Guide 3: The Learning Laboratory
Introduction
Children and young adults who are motivated and excited thrive in an inquiry-based environment. Anyone can follow a model and create a lesson. However it takes a clear understanding of the standards and needs of students to design an effective learning environment that will result in a meaningful experience.
Your projects should also have this combination of fun and meaning. Teaching library and information skills in isolation is meaningless. By connecting standards, collaborating with teachers, and designing engaging learning experience you can build a motivating, meaningful experience for young people.
Be a Trail Blazer
Like a Trail Blazer, your job is to explore and experience new worlds of understanding. In this section, you'll be examining topics related to life-long learning, inquiry, and literacy. Each reading will provide the tools you need to complete the Trail Blazer activities. Note that the specific textbook readings are listed within the webpages. I've also listed them on the course calendar for quick reference.
Read A Learning Environment for Inquiry
Read BLUE BOOK: p. 185-221, 307-317
Read Information Resources: Realia & Models, Books & Periodicals, Digital Media, Maps & Globes, Puppets, Blogs, Electronic Databases, E-mail, E-forums and social networks, Live interaction, Web-resources
Read Tools: Audio Tools, Calculator, Charts & Post-Its, Clipboards, Telephones, Digital Cameras, Electronic Keyboards, Electronic Whiteboard, Handheld Devices, Laptops, Measuring Tools, MP3 Players, Science & Math Tools, Video Cameras, Visual Presenter, Writing & Drawing Tools, Work Boards
Read Learning Spaces: Inviting Environment, Display Areas, Seating Areas, Student Work Areas, Video Production Areas, Presentation Areas, Wall Displays
Read Student Generated Materials: Artwork, Exhibits, Journals, Portfolio, Young Authors
Trail Blazer 8: The Lab (3 Points)
[Complete ONE of the following options]
8.1: Media Center Analogies - Is a media center like a flea market, auto show, or maybe a tidepool? Danny Callison does an excellent job using the analogy of the media center as a learning laboratory. Use another analogy to describe how the media center is a center for teaching and learning. Provide detailed examples using the analogy to help people visualize your ideas. Use professional literature to support your analogy.
8.2: Virtual Experiences - Have some fun. Identify at least one other classmate and collaborate on a virtual concept map using the online tool MyWebInspiration or Gliffy. Share the URL with the class. Also, be sure to invite eduscapes, so I can participate too! Write a summary of the goal of your concept map activity as well as the experience. Discuss ways that this tool could be used in inquiry projects with young people.
8.3: Save Your Job - Do school library media programs really make a difference in student learning? The school board is cutting all programs that don't directly impact student achievement. Using professional literature, save your job! Provide 5-10 research-based examples of the impact of library programs. Your document should not be a research paper. Instead, it should use research to support the argument that your job should be saved! In addition to professional literature, you should also discuss evidence-based practices that might be implemented to demonstrate that your instructional program makes a difference.
8.4: Envision the Future - What if you could design a new kind of learning environment for children? What would it look and feel like? If you could toss the current school building concept, staffing structure, schedule, curriculum.... and start from scratch, what would you do? If you didn't have the pressure from parents, teachers, politicians, and corporations, what kind of learning environment would you construct? What would the learning experience be like for the student information scientist and the instructional specialist? What would the learning laboratory look like? How would inquiry be integrated into the new curriculum? Don't just answer these questions, show us. Immerse us in your vision. Your posting might include words, pictures, ideas, and original ways of expressing this vision. This is your chance to be creative.
Project 3: Information Age Inquiry Journal
Our class will be developed an issue of the online electronic journal.
Go to Bowriding: Key Ideas in Teaching, Learning, and Libraries to see examples from previous semesters. Keep in mind that the requirements have been revised this semester to include additional requirements.
Project Task
Your mission is to weave thirty ideas into a short article. First, focus on the ten most important "big ideas" that you feel are critical for today's library media specialists. Second, examine the ten Learning and Teaching Principles of School Library Media Programs found in Information Power (1998, p. 58). Third, explore ten learning resources, tools, spaces, and/or materials. Finally, write an article for the online journal that brings all thirty ideas together.
