STEM - What K-12 Skills are Needed for STEM Workforce?

MaryLee Helm

IL

Education Week. (2017). Congressional Panel Asked: What K-12 Skills are Needed for STEM Workforce? Retrieved from http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/DigitalEducation/2017/07/congressional_panel_asks_what_k12_skills_needed_STEM_workforce.html?cmp=eml-enl-dd-news2

Lawmakers introduce a bill to provide more funding for the National Science Foundation to research STEM education in early childhood.

I am a proponent of STEM/STEAM education and am encouraged to see discussions happening at the government level to monetarily support programming in these fields of study.

Should Teachers Pay Teachers?

Michele Peabody

IL
 

Schoenbart, A. (2017) Should teachers pay teachers? What’s the cost of collaboration?. Tech and Learning, Retrieved from http://www.techlearning.com/blogentry/12024

Supports the need to step away from worksheets, the teacher pays teachers trend, and collaboration with other teachers, and students with students

Inna Levine

Creating our future: Students speak up about their vision for 21st century learning. speak up 2009 national findings: K-12 students & parents. (2010). ().Project Tomorrow. 15707 Rockfield Boulevard Suite 250, Irvine, CA 92618. Retrieved from http://dialog.proquest.com/professional/docview/1238189801?accountid=143640

IL

For the past 7 years, the Speak Up National Research Project has provided the nation with a unique window into classrooms and homes all across America and given us a realistic view on how technology is currently being used (or not) to drive student achievement, teacher effectiveness and overall educational productivity. Most notably, the Speak Up data first documented and continues to reveal each year the increasingly significant digital disconnect between the values and aspirations of the nation's students about how the use of technology can improve the learning process and student outcomes, and the values and aspirations of their less technology-comfortable teachers and administrators. Students, regardless of community demographics, socio-economic backgrounds, gender and grade, tell year after year that the lack of sophisticated use of emerging technology tools in school is, in fact, holding back their education and in many ways, disengaging them from learning.  The Speak Up 2009 national findings paints a vivid picture of this continuing digital disconnect and also, advances the premise introduced with the data the previous year that by listening to and leveraging the ideas of students we can start to build a new vision for 21st century education that is more reflective of the needs and desires of today's learners. With the 2009 year's findings, the researchers give voice to a new genuine "student vision" for learning and in particular, the student's experience-based blueprint for the role of incorporating emerging technologies in 21st century education, both in and out of the classroom.

MOREILLON, J. (2016). Making the Classroom-Library Connection. Teacher Librarian, 43(3),  

8-18.  Retrieved from:  http://libaccess.sjlibrary.org/login?

url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=113222008&site=ehost-

live&scope=site

This article discusses how classroom teachers are often unprepared or unknowing of how to collaborate with librarians.  This makes it difficult for teacher-librarians because classroom teachers often feel uncomfortable with collaboration. This article discusses some of the issues that are experienced by classroom teachers and teacher librarians and it also discussed some possible remedies to these issues.  This article explains possible options that can be offered to teachers to help them understand what the teacher librarians can offer their classes.  It includes information on how the librarian can provide workshops to help teachers learn to work in tandem with the librarian.

Articles on Teaching (by M.Motley)

INFO 250 Articles on Teaching

This is my list of articles on teaching. Most of them are for novices, and most of these are about communication between teachers and librarians, but there's also some about technology that's useful in the classroom. Most of them are worth reading, though some I gave poor reviews for not being especially valuable or noteworthy, merely supporting the subject or offering background information.


Jacobson, L. (2016). When librarians teach teachers. School Library Journal. Retrieved from http://www.slj.com/2016/07/standards/early-learning/when-librarians-teach-teachers/

This article mentions several early-learning programs which librarians teach to teachers, particularly those associated with teaching children to read so they are ready for school. It will be most useful for K-3 Youth and School librarians or librarians interested in teaching these skills to the early-education teachers.

 Krebs, P. (2014). Why you should talk to the librarians. Chroniclevitae.com. Retrieved from https://chroniclevitae.com/news/673-why-you-should-talk-to-the-librarians

This article is more interesting to K-12 and academic librarians, as it reminds teachers to contact librarians before publishing their syllabus and get additional resources that the librarian knows about. Librarians can offer even more help if you give them a heads-up about what your assignments are going to be.

They can pull relevant texts from the stacks and hold them on reserve for your course. They can come to your classroom and talk about which sources are available and how to judge their quality. They can suggest assignments and let you know about resources you may not have seen yet. And they can be a great help if you have to miss a class--they can work with your students in the library that day or in your classroom to keep them on track with whatever assignment you've given while you’re away at that conference.

