Ready? Engage! - 11.28.21

Libraries are the perfect place for sharing information and building knowledge. The Engage Shared Foundation from the AASL standards emphasizes the effort students (and adult researchers) should make to be ethical when using someone else’s work.

In the middle school years, students are just beginning to venture out on their own in research projects, finding information, and creating understanding. Jen, a school librarian, has worked for many years with middle school students and is concerned with showing her students what to look for when they begin the information search. She meets yearly with every grade in her school to discuss evaluating websites for reliability, validity, and accuracy. Jen is determined to show her students how to evaluate resources before they begin to pull information for their research projects.

One of the resources she demonstrates for her classes is Wikipedia. She uses it purposely, cautioning her students that this website is a great place for “jumping off” when you are just starting your planning and searching. She points out the dangers of “just Googling” information, modeling how to find an author and evaluate their credentials. She introduces her classes to databases and explains the benefit of having “vetted” information.

A key component of her lessons is how to cite sources. This is the ethical part of research that could get lost if a specific effort is not made to track the origin of the information. For her students, Jen equates it with planting signposts so that others can follow the path to your conclusions. This is a great way to emphasize this Engage indicator: “Designing experiences that help learners communicate the value of the ethical creation of new knowledge and reflect on their process” (AASL, 2018).

American Library Association. (2018). National School Library Standards for learners, school librarians, and School Libraries.

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