Research Projects That Are Actually Student-Friendly

When I was a student, I HATED doing research. I was always so overwhelmed and didn’t know where to even start. I remember my teachers giving me index cards to write down my research, but I still didn’t know where to start. So a LOT of time was wasted. And then I scrambled at the end trying to finish my project.

Raise your hand if you were like me!

Even though research is easier today with the internet, it can still be super overwhelming for students.

When I taught 3rd grade, my students had to research inventors and their inventions, and I remember just how hard research was for them. They had no idea where to start or what to research. They wasted so much time and ended up getting pretty frustrated.

Which is exactly why I created these research posters.

The next time I have my students do research we will go over the most important categories or topics to include in their research. I would give each student a piece of paper and fold it to divide it into different sections, one section for each category. Then they could take their research to make their project.

I basically used that concept to make my research project posters. It makes research so much easier!

You might remember when I talked about my Country Research Project Posters HERE and my State Research Project Posters HERE. Here’s a video to learn more about them.

I have heard such wonderful feedback from teachers on them which just made my heart smile.

Here are some of the research topics and what some teachers have said about them…

Countries

• “My students loved using this resource when we did our country reports. It was visually appealing for them and easy to understand.”
• “Such a fun project. Love how simple and organized the sheets for each country are. A fun self guided project for my 5th graders.”
• “Loved this resource. I used it in conjunction to our map unit. It was a quick way for my students to apply our class notes into a final assignment for each country we looked at.”

Winter Holidays Around the World

• “Perfect for a research tie-in for reading and social studies! Students loved learning about the different cultures and ways holidays are celebrated around the world!”
• “I used this before Christmas break. It was a good research project for my 8th graders. They were practicing research skills as well as learning information that was related to traditions we have in our country.”

States

• “This resource has it all done for me! I absolutely love this resource! Well worth the money and the time I’ve saved by getting this resource!”
• “This was SUCH A FUN project for my students! We displayed ALL 50 state projects in the hall and the entire school was excited about it!”
• “I wanted my students to research states, because they seem to be lost when it comes to states. As much as I would like to say go research a state and give them what they needed to include, they needed more guidance. These posters provided the structure they needed to be successful.”

Planets

• “I am using this resource to help guide my student’s research about the planets. My students are loving using this resource and I love how hands-off I can be. I would definitely use this product again next year.”
• “My students loved doing the research and using these sheets to guide them. Their work turned out great!”

World Landmarks

Decades

• “My Social Studies students loved this activity. They learned a lot about how things have changed over the years.”
• “I used this resource as a way for my students to research a decade that they were interested in. We ended the unit with a grade level Decades Day! Everyone Loved It!”

American Revolution

Animals

• “The kids loved these and were able to follow along. The topics were relevant and engaging.”
• “I used this as a class project for my 1st-grade class. It was a hit at Open House!”

World War I & World War II

• “I have used this packet while teaching WWII in social studies and Research in writing. My students have been working as partners on this, and they will be teaching their posters to the class. They have loved working on this.”
• “My students love WW2 and they especially loved getting to do more research on different parts of the war.”

Native Americans

• “Used these for an extension project with my high fliers in 2nd. They loved it and it REALLY helped them be more independent researchers! Thank you!!”

Children’s Authors

• “I really enjoyed this resource. With virtual and in school learning these kinds of materials have been a great way to keep students engaged and make learning fun. I think that this is very thorough and is definitely worth buying. This is a fantastic, zero prep, and easy to use in the classroom. With virtual learning and the way technology is in the classroom, I highly recommend this resource! Thanks so so much for the extra help in my classroom!”

Greek Mythology Gods & Goddesses

• “This goes so great with our myths and legends module. The students are engaged and love discovering about their god/goddess.”

US Presidents

• “This was AWESOME! My kids loved it and it was a great resource!”
• “So easy to use! Definitely no prep – I needed to provide the research resources, but the posters were great and I loved the blank posters to give students other options of presidents to choose!”
• “This graphic organizer is perfect for my special needs students to use for researching the presidents!”

Ancient Civilizations

• “I used this to support some of my students in their research projects about ancient civilizations. I liked how they were laid out and organized. Made it incredibly easy for my students to use.”
• “I used this with a couple of gifted students who love different types of civilizations. They researched and used this as a guide. They loved it so much!!!”
• “Great resource! I used it for an enrichment opportunity!”

Explorers

This Day in History

• “This year I used this at the end of the year for the students to pick a day we learned about and present…. next year I am going to do this mini project at the beginning of the school year and when the days comes up I will have the students present their work. Thanks!”
• “Students highly engaged! Great project!”

Famous Americans

Black History

• “My students and I loved this resource!”

In just my Black History research project posters alone, there are 48 people to choose from.

Body Systems

• “I used this template as a research guide for my students. Each student chose 2 body systems to research and they used the information they put on the papers to create either a Google Slide presentation or a hand drawn poster. The questions helped guide the students to find the most important information and they really learned a lot in the process. Thank you!”
• “My kids absolutely loved do these, they learned so much and had fun!”

Do you remember doing research when you were a kid? What was your favorite topic to research? If you have any research topic requests I would love to know them!