Faculty & Staff Resources

Escape Rooms as a Learning Tool

Besides being fun, escape room puzzles can support interpersonal skills, intrapersonal skills, and academic skills. Recently, we have been visiting the 9th grade history with escape room puzzles around the theme of evaluating sources and Christopher Columbus. Drawing from research at the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford’s K12 Lab, escape rooms offer ways to measure collaboration and communication, in addition to delivering and building on content.

In the Worldly Traveler Puzzle above, students examined primary and secondary sources, including excerpts from Christopher Columbus' journal, an article by a historian, and an encyclopedia entry.

Research Tools

A collection of research tools. 

The CRAAP Method, a framework for evaluating sources, encourages students to consider the nuance of the word "credibility." Evaluating sources through the CRAAP method not only helps in discerning the quality of information but also promotes critical thinking by considering the complex interplay of identity, positionality, and context in shaping the reliability of sources.

 The goal of this presentation is to have students understand why MLA format is important, how and when it is used, and to become familiar with citing different kinds of sources. They will then have the opportunity to create a guide for themselves using their favorite sources.

Help students ask better questions. 

Developed by the Right Question Institute, the Question Formulation Technique, or QFT, is a structured method for generating and improving questions. It distills sophisticated forms of divergent, convergent, and metacognitive thinking into a deceptively simple, accessible, and reproducible technique.

The QFT builds the skill of asking questions, an essential — yet often overlooked — lifelong learning skill that allows people to think critically, feel greater power and self-efficacy, and become more confident and ready to participate in civic life.

A synthesis matrix is a table that can be used to organize research. 

Faculty and Staff Book Club

The Faculty and Staff book club meets several times a year to discuss a book of interest. Please join us! Selected book have included:

Small Things like These by Claire Keegan (Upcoming discussion: January 6) 

The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters

North Woods by Daniel Mason

Whereabouts by Jhumpa Lahiri

The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune