Search strategy
Search strategy means choosing terms deliberately, using several phrasings, and going to specialist sources rather than only the first page.
AI for Kids · Class 8 · Module 3 of 9
Research and Synthesis
Two reliable sources disagree. Now what?
8 sessionsSessions 17–24
4 weeksTypical pace
IntermediateLevel
Class 8Artificial Intelligence
The big idea
Students build a search strategy, deal with genuinely conflicting sources, and write summaries where every claim carries a citation and disagreement is reported rather than hidden.
Why it matters
Handling conflicting evidence is the exact skill that distinguishes real understanding from confident repetition.
Unpacked
What you will actually learn
Three core ideas, each taught with worked examples and then practised until it feels obvious.
Conflicting sources
Conflicting sources are normal. The task is to work out why they differ — date, method, sample or motive — not to pick the convenient one.
Cited summaries
Cited summaries attach every significant claim to its source, so a reader can check your reasoning rather than trusting you.
Did you know?
Two studies reaching opposite conclusions often measured different populations or time periods. The disagreement is usually informative, not embarrassing.
Common mix-up
“The majority of sources must be right.” Sources often copy one another. Ten articles can all trace back to a single flawed original.
Session by session
Your 8-session journey
Sessions 17–24 of the 72-session year, at two one-hour sessions per week.
- 1
Warm-up and big picture
Where this module fits, what you will build, and a hands-on starter that gets everyone curious about search strategy.
- 2
Search strategy
Guided teaching on search strategy, worked through together with the teacher.
- 3
Search strategy — practice lab
Independent practice, small challenges and one deliberate mistake to diagnose.
- 4
Conflicting sources
Guided teaching on conflicting sources, building directly on the previous two sessions.
- 5
Conflicting sources — practice lab
Applied tasks that combine search strategy and conflicting sources in one piece of work.
- 6
Cited summaries
Cited summaries introduced and practised, completing the toolkit needed for the project.
- 7
Project build
Guided build session for the module project: Evidence-backed issue explainer.
- 8
Test, present and reflect
Finish, test against the checklist, present the work and explain the decisions behind it.
Project lab
Evidence-backed issue explainer
Every module ends with something the student built themselves and can demonstrate. This is the piece that goes into their portfolio and gets explained out loud at the end of session 24.
Try this at home
Find a topic where sources genuinely conflict, then write one paragraph explaining the disagreement without taking a side.
It is finished when
- It works from start to finish without breaking
- You can explain every part of it in your own words
- You tested it and improved at least one thing afterwards
- Someone else used or understood it without your help
By the end of this module
Students finishing Module 3 can:
- Explain and use search strategy without prompting
- Explain and use conflicting sources without prompting
- Explain and use cited summaries without prompting
- Build and finish evidence-backed issue explainer
- Test your own work and correct what you find
- Talk an adult through what you made and why
Word bank
The vocabulary introduced here, in plain language:
- synthesis
- Combining multiple sources into a coherent account.
- corroboration
- Independent confirmation of a claim.
- bias
- A slant introduced by a source’s perspective or interest.
Module challenge
Think you have got this?
0 XPLevel 1 · Curious Beginner
6 quick questions drawn from this module — vocabulary, the project you build, and a myth-or-fact round. Every wrong answer explains itself, so a mistake still teaches you something.
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