Your product is a short article (1500-3000 words) or webpage(s) (1500-3000 words) that makes sense of the wide range of concepts related to information inquiry, teaching, learning, and libraries within the context of an interesting example. Your article should focus on a collaborative project that demonstrates positive relationships with members of the learning community such as teachers.
You could also build a PowerPoint presentation (30-60 slides) or digital video(s) (3-6 minutes total). However all aspects must be self-explanatory and built into the project, so a written project is much easier to create. In PowerPoint the Speakernotes can be used to provide clarification.
Project Elements
Audience. Your audience is not only this class, but also the larger audience of educators and library/media specialists who might be readers. As such, AVOID direct references to this course and instead focus on your role as an educator and library media specialist.
Examples. Your project should incorporate meaningful examples, scenarios, or analogies to help your audience visualize your ideas. For example, you might write about a science project that involves learning about hummingbirds and investigating why fewer birds are coming to your school each year. You might incorporate a website example (i.e., Journey North), classroom/library activities, or teacher/librarian collaborative projects as examples.
Be sure to connect your project to information inquiry as well as the "big ideas" like the article by Rhonda Harris Taylor and Lotsee Patterson titled Getting the "Indian" out of the Cupboard: Using Information Literacy to Promote Critical Thinking.
Professional Literature. Your project should cite professional literature (i.e., books, journals, web resources, etc.) in areas such as education, library science, and information inquiry.
Ten Principles. Your project must address ALL ten Learning and Teaching Principles of School Library Media Programs from Information Power. Rather than stating the principles, your document should reflect the ideas and intent of the principles. You should provide evidence that you understand and can incorporate the ideas and concepts. For example, your article might discuss how audiobooks can be used to address the information needs of non-readers. This would reflect Principle 7 dealing with diverse learners. You must indicate where each principle is addressed and also provide a short statement detailing how your actions addressed the principle.
You might provide a footnote in an article or web page, a speakernote in a presentation, or a short supplemental document with a video. You could also put them at the end of the article. For example, you might write [P1] to represent Principle 1 at the end of the paragraph where this idea is reflected.
... While students were not required to workshop their drafts with peers, those students who did were able to improve their poems and presentation skills through the suggestions and support of their fellow classmates.2
2 Learning and Teaching Principles of School Library Media Programs #8 (AASL 69-70) - The media specialist created an atmosphere that promoted collaboration and sharing by providing time for peer review. By modeling and sharing tips for peer review, she fostered collaborative inquiry.
Ten Key Ideas. Your project must incorporate 10 Key Words. You get to choose which 10 Key Words you'd like to incorporate. Again, you SHOULD NOT make direct reference to these ideas (i.e., DO NOT say, "in Key Idea 1"). Instead they should be reflected in the ideas that you discuss. For example, your article might talk about how and why a rubric might be used to evaluate your student inquiry project example. This would reflect your understanding of the Key Idea 1: Assessment. You simply need to indicate where each principle is addressed.
You might provide a footnote in an article or web page, a speakernote in a presentation, or a short supplemental document with a video. For example, you might write [K1] to represent Key Idea 1 at the end of the section.
... The use of multiple formats enabled students of various learning abilities and styles to learn about free-verse poetry and the poetry slam.4
4 Differentiated Instruction, (Key Word: Class Website) - By allowing students to use different formats including text, photographs, and video, the teacher and media specialist were able to meet the diverse needs of the class.
Ten Learning Resources, Tools, Spaces, or Materials. Your project must incorporate 10 Learning Resources, Tools, Spaces, or Student Generated Materials. Choose from some of those highlighted in class or identify your own. You have lots of flexibility in this section. From books and ipods to post-its and student-produced murals, there are endless choices.
You might provide a footnote in an article or web page, a speakernote in a presentation, or a short supplemental document with a video. For example, you might write [L1] to represent Learning Resource 1 at the end of the article.
... As part of the one-book, one-community projects, participants will be reading the book To Kill a Mockingbird. [L1]
[L1]Learning Resource: Book - Involving young people in community reading projects is a great way to model life-long learning and promote leisure reading both inside and outside school. Although digital resources are growing in popularity, books continue to be a portable, easy-to-access reading source.
Project Format
Your final product can be a word processed document (i.e., Microsoft Word), web page, presentation (i.e., PowerPoint), or digital video (i.e., Quicktime, Real Media). However, it must be uploaded to the web. The "articles" will be housed in Google Pages or on your own webspace. They will be linked to the Bowriding page.
