Give Me Information Please!

Subject Area(s):

• K-12: General

Grade Level(s):

• 7th-8th Grade

Description:

This lesson will familiarize seventh grade students with the Library Media Center in their new school. The students will learn how to access and use tools available to locate resources, materials, and information. The students will have the opportunity to independently and successfully complete an assignment using their literacy information skills and the LMC.

Goals & Objectives:

Instructional Goals:

• Students will be attentive in listening to instruction.
• Students will gain information literacy skills.
• Students will gain competency in using LMC resources.
• Students will locate and present the information required by the assignment.

Learning Objectives:

• Seventh grade students will learn and understand the collection layout of the Library Media center.
• Students will learn and understand how to use the LMC catalog to locate materials.
• Students will learn and understand how to access and use the LMC data bases to locate articles and information.
• Students will be able to extract enough information from the resources to complete the assignment.
• Students will present findings.

Motivational Goals:

• Generate interest in various ways to access information in the LMC.
• Build students’ confidence in their ability to locate information and materials in the LMC.
• Maintain students’ interest in using information skills to locate information and materials in the LMC.
• Encourage students’ satisfaction and confidence in their ability to use information skills independently.

Materials:

Materials:

Computer access to LMC website, OPAC, district databases, and search engines

Worksheet [see Supporting Files]

pencils/pens

Procedures:

Introduction:

• The Library Media Specialist will use this lesson to introduce the 7th grade students to the physical set-up and collection lay-out of the LMC and instruct the students on how to locate materials in the LMC.
• The LMS will introduce the 7th grade students to the LMC website, OPAC, and district databases, and how to use these tools to locate information, materials, and resources.
• The students will use what they have learned to locate information, materials, and resources that are requested on a worksheet handed out following instruction.

Body:

• The LMC will walk the 7th grade students through the LMC, including location of periodicals, fiction, non-fiction, reference, and biography sections. The LMS will instruct students on how books are filed in each section, whether by Dewey Decimal, last name of author, etc.
  
• Moving to the computer lab, the LMS will instruct students on how to use the LMC’s catalog (OPAC) to retrieve information on collection materials by title, author, keyword, and subject, and how to locate these materials by using the call number on the OPAC record to corresponding placement in the collection.
• The LMC will instruct the students on how to access the LMC webpage to access district owned and approved databases, and how to search for articles and information using these databases. The LMC will instruct the students on how to access district search engines to find information online.
• Following instruction, the students will be given a worksheet, which they will complete independently using their knowledge of the LMC, the tools available in the LMC, and their information literacy skills.

Conclusion:

• Students learn the circulation lay-out of the LMC by having to locate materials independently. Students will also be instructed on the use of the LMC catalog, databases, and resources, and will then put their information literacy skills to work by locating all resources and information in the assignment and presenting their completed assignment worksheet to the LMS.

Assessment:

Learning Assessments:

- Seventh grade students will show their knowledge of the collection layout of the Library Media Center by successfully locating resources and books necessary to complete the assignment.

- Students will show their knowledge of the LMC catalog by using it to locate materials needed to complete the assignment.

- Students will use their knowledge to access the LMC databases and use them to locate articles and information necessary to complete the assignment.

- Students will use their information skills to use the various LMC resources to complete the assignment.

- Students will present completed assignment to the LMS for evaluation.

Supporting Files:

• InfoPlease.doc
  Worksheet to be completed independently by students following lesson.

Standards:

National Information Literacy Standards (K-12)

Accesses information efficiently and effectively.

• Recognizes the need for information.
• Identifies a variety of potential sources of information.
• Develops and uses successful strategies for locating information.

Strives for excellence in information seeking and knowledge generation.

• Assesses the quality of the process and products of personal information seeking.

Information Skills and Subskills (K-16)

Definition

• Identifies requirements of research task
• Determines amount/type of information needed to complete research task

Planning

• Formulates a search strategy
• Identifies potential information sources

Exploration

• Uses indexes and search engines
• Locates and accesses information resources

Collection

• Locates relevant information within selected sources
• Identifies and extracts relevant information from selected sources
• Uses highlighting and/or notetaking skills
• Recognizes when sufficient information has been obtained

Presentation

• Reviews presentation for grammatical, spelling, and other errors
• Presents results

Evaluation

• Evaluates end product
• Determines future usefulness/applicability of research process