I thought this was a particularly useful quote.

 LaGarde, J. (2012). 5 more TED talks that all school librarians should watch. LibraryGirl.net (blog). Retrieved from http://www.librarygirl.net/2012/09/5-more-ted-talks-that-all-school.html

This list of TED Talks videos includes several interesting topics, each of which is worthy of review as individual articles/videos appropriate to our topic on librarianship and teaching in schools.

LaGarde, J. (2011). 6 TED Talks all school librarians should watch (and why!). LibraryGirl.net (blog). Retrieved from http://www.librarygirl.net/2011/05/recently-andy-woodworth-posted-series.html
The original posted list of TED talks about librarianship. These video lectures are meant to inspire viewers and provide ideas and motivation to do things.

 Leeder, K. (2011). Collaborating with faculty part 2: What our partnerships look like. InTheLibraryWithTheLeadPipe.org. Retrieved from http://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2011/collaborating-with-faculty-part-2-what-our-partnerships-look-like/

This article, second in a series, is about how to talk to teachers and collaborate with them using library resources. The first in the series is general. These are specific examples. Key points are faculty training and technology assistance (another kind of training or infrastructure help with websites or hardware).

Deringer, S. (2013). Inspire collaboration: A quick and easy guide for super busy school librarians. Inalj.com. Retrieved from http://inalj.com/?p=40373

Simple advice on collaborating, starting with offering to help and respecting teacher’s time and schedules. This also lists a number of resources on collaboration.

 Ivey, R. (2003). Information literacy: How do librarians and academics work in partnership to deliver effective learning programs? Australian Academic and Research Libraries. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00048623.2003.10755225

Good ideas despite being somewhat out of date.

Strang, T. (2015). Improving collaboration among faculty and librarians. Cengage Learning (blog). Retrieved from http://blog.cengage.com/improving-collaboration-among-faculty-and-librarians/

This is a list with additional links to websites with further refined advice.

 Editor. (2016). The best apps for teaching and learning 2016. ALA.org. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/aasl/standards/best/apps/2016 

This list assembled by librarians at American Library Association contains a lot of educational software published in the last year. There’s also utilities to help teachers stay organized, which works between their smartphone, laptop, tablet, and PC.

Editor. (2016). Best websites for teaching & learning 2016. ALA.org. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/aasl/standards/best/websites/2016

Like the list of Apps, this is a list of useful websites which both teachers and librarians would find useful in education. A big part of a librarian’s job is to find stuff, but also to remember stuff we find so that when someone says “I wish I could do X” you can actually say “Yes, you can at link Y, and it’s free. I’ll show you.”


Firestone, M. (2014). What is collaborative learning: Benefits theory definition. (Video). Study.com. Retrieved from http://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-collaborative-learning-benefits-theory-definition.html

This video provides an explanation into collaborative learning and what it really means.

Levine, M. (2016). Collaborative learning in libraries. PublicLibrariesOnline.org. Retrieved from http://publiclibrariesonline.org/2016/06/collaborative-learning-in-libraries/


This article describes the co-learning classes in first web design and coding and later in Arduino (Maker) projects taught at the Chattanooga (TN) public library system. This is pretty short and may lack sufficient depth to recommend to others.

Kruse, C. (2016). Creating collaborative learning spaces in a college library. Ideas.Demco.com (blog). Retrieved from http://ideas.demco.com/blog/creating-collaborative-learning-spaces-in-the-college-library/

This blog post provides pictures and descriptions of Maker spaces in a college library and how those were funded. The article is a bit short though the pictures are useful.

 House, K. (2014). Multnomah County Library turns to 'collaborative learning' to lure teens in, keep them engaged. (Video). OregonLive.com. Retrieved from http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2014/07/headline_multnomah_county_libr.html
This has a video and an article following it with supporting pictures and a brief quote from the instructor in charge.

Clifford, M. (2016). 20 Collaborative learning tips and strategies for teachers. TeachThought.com. Retrieved from http://www.teachthought.com/pedagogy/20-collaborative-learning-tips-and-strategies/

A list of techniques recommended to help students learn in a small group environment created through “collaborative learning”. These look useful and can be tested in the real world.

Editor. (2016). Empowering parents with technology. Oppl.org. Retrieved from http://oppl.org/about/library-news/empowering-parents-technology

This article is a post at Oak Park Public Library explaining their program to help parents keep better track of what their kids are learning in school. This is an example of an ongoing program which allows collaboration between librarians, teachers, students, and parents rather than merely another theoretical test using spent grant money. It is pretty interesting.


Nelson, K. (2016). 10 game-changing ways to use an interactive classroom projector. WeAreTeachers.com. Retrieved from http://www.weareteachers.com/blogs/post/2016/02/01/10-game-changing-ways-to-use-an-interactive-classroom-projector

This is an interesting one, because it uses modern digital projectors to create active learning for students. The example provided would be excellent for history, geography, and probably geology too.

Annoyed_Librarian. (2014). Closer to real censorship. [Blog] Library Journal. Retrieved from
http://lj.libraryjournal.com/blogs/annoyedlibrarian/2014/07/14/closer-to-real-censorship/

Anthony, C. (2016). Libraries are bridging the digital divide in cities. Library Vision.org.
Retrieved from http://www.libraryvision.org/libraries_are_bridging_the_digital_divide_in_cities

Barefoot, R. (2016). Week 3: Managing the roles of organizational change. SJSU SLIS 282-10
lesson. Retrieved from https://sjsu.instructure.com/courses/1209014/pages/week-3-
managing-the-roles-of-organizational-change?module_item_id=8754341

Benjamin, K. (2013). 11 book burning stories that will break your heart. Mental Floss. Retrieved
from http://mentalfloss.com/article/50038/11-book-burning-stories-will-break-your-heart

Hernon, P. and Altman, E. (2010). Assessing service quality: Satisfying the expectations of library customers, 2nd ed. [Document]. American Library Association.org. Retrieved from https://www.alastore.ala.org/pdf/9780838910214_excerpt.pdf  

Mies, G. (2016). How to make technology training fun for your library staff. TechSoupForLibraries.com. Retrieved from http://www.techsoupforlibraries.org/blog/make-library-staff-technology-training-fun

Rabina, D. (2013). The dark side of Dewey. MiniStories.Wordpress.com. Retrieved from https://minystories.wordpress.com/2013/12/10/the-dark-side-of-dewey/ 

Tennant, R. (2002). MARC must die. Library Journal, 127(17), 26.

Great Video on Behaviorist Theory

Jeselyn Templin

CO

G., C. [Caitlin G.]. (2015, September 20). The breakdown: Behaviorist theory [video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywfwHL18nFM

Summary:
Caitlin G’s video on Behaviorist theory effectively breaks down the finer points of both Behaviorism and Constructivism by explaining their relationship to one another and how they differ.

Evaluation:
The way she breaks down Behaviorism and Constructivism is very accessible to novices in the field. I appreciate the examples she uses, like Pavlov's dogs to explain response to stimuli, to make sure her viewers understand what she is talking about. By the end of the video I felt well-versed in the basics of Behaviorist theory and ready to research more in the form of scholarly articles.

Developing legal information literate law students: “That dog will hunt”

Gary Lui

Poydras, P. E. (2013). Developing legal information literate law students: “That dog will hunt”. Legal Reference Services Quarterly, 32(3), 183-201. doi:10.1080/0270319X.2013.820999

Summary
The Poydras (2013) article discusses legal information literacy skills. Most legal research instructors are law librarians or law library staff. Legal research instructors must understand how law students learn in order to teach the skill of legal information literacy to law students. One strategy to teach legal information literacy is active learning. "Legal research classes are ideal for active learning instruction because, as a skills class, most legal research instruction involves interaction and problem solving through assignments" (Poydras, 193). Other strategies also mentioned in the article to teaching legal information literacy is learning style theory and collaborative/problem-based learning. Overall, when legal research instructors use one of the teaching strategies to teach legal information literacy to law students, these law students will become competent legal researchers.

Evaluation
The Poydras article defined what is legal information literacy according to several sources, but the author could have included what is information literacy as defined by librarians too. I think the teaching methods the article shares will be effective in allowing law librarians who teach legal research to help the law students to become legal information literate. The reason why I choose this article is because it does talk about information literacy in the legal profession, even though the article does not mention how law libraries or law librarians can specifically play a role in teaching legal information literacy. Most law librarians do teach the first-year legal research course, and the article does make suggestions to legal research instructors.

Lesson Study Technique: What Teachers Can Learn From One Another

Horton, Melissa

CO

Hanford, E. (2014, September 14). ‘Lesson study’ technique: What teachers can learn from one another. Retrieved from http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2015/09/14/lesson-study-technique-what-teachers-can-learn-from-one-another/ 

Summary:

In Japan, professional development is known as a “lesson study” and is a long process in which teachers work together to solve a problem by studying the latest educational trends and looking at real lessons to gauge exactly what works and plan how to become more effective educators.  They then create their own lessons and teach these lessons both to their students and a real audience made up of colleagues and teachers from other schools who focus not on the teacher, but on the students and their reaction to the lesson.  In order to have this in-depth collaboration, Japan builds that time into school schedules.