Article Option. Articles can be VERY boring to write and to read. Make it interesting. You might create a "top ten" list, use alliteration, or incorporate a poem. You might also include photos from an activity at your school. If you take photos in your classroom you should get parent permission or use over-the-shoulder shots so students remain anonymous.
Webpage Option. Webpages can bring ideas to life by providing links to expand ideas or useful examples. However keep in mind that you should do a lot of the writing yourself. The links should only supplement your discussion.
PowerPoint Option. Rather than a traditional article, you're free to develop a PowerPoint presentation or video. These must also include quality examples and scenarios. For example, Suzanne Preate from Syracuse University Library has developed an excellent presentation on plagiarism, but it would NOT fit the requirements of this activity because it doesn't including specific examples or scenarios. In addition, it does a great job on a single topic, but doesn't meet the "concept" requirement. If you need to provide additional explanation for a presentation, you can use the "speaker notes in PowerPoint.
Digital Video Option. You could also create a digital video. This would be fun! For example, you could developed it as a series of 3 one-minute PSA (public service announcements) for information inquiry. Again, you'd need to incorporate the basic requirements. However, the "citations" in a video do not need to be complete. They can simply be references to the literature. Check out examples at the Ad Council such as the Library of Congress campaign.
Article Review
In addition to posting your own article, you must also write an "article review" as a reply in Oncourse. Many journals are "peer reviewed." In other words, professional colleagues are asked to review articles before they are published. Like a "book review" this article review should critique a classmate's article using specific examples and providing detailed feedback and suggestions. In other words, if you were the editor of the "Bowriding" journal, what feedback would you provide for this article's author? Although "warm fuzzies" are important, it's also helpful to provide constructive criticism that will provide ideas, options, and solutions for the author.
Writing a review isn't easy. It's also difficult for some people to accept constructive criticism. However this is an important part of being evolving as a professional.
Explore a few examples of reviews: Review 1, Review 2, Review 3, Review 4, Review 5, Review 6.
Project Submission
Sharing is an important part of learning. Your project will be shared with your classmates and the world.
Upload it to your web space (personal, university, or Google Sites). This project would be a great addition to an online professional portfolio. Or, you can attach it to the Message area of Oncourse. However, I prefer if you make it available on the web.
Then, post a message in your SCOUT Discussion Area in Oncourse indicating that your project is ready to grade. Be sure to provide the web address or document(s) of your project.
You will have 1 WEEK after the initial posting is due to provide your "article review" as a reply in Oncourse.
Evaluation
The following checklist will be used to evaluate your project. - 20 Possible Points
Content Aspects
- Written for the education and/or library media audience - 1 Point
- Provides effective examples, scenario(s), and/or analogy(ies) - 2 Point
- Incorporates meaningful, appropriate professional literature - 2 Point
- Adequately addresses 10 Key Ideas including footnotes or other indicators - 1 Point
- Adequately addresses all 10 Information Power Principles including footnotes or other indicators - 1 Point
- Adequately addresses 10 Learning Resources/Tools/Spaces/Materials including footnotes or other indicators - 1 Point
- Quality statement connecting EACH of the 30 principles, key ideas, and learning tools/spaces to your specific article topic - 3 Point
- Organizes ideas in a logical way - 1 Point
- Synthesizes the ideas in meaningful ways - 1 Point
- Defines the key concepts without looking like a "report" or glossary - 1 Point
- Presents ideas in an interesting and appealing way - 1 Point
- Provides a convincing argument for the importance of library media programs and collaborative relationships - 1 Point
Technical Aspects
- Contains a relevant, meaningful, catchy title - 1 Point
- Free from typos and other errors - .5 Point
- Uploaded to the web, downloads properly - .5 Point
Article Review
- Posted a quality "article review" to a peer's article in Oncourse - 1 Point
- Provided specific examples from the peer article to support review - 1 Point
Conclusion
We've created an online journal called Bowriding: Key Ideas in Teaching, Learning, and Libraries! Take some time and explore the journal. Email a personal message to one of your classmates commenting on their project.
Conclusion
I hope you've enjoyed learning about information age inquiry.