This presentation from the MANTLE conference 2014 by Pru Mitchell and Colleen Foley, NSW DEC highlights the possibilities and educational value of e-books and digital content for school libraries. It draws on an evidence base that includes research undertaken in NSW school libraries. It includes discussion of key issues involved in the management of e-books in schools, including areas such as Digital Rights Management (DRM), procurement, operations and lending and access.
What do you look for when selecting print texts for your high school students to teach them about visual literacy? Appropriate themes, complexity of ideas, rich and beautiful illustrations, evidence of depth and layers of meaning, a variety of text type. This post present 6 titles that meet each of those requirements with the added bonus of all being by Australian authors and illustrators. Teachers notes and essays are provided for each title
"Schools with a strong school library program and a certified school librarian ensure their students have the best chance to succeed. More than 60 education and library research studies have produced clear evidence that school library programs staffed by qualified school librarians have a positive impact on student academic achievement. These studies clearly demonstrate that strong school library programs help all students do better academically, even when other school variables are considered. "
A gateway to useful resources and research.
"Critical thinking 'involves students learning to recognise or develop an argument, use evidence in support of that argument, draw reasoned conclusions, and use information to solve problems,' (ACARA, 2016). The ability to 'critically analyse information and ideas from a range of sources' appears across subject areas."
"The studies showed that students of all ages, from elementary school to college, tend to absorb more when they're reading on paper than on screens, particularly when it comes to nonfiction material. "Sometimes you should print it out, especially if it's long," said Clinton."
"In response to increasing focus of 21st century education on the development of students' skills, the Centre for Assessment Reform and Innovation (CARI) at the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) has developed an evidence-based approach for teaching and assessing critical thinking, creative thinking and collaboration in the classroom."
"Digital native' is a term increasingly used in public discourse to describe the generations of young people who grow up surrounded by digital technologies. The term suggests that young people intuitively know how to use technology and hence have no need for digital education or training. This paper outlines the issues connected with this assumption and provides evidence to demonstrate that it is a dangerous fallacy. Young people do not inherently possess the skills for safe and effective use of technologies, and skills acquired informally are likely to be incomplete. The failure to provide youth with a complete set of skills in a formal manner leads to a new digital divide between digital lifestyle skills and digital workplace skills. The lack of proficiency in the tools needed for today's workforce contributes to an increasingly lost generation, who are unable to realise their full potential as learners, employees, entrepreneurs or citizens using digital technologies."
Opinion piece that compares reading print and electronically. Author Naomi Baron of Words OnScreen and professor of linguistics and Executive Director of the Center for Teaching, Research, and Learning at American University. But evidence not presented in this short article.
"Do you have a sufficient number of nonfiction books in your classroom or school library to meet the reading needs of students? There's an increasing amount of evidence that students not only enjoy nonfiction but are actively seeking it. There's also some indication that elementary students in particular may prefer nonfiction material by a wide margin, compared with adults. Yet, classroom collections and school libraries often don't reflect this reality."
"Good questions are central to the historical method and the History Lab model. Historians pose questions about the past. They examine the available evidence and develop answers to their questions. Such questions serve as the primary prompt for all History Labs. "
The School Library Impact Measure (SLIM) is a toolkit that enables you to assess student learning through guided inquiry in the school library. It consists of four instruments that elicit students' reflections on their learning at three points in their inquiry process. The toolkit will enable collaborating school librarian - teacher teams to chart changes in students' knowledge and experiences throughout the process.