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ProQuest Teachable Moments theme for February is Black History Month. During Black History Month, students will benefit from mini-research activities that help them to learn academic content and, especially when they’re younger, create opportunities for multi-cultural understanding.

Black History Month and other ethnic celebration monthly themes are an excellent way for teachers to create these engaging activities. Equally important is that these activities help to build essential standards-based academic skills and digital information literacy.

Activity: This month, teachers will ask students to navigate Web sites to get information for their reports. This navigation is almost always more challenging than reading articles from newspapers and magazines. SIRS editors select these Web sites for their appropriateness to the K-8 curriculum and the reading levels of students.

1. [Using Discoverer/WebFind], type Black History Month in the Keyword/Natural Language Search box and Search.
2. Click the WebFind Sites tab.
3. Assign a different Web site to each two-person research team.
4. Note: More than one Web site will be about Dr. King. Select the best ones only; if more than one person is featured, select the most interesting one to summarize.
5. Students will present a two-minute oral report to share their new knowledge OR,
6. Students can summarize the message of the Web site in about 200 words.
7. Students will print a picture of central figure honored in the Web site using a separate search on the name of that central figure.

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