Refining Your Topic to Have Value and a Learning Objective/Goal
Considering your Topic
You have picked a topic that you are interested in, but now you need to think about what specific aspect to focus on. To do this you will need to consider the following components AND answer the following questions. ADD these answers to your Portfolio (See Activity 1)
1. Value - why do you want to learn about your research topic?
- A value is a quality of an idea/object/person/etc.
- A value judges the worth of something
- Different people can have different values
- What value will this project have for you and/or your family and/or your community (school, friends, local area etc.)? Will it be to gain understanding, develop a skills, change habits, obtain further knowledge etc.
2. Learning Objective - what do you hope to achieve?
- Your learning objective is a goal or target to be reached
- A learning objective gives you purpose or something to aim for, to accomplish and a plan to achieve
- What is the goal associated with your topic of research?
- How will you show the product of your learning?
Example 1 |
Example 2 |
It is important for me to know why my ancestors migrated to Australia. It will have personal value for me to feel connected to my family's heritage, as a I feel that I have lost this connection as a 7th generation Australian. It will also have value and importance to my close and extended family, who may learn more about the Irish Potato Famine that prompted my female relative to be sent here in the 1840's as a child. I hope to create a fact sheet or booklet to distribute to my family that outlines the causes and effects of the Potato Famine in Ireland, and any specific historical information that I can find about my relative.
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My learning objective is to improve my painting skills. To show that I have achieved this, my learning output will be a painting portfolio demonstrating skill development and a final painting that shows the application. The value of doing this for myself is that I will become a better painter, which is useful for me as I would like to study art at school and one day be a teacher. This topic of research also has value for my best friend who is also interested in art. As I practice new skills, I can share my developing knowledge with her. This will hopefully result in improving our art skills.
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3. Available Research - is your topic researchable?
- Opportunities to find information in a variety of ways (strategies) from a variety of sources (perspectives).
- Where do you think that you will find information for this topic?
- Do you have existing contacts/resources connected to your area of interest?
4. Manageability - can your topic be researched in the time frame?
- The scope of the topic
- A topic that is too broad will not allow for depth of research.
- A topic that is too narrow will not give you opportunities to research
- Can your topic be refined later? What possible refinements may be needed?
5. Ethics - is your topic and your associated research methods ethical?
- Have you considered the ethics mentioned in previous lessons?
Activity 1:
Record your considerations for your chosen topic by addressing each of the 5 criteria above. This may be in the form of a written document, a visual document, and audio/video recording or another means of you choosing. Add this to your Portfolio.