Informit Explore has been designed as a research database with classroom application. It is intended to be used by secondary students who may not be confident creating their own searches and require some guidance. To that end, we’ve curated content on Explore to create a browsable search experience that can assist with introducing Informit into a classroom setting and we’ve created original educational content.
Using issue pages
Issue pages have been designed with the classroom in mind as introductions to complex topics that aim to be informative, and guide students toward their own research and thinking. In fact, many teachers report that our issues pages can easily be configured into a 90-minute lesson plan.
All issue pages are mapped to version 9 of the Australian curriculum. If you scroll to the bottom of the issue page, you’ll find links to the curriculum there.
Some issue pages also include video interviews with experts in the field discussing their opinions on the issue. These can be a great way to start the conversation and get students interested in the topic.
From here, you can assign the written summary as a reading task for students, and then work through the comprehension and discussion questions, either in groups or with the entire class, depending on the number of students you have.
Once students have a baseline understanding of the issue, you might want to introduce them to some of Informit’s recommended articles. Students could be assigned an article, or choose their own, and then present back to the class on their learnings from that article or use them as sources for a research task. Likewise, our issue summaries are citeable and an instant citation can be generated using the citation tool.
For more advanced students, you may want to guide them toward a search so they can find their own article to read and present on. You can use the pre-formatted searches created for every issue to get students started with a search, or you can help them construct their own research questions and search queries.
Teaching research skills
Explore can be used as a tool to teach research skills. The pre-formatted searches provide a great starting point for novice researchers to get comfortable using research databases. They can also be used as a teaching tool. By clicking ‘edit search’, you can modify the search and also see how the search was constructed. You can then explain to your students how the different tools impact searching and demonstrate different searches using different filters and combinations of terms.
Our citation generator can also be used to teach students how to construct a reference and discuss academic integrity more broadly.
You can also use our search guides listed below to assist with lessons on research skills.
Still need help? Reach out to support.informit@rmit.edu.au