The Tikkun Project
Lesson
7
Creating a Research Plan
Concept
A good survey doesn't just ask questions it's designed deliberately around who you're asking, what tool fits that audience, and how you'll actually use the answers.
Focus Question
What data might help us make an informed action plan?
Knowledge & Understanding Goals
Mathematics, Data Strand D, Grade 7: Design an effective data-collection plan (survey) appropriate to a research question and target population.
Thinking & Learning Skills
ATL — Research Skills: Designing a primary research instrument.
ATL — Communication: Presenting a research problem to peers for feedback.
Learner Profile: Thinkers, Communicators.
Context
Turns each student's remaining unanswered questions from Lesson 5's gap-filling and Lesson 6's mixture/prevention classification into an actual, implementable research plan. This lesson doesn't carry a RINA-step tag itself; it's the last preparation step before RINA Step 3 (Conduct Primary Research) begins in Lesson 8.
Lesson Outline
RECONNECTING TO YESTERDAY'S THINKING
Last lesson, students classified their product's key harmful substance as either something potentially removable (a mixture) or something requiring prevention at the source (bioaccumulation). Ask: to what extent are you confident in that classification, on a 1 (not at all) to 5 (strongly) scale? Why?
SHARING INDIVIDUAL RESEARCH
Explain that today's task is to present each student's problem to classmates and get suggestions about what data to collect, how to collect it, and what to do with it. In small groups, students present their summary from the "Clarify the Problem" worksheet. After each presentation, group members suggest other potential, practical, achievable research questions — answerable via survey, interview, or observation. A useful frame: "If I knew ___, it would help me solve the problem by ___."
DEVELOPING A RESEARCH PLAN
Students answer: What specific questions need to be answered? Who is the ideal audience for your survey, and why? Based on your target population and objectives, what's the best tool (Google Forms, phone, in-person)? What kinds of questions will work best (multiple-choice, open-ended, Likert scale, or a combination)? How will you analyze the data once it's collected?
WRAP-UP
Students submit their research plan for review; peer review if time allows, using the same small-group structure from earlier in the lesson.
Notes for Teaching and Evaluation
Requiring every survey question to trace back to "if I knew this, it would help me solve the problem by..." is what prevents research plans from becoming a list of generically interesting questions.
Structuring peer feedback as small-group presentation-plus-suggestion (rather than a written peer-review form) keeps the feedback conversational and immediate.