Are your students college-ready? Start by ensuring they're research ready

Are your students college-ready?

Start by ensuring they’re research-ready.

Shelor Smith cssmith@henrico.k12.va.us

Wendy Sellors wsellors@gsgis.k12.va.us

AASL, October 2007

Note to conference attendees

If you are downloading this presentation in advance, please be aware that this session is an active one in which the main benefit comes from experiencing the activities and discussing the premises/concepts upon which they are based.

This PPT provides a framework for the activities, but is not intended to serve as a stand-alone document.

We hope to see you Saturday from 10:15-11:30 a.m.

About us• Co-librarians @ Deep Run HS for 3 years• Shelor Smith, library information specialist @

Deep Run High School– NBCT, 2002– 23rd year in school libraries, 36th in education

• Wendy Sellors, library media specialist @ Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School– 9th year in school libraries, 13th in education– previously in corporate mgmt & training

Photo by malyousif

Photo by brookesb

KSUS standards

• Knowledge & Skills for University Success• 3 years of research; 20 top universities• Designed to identify the key knowledge and

skills expected of incoming freshmen– college-eligible vs. college-ready– “habits of mind” vs. content knowledge

Conley, David T. College Knowledge: What It Really Takes for Students to Succeed and What We Can Do to Get Them Ready. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2005.

Habits of mind

• Inquisitiveness• Critical thinking• Analytic thinking• Discernment• Drawing inferences• Reaching conclusions

based on evaluation of sources and their assumptions

• Supporting an opinion with a logical argument

• Risk-taking • Accepting feedback• Learning from mistakes• Proficient written and oral

communication• Using technology as a tool

According to college librarians, the biggest barrier to successful freshmen research projects is…

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…the inability of many freshmen to generate meaningful questions about their topic.

Photo by the contented

What could we do?

• We could…– Make our lessons more active– Participate in the assessment process– Examine why research process is getting lost

• Product is being assessed, but not process• Teachers not sure how to assess research process

– Emphasize pre-reading in reference sources and other research preparation steps

How might this fit in @ your school?

• 21st century skills– Indicators that they’re being taught– Indicators of student mastery

• Inquiry-based learning• Constructivism• Active learning

21st century skills

• Critical thinking in the classroom – indicators– Teacher uses questioning strategies that develop

critical thinking– Evidence of authentic problem solving– Different perspectives are being evaluated– Students are encouraged to make inferences or

predictions– Students are encouraged to think creatively

Activity #1

• Are there any questions?– Context

• diving into research with only a broad topic in mind• only being able to articulate one side of a controversial issue

– even after the paper is finished• lack of authoritative sources• defending opinion with opinion• not thinking beyond Google & Wikipedia for sources

– Bottom line• Student questions determine whether or not learning will

occur

Habits of mind

• Inquisitiveness• Critical thinking• Analytic thinking• Discernment• Drawing inferences• Reaching conclusions

based on evaluation of sources and their assumptions

• Supporting an opinion with a logical argument

• Risk-taking • Accepting feedback• Learning from mistakes• Proficient written and oral

communication• Using technology as a tool

Aligning lessons with goals

• Habits of mind– Inquisitiveness– Critical thinking– Analytical thinking– Discernment– Drawing inferences

• Critical thinking indicators– Ask questions from the

stakeholders’ perspective• Different perspectives are being

evaluated

– Ask subsidiary questions• Students encouraged to make

inferences/predictions

– Brainstorm possible sources• Students encouraged to think

creatively

Activity #2

• Finding the right words– Context

• Research = finding stuff• “There’s nothing about dropping bowling balls on

different types of flooring in this database!”• What is pictured here?

– Bottom line• Even more than in print, online searching depends on

knowing the right words to describe your topic

Habits of mind

• Inquisitiveness• Critical thinking• Analytic thinking• Discernment• Drawing inferences• Reaching conclusions

based on evaluation of sources and their assumptions

• Supporting an opinion with a logical argument

• Risk-taking • Accepting feedback• Learning from mistakes• Proficient written and oral

communication• Using technology as a tool

Activity #3

• Going to the source– Context

• Distinction between primary and secondary different in the sciences than in the humanities

• Focus on evaluating sources for authority has contributed to neglect of ability to think critically about authoritative sources

– Bottom line• There is great value in reading the details of an

experiment without secondary interpretation

Habits of mind

• Inquisitiveness• Critical thinking• Analytic thinking• Discernment• Drawing inferences• Reaching conclusions

based on evaluation of sources and their assumptions

• Supporting an opinion with a logical argument

• Risk-taking • Accepting feedback• Learning from mistakes• Proficient written and oral

communication• Using technology as a tool

What are we doing now?Making our lessons more activeParticipating in the assessment process

(formative and summative)Examining why process is getting lost

– Product is being assessed, but not process• Teachers not sure how to assess research process• Misunderstand concept of rubric

– Teachers think of teaching research as time-intensive

What are we doing now? (cont…)Emphasizing pre-reading in reference sources

and other research preparation stepsTeaching skills like paraphrasing and note-

taking to complement these skills9th grade team at Deep RunPart of Continuous Improvement Plan (CIP) for

Deep Run High School

Why are we doing it?

• Research-based practice– Inquiry-based learning– Constructivism– Active learning

• Evidence-based practice– Pre-assessment– Observation– Post-assessment

• Alignment of lessons with goals

Other reflections

• Pre-assessment of skills essential for gifted students

• Consider small group rotations instead of whole-class instruction of wide variations in skill levels within same class

• Validate the knowledge students bring as digital natives to topics like web site evaluation

Photo by Andrew Whitis

For you – downloads• Activity #1 - Are there any questions? • Activity #2 – Finding the right words• PPT related to Activity #2 –introducing key word vs.

subject searching (not shown today)• Activity #3 – Going to the source• Examples of assessing process

– Rubric– Annotations

• Available on the MW library blog by Friday, Nov. 2nd (link near bottom of “contact your librarian” page):– http://mwlibrary.wordpress.com/about/presentations

For your students…

• Inquisitiveness• Critical thinking• Analytic thinking• Discernment• Drawing inferences• Evaluating sources• Reaching conclusions• Supporting opinion with

logical argument• Risk-taking• Accepting feedback• Learning from mistakes

Photo by ChicagoEye

Thank you!What questions do you have?

Shelor Smith cssmith@henrico.k12.va.us

Wendy Sellors wsellors@gsgis.k12.va.us