SEARCH Strategy

Strategy Corner

The SEARCH strategy is a great grade 2-12 strategy to use with your students when they are asked to research a topic. When using the strategy to do research, the project should focus on a question to be answered by the group rather than on a general topic. This comprehensive strategy will stimulate students to find answers to questions they have generated from their reading.

  • S – Select a specific topic of interest to study.
  • E – Establish what students know, think they know, and want to know about the topic. Write the three categories on chart paper or the whiteboard. Have them work individually first, then in small groups to stimulate ideas. Record ideas in each of the three categories, as appropriate. Encourage participation from all students and develop confidence by suggesting they know more than they realize.
  • A – Ask questions to raise curiosity and to challenge students by asking for more specific information when they share their ideas about the topic.
  • R – Read resource material or textbook to verify what they know and think they know, to answer questions, and to raise new questions.
  • C – Come together; share and review responses in small groups.
  • H – Have a large group discussion to share what children learned, and to identify unanswered as well as new questions for further research.
By Don Ortman, Past President of Iowa Reading Association, Northwest Iowa Reading Council
Iowa Reading Association Newsletter, Winter 2003
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