immersion programs have doubled, however does not give us a number of programs taken place world-wide or country wife. We also noticed that none of our research provided information about how many DI programs there are in America and if they are rising in school systems.
Have you changed anything in how you search, evaluate, and use information?
Before starting our Paper Trail Project we thought that we were pretty good with technology but when we were told to create a wiki we felt totally lost. None of us knew what it was or how to create one. Once we found a topic to search we thought that our project was going to get easier but it didn't. We had to pick the web sites that were fairly new and not something that was out dated. We were to evaluate the webs and see which ones were relevant and which ones were less relevant. Overall, it was a long process and it will be beneficial to take into consideration all the great information that we learned when it comes to researching. I think we will definitely change how we search and evaluate information in our future projects.
How did collaborating with a group affect your research?
Collaborating as a group helped because we all had several ideas and researched on all the ideas discussed during our meetings. For example, before researching, our group met outside of class and came up with a group outline. When coming up with the outline, we were all able to provide our insight into different topics that would be beneficial to our research question and statement. Then, after making our outline, we were able to split up parts of our outline to our group members, so we had individualized tasks and could spend as much time researching our topic as possible instead of feeling overwhelmed. Also, we were able to discuss our research and what websites/videos we found most helpful in answering our question. Overall, collaborating with our group was beneficial because we helped one another and bounced ideas off of each other.
What advice would you want to give your future students about research?
I would want to tell my future students that when researching a topic, to make sure that the website/video is credible. For example, they should check the publisher, author, and date the source was published to make sure the research they are using has persuasive information and does not raise doubts in the minds of readers. Also, I would advise them on having a research question in mind before so they have a question they want to answer. By having this research question, students will have a better idea of how to research; for instance, if they find research that provides good information but does not answer their question, then it is irrelevant to their topic and should not be used. Having a research question will help their research be more focused, such as creating an outline and knowing narrowing down research to find answers to their questions.
The sources we found most helpful were the ones that provided an overview of Dual Immersion Programs and listed the programs benefactors and purposes. The article developed at The University of California Irvine was helpful in the ways it provides us with research on backgrounds of bilingual education. It also encouraged parents to enroll their students in these programs based off of their remarkable findings on the program's benefits. Also, the sources that discuss two-way immersion programs are helpful because they allow readers to understand the breakdown of DI. It provides methods often used by these programs and the top targeted languages that these programs include.
What gaps still exist in your research?
After reviewing our group's outline, the research we provided still show a gap on the effectiveness of Dual Immersion programs closer to the Fresno County area. There are lists of programs in Fresno and Parlier Unified School District, however it does not provide us with the progress of these programs. Also, even though our sources provided great research on how effective and beneficial DI is, the sources still leave a gap in how far these programs have progressed in popularity. Sources told us that Dual Immersion programs have doubled, however does not give us a number of programs taken place world-wide or country wife. We also noticed that none of our research provided information about how many DI programs there are in America and if they are rising in school systems.
Have you changed anything in how you search, evaluate, and use information?
Before starting our Paper Trail Project we thought that we were pretty good with technology but when we were told to create a wiki we felt totally lost. None of us knew what it was or how to create one. Once we found a topic to search we thought that our project was going to get easier but it didn't. We had to pick the web sites that were fairly new and not something that was out dated. We were to evaluate the webs and see which ones were relevant and which ones were less relevant. Overall, it was a long process and it will be beneficial to take into consideration all the great information that we learned when it comes to researching. I think we will definitely change how we search and evaluate information in our future projects.
How did collaborating with a group affect your research?
Collaborating as a group helped because we all had several ideas and researched on all the ideas discussed during our meetings. For example, before researching, our group met outside of class and came up with a group outline. When coming up with the outline, we were all able to provide our insight into different topics that would be beneficial to our research question and statement. Then, after making our outline, we were able to split up parts of our outline to our group members, so we had individualized tasks and could spend as much time researching our topic as possible instead of feeling overwhelmed. Also, we were able to discuss our research and what websites/videos we found most helpful in answering our question. Overall, collaborating with our group was beneficial because we helped one another and bounced ideas off of each other.
What advice would you want to give your future students about research?
I would want to tell my future students that when researching a topic, to make sure that the website/video is credible. For example, they should check the publisher, author, and date the source was published to make sure the research they are using has persuasive information and does not raise doubts in the minds of readers. Also, I would advise them on having a research question in mind before so they have a question they want to answer. By having this research question, students will have a better idea of how to research; for instance, if they find research that provides good information but does not answer their question, then it is irrelevant to their topic and should not be used. Having a research question will help their research be more focused, such as creating an outline and knowing narrowing down research to find answers to their questions.