In conjunction with the AASL, Common Core Standards, and our focus on helping our students to learn to read, the curriculum in the library is also driven by the importance of information literacy or research. In today's world, students need to be able to gather, comprehend, evaluate, synthesize and report on information and ideas throughout their educational career and beyond. The need to research in order to solve problems or the ability to analyze information that one has found is a necessity to help our students understand the world that they live in. In short, the research process helps our students to learn how to use their critical thinking skills and apply them to their everyday life.
In addition to providing opportunities to refine these problem solving skills in the classroom, opportunities to hone these skills are also provided here in the Newell Elementary Library throughout the school year:
1st Grade: Basic researching skills are introduced to our students in the 1st grade with their getting the opportunity to start to understand the process of finding information from the beginning: determining information needs, to the end: locating good resources and using them to find information. 1st Graders will get the opportunity to hone these skills by using both print copy and online research in our Pebble Go Database. Students will get to practice their research skills while completing a classroom project.
2nd Grade: Students are introduced to the Super 3 (Plan, Do, Review) in the 2nd grade. Students will continue to learn to navigate Pebble Go. The Super 3 is a problem solving tool that gives students a "process" by which to solve a problem. By learning this process, they learn that there are steps that should be taken whenever they are looking for information. This helps to ensure that students not only learn a systematic process when looking for information, but the Super 3 also helps to ensure that students practice due diligence in finding this information so that in the end they have a complete product. Students are given an opportunity to use the Super 3 research skills while working on a classroom project.
3rd Grade: In the 3rd Grade students continue using the Super 3, but at a 3rd grade level whereby not only do we focus on Plan, Do, and Review, but we also start focusing on research skills (using dictionaries, encyclopedias, books, etc, both print and online), as well as basic note taking. We also introduce the students to the use of online databases (Scholastic Go, Pebble Kids, World Almanac for Kids, etc) in finding and gathering their information.
In the 3rd grade we continue reviewing the importance of following the steps of the Super 3; that by following these steps, it helps to ensure that they have used due diligence in finding and analyzing their information. We start to impress upon the importance of this by stressing the value of following the steps in the Super 3. Students continue to work on the Super 3 through a collaborative classroom/library Biography research project.
4th Grade: At this point, students are introduced to the BIG 6 (task definition, information seeking strategies, location and access, use of information, synthesis, evaluation). The BIG 6 is the process that they will continue to use for research through college. The decision to introduce the BIG 6 in 4th grade was made because as they will begin using these skills more in depth as they progress through their academic careers, we felt that it was important to lay the groundwork and provide our students the opportunity to create a solid foundation with regard to their information literacy skills.
Through a collaborative classroom/library research assignment, we build upon their Super 3 skills and take them to the next level by impressing upon them the importance of due diligence, that is perseverance through the research process by following all of the steps in the BIG 6 and not just taking the first result that comes up when researching a topic. (As I'm sure you have noticed this is the third time that I have used the words due diligence here. In our Google world, it is so important to teach our students the perseverance necessary to do a good job in research/problem solving. Rather than just "Google" it, we start to teach the students the value of the various research tools that are provided to them as well the importance of not just finding an answer, but finding the "right" answer.) Students are also given the opportunity to sharpen their researching skills through continued use of online databases and books. We also discuss the importance of efficiency and effectiveness in the research process in terms of completing the steps of the BIG 6. We talk about planning, time management, efficient online searching, effective note taking, as well as a host of other important issues that are important in making the research process not only effective, but also less painful : )!
Students will continue the process of learning/using the BIG 6 in the 5th grade at Stone Bridge Middle School.