Two weeks ago, I had a library treasure hunt with our grade 9s. This is already in the running for three years with the help of the Comparative Religions (CRe) teacher. We have made improvements since then. Sharing with you my reflections on the experience.
1.
The session was a good follow up to the library orientation given to grade 9 students during Foundation Week. They had hands-on activities on the use of
the OPAC and the three IB recommended databases that we are subscribed
to. Each form of media was introduced as access to sources and
information. I also mentioned that their academic integrity increases
when they use library resources because these are selected based on
reviews and recommendations from teachers who are knowledgeable of the
IB and DepEd curriculum.
2.
Students had hands-on activities on the use of search terms(keyword)
and Boolean strategy on the databases, OPAC and different search
engines. They were asked to evaluate Google with another search engine
based on three criteria, namely design, navigation and search engine
results page. Unlike the two search strategies, this was not further
discussed during the session when we talked about their answers.
3. Citation
exercises were provided to students using web apps and citation
builders. During the second session, the five fundamental bibliographic
data were introduced: author, title, publisher, place of publication,
copyright/year of publication, plus, format (print, digital, etc.) as key elements of a citation. The
students were given books to locate these information. These books were all taken from 200-299 division of the General Collection. In library work,
these five plus one data are a librarian's basis for OPVL. It leads a
librarian to pursue further questions on the document's origin, history
and relevance.
I think, what's good about this experience is the provision for schema development and activation, and priming of skills. Before
doing research on a CRe topic, students were given an experience of the
library as a learning environment where formal and non-formal
instruction on research and IL skills happen. As a librarian, I am part of the students' learning journey. I am a partner and "sidekick" to the teacher who plans her lessons and sets out to deliver the learning objectives.
Going back to two years
ago, the English teacher asked me to do a session on search strategies and narrowing
of topics for her grade 9 English class. We did mind mapping, keyword
and Boolean searching. I was able to re-introduce our subscriptions as
well as other media formats like maps, photos, paintings, kits, games
posters, infographics, podcasts and the like as sources of information.
It was only in passing that I told the class that each media format
needs a set criteria when evaluation its purpose and credibility and
that, these sources can be used in specific topics, research question or
academic task.
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