Evaluation:

This article is a snapshot of what educators are doing in other countries, and it is just another example of how collaboration can take many forms.  After spending a substantial amount of time working closely together with experts and colleagues, teachers have the confidence to take risks with their lessons.  This text highlighted the importance of co-teaching and the value of creative partnership in education.

A Couple of Articles about Co-teaching

A Couple of Articles about Co-teaching.
Caitlin Wallingford


Enhancing the information literacy classroom experience: A cataloger and a reference librarian team up to deliver library instruction.

Overview:

        McCallum and Collins examine the ways in which librarians working in different capacities within a library (in this case an academic library, though  their findings are transferable) can effectively aid in co-teaching.   Believing that playing off the strengths of individuals rather that attempting to fit each librarian into an instructional role, the authors looked at the unique collaboration opportunities with a reference librarian and a cataloger.  In looking at this partnership, they also posed the question, "what is the relationship between IL, collection management, and cataloging?"  McCallum and Collins review the historically spotty (though by no means non-existent) relationship between librarians and instruction (inadequate learning opportunities in library school, too little on-the-job training) in an effort to understand the current environment surrounding co-teaching. The results of their study found that teachers and students were overwhelmingly positively impacted by co-teaching experiences, citing greater engagement and an appreciation for in-depth, specific knowledge.  The overall take-away was that librarians must embrace the opportunity to reach out to faculty as well as other librarians, despite any initial discomfort/lack of confidence in teaching skills.  The authors also highlighted how partnerships among reference and cataloging librarians in an instructional format with faculty can greatly enhance collection development success.

  

Citation:

McCallum, C. J., & Collins, B. L. (2011). Enhancing the information literacy classroom experience: A cataloger and a reference librarian team up to deliver library instruction. Library Collections, Acquisitions, & Technical Services, 35(1), 10–18. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.lcats.2010.12.008

 Co-Teaching Relationships among Librarians and Other Information Professionals

 Overview:
        Shannon and Medaille, like the authors in the previous article, begin by offering a look at the history of librarians and instruction, citing the inadequacy of time given to this topic in library school, and the logistical difficulties of training a staff on the job.  The author differentiate between collaboration and co-teaching, calling teaching a "form of collaboration...[which] allows instructors with different skill sets, knowledge, and perspectives to optomize both learning experience for students and the teaching experience for themselves" (134).  The authors set up and observed a number of workshops where librarians and other IT professionals (most with little to no teaching experience) were asked to co-teach.  Teachers and informational professionals experimented with division of duties, using technology, etc.  Afterwards, students, teachers and the information professionals were asked to rate the experience.  The major benefits described were using different skill sets, teaching to different levels of students in the classroom, and adding energy to the classroom.  A few drawbacks were mentioned, the most significant being that it could get "messy" with more than one person attempting to teach.  Students were overwhelmingly positive about the experience (helping individual students, more information, nice pace), with only one student finding it "sort of distracting" (140).

        

Citation:

Medaille, A., & Shannon, A. W. (2012). Co-Teaching Relationships among Librarians and Other Information Professionals. Collaborative Librarianship, 4(4), 132–148.

Team Learning and Collaboration Between Online and Blended Learner Groups

Stefani Tovar

Lim, D. H., & Yoon, S. W. (2008). Team learning and collaboration between online and blended learner groups. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 21(3), 59.

This article examines online and blended learning models to determine which, if any, offers a more collaborative platform of instruction.

While its approach may vary, the study focuses on blended learning, which offers a combination of online, in-person meetings on a campus or other site (i.e. museum, park, etc), as well as opportunities for live instruction with professors. Highlights of the findings showed a significant difference between these two approaches. Among them were higher student performance and collaboration opportunities among the blended learners.  A possible cause of these findings were linked to the effectiveness of the professor and their ability to facilitate meaningful work.  Also the perception of social belonging was significant in both groups, favoring the blended learning approach.

I found this article of personal interest because of the nature of the MLIS program at SJSU.  I think that these findings are supported by my own experiences thus far in the program.  The engagement of the instructor, the motivation of the students and delivery of instruction fluctuate in quality from course to course, affecting the meaningful learning and collaborative opportunities available to students.  I don't believe the findings are startling, but they help support that regardless of the medium, teacher quality is a central theme.