2.2 Plan Your Research
Planning is a crucial step in the production of a podcast. It is essential to support students in this process to ensure their research is successful.
To provide you with some context, please watch this video created by the Digital Competency in Action team, which presents the Plan step
Length: 1:39
2.2.1 Creating a Work Plan
To plan your informative podcast, it is essential to structure your research. In the presentation below, click on the +info icon to read about the steps to create a personalized work plan.
You can view the presentation on full screen by clicking on the two arrows at the bottom right of the presentation.
2.2.2 Defining Your Information Needs
At this stage, we need to activate our prior knowledge about the research topic.
To determine what information is needed, it is possible to brainstorm, create a word list or use a graphic organizer.
We invite you to watch the following video to understand the importance of brainstorming your research topic.
Length: 1:36
2.2.3 Determining the Main and Secondary Questions
Formulating a good research question is key to effective research. After establishing what you already know about your topic and what you would like to learn about it, you will need to select the main question to guide your research as well as secondary questions. To do so, you can expand upon what came up in the activity to activate their prior knowledge.
For example, if your podcast topic is on the deforestation of the Amazonian forest, your main question could be: What are the consequences of the deforestation of the Amazonian forest?
Secondary questions can vary depending on the angle:
What are the impacts on the environment?
What are the impacts on our ecosystem?
2.2.4 Selecting keywords
Before conducting their research, your students will need to identify relevant keywords. These words can be used in their research questions; they can also identify synonyms to ensure that their topics are well defined.
Example: Amazonia, deforestation, clearcutting, impacts, consequences, environment, biodiversity, climate, forest, ecosystem…
Suggestion
We suggest you work on your work plan according to a given project.