LibGuide Paper

LibGuide on STEM by Jessica Schmitz LibGuide link: http://uwsslec.libguides.com/STEM

I began my search for a client after talking with Dr. Zarrinia about my topic. We discussed STEM and how I was aware of the terminology, but not the extent of it. It is also not something that we are focusing on in our district at this point in time. Three years ago our district hired a new science teacher. We have a chemistry teacher, and the science teacher teaches all other grades 10-­‐12 science classes. I was his mentor his first year and the job was very stressful. In a small district, teaching every 10-­‐12 student and having so many different courses to teach is overwhelming. Planning for it all can be overwhelming, as I am personally well aware of. When Dr. Zarrinia and I discussed STEM I immediately thought of this teacher (Matt Brinkman) and how I knew he would love some help.

When I first approached Matt about this project I went in talking to him about STEM. He was a bit more familiar than I was with the term and what it entails. He had seen workshops, seminars, etc being offered touting STEM, but he really wasn’t too sure what it all entailed. It seemed like it was more of a buzzword than anything else. As Matt and I discussed what this project was about and what he needed from me the options were wide open. This was a bit daunting, as there was simply a need to know more about STEM and how to begin incorporating STEM education ideas into his teaching. Most likely, we discussed, he was already doing some things that promote STEM in his classes, but there was a need to find out more about what exactly it is about and what someone who is interested in STEM education would want to see in a classroom. Since he teaches several classes we decided the best way to organize materials might be by class, so that there are options available specific to these courses, making them readily accessible to not only Matt but to the students in his courses as well.

As we continued to discuss his needs he was indifferent on the bibliography format, but I suggested APA since that is the most common in the science fields, to my understanding. I teach MLA in my English classes and am fairly familiar with APA, but also thought that since we have RefWorks to work with that this change in style would be simple. It was also a way for me to experience this electronic citation, as I don’t necessarily promote these options to my students, but after this project I feel like I will be doing more of that. Matt was just happy to have someone helping him out. There were no problems encountered and he really just wanted to see what I was able to find for him. One thing we did discuss was the idea of careers in STEM. Being able to show how students will be taking the things they are learning in science class and using them in their future was something Matt thought was very important to have. The end goal we discussed, and what would make Matt happy, was to have a resource that he could use and that his students could also access to engage them in what they are learning. Honestly, Matt was going to be satisfied with anything that I gave him, but ultimately we need to see if this is something that he and his students will use. Upon showing Matt the almost finished product, he was amazed at the amount of information and resources I was able to provide for him. We discussed how assigning students time to explore areas of the LibGuide and come back with information they found, instead of him lecturing the students, was one way to use the guide. Also, we all have students who get done early, and the LibGuide can be used to give these students something to do and explore, keeping in line with what they are doing in that particular class at the time. The ultimate usefulness of the guide won’t truly be seen until next year when Matt has time to explore it himself and incorporate the use of it into his curriculum.

Beginning the search was overwhelming. Where do I begin? I had so many things to explore that figuring out where to start took me a little while. In the end I came up first with the following strategy for searching:

Diigo Groups, Delicious tags

Google search

Database for articles

Twitter #STEM

Blogs, Ning

To begin with I thought about where I would go to find information if I was looking for myself. I would start looking for information going to social networking sites where professionals recommend resources. I started with searching Diigo Groups and Delicious tags for the term “STEM.” I was able to find a few resources but nothing that really blew me away. I kept thinking about what we needed to include in these LibGuides, the interactive elements that we want to include in order to engage students who are going to be using the guides. This then led me to Twitter and a search for posts tagged with #STEM. There were quite a few things listed here… but a lot to go through. I thought that this would end up being a great resource to include for Matt in order to keep up with STEM recommendations/news, but for my purposes right now it felt like an overload of information. Next I went to search for a Ning site. I have personally found so much help in discovering The English Companion Ning, that I would have thought every discipline would have something as quality. This Professional Learning Network of a Ning is incredibly useful, but I did not find much for STEM education. The ones I did find were not ones that were used often and did not seem to me like places that would be full of information for Matt or myself.

When searching my key words were STEM and “STEM education.” The goal of the LibGuide was to find information about STEM and resource to use in the classroom identified as STEM resources. Just using these few keywords I was able to find lots of information in my search of social networking sites listed above. The Diigo, Delicious, and Blog searches pointed me to a variety of news articles, and internet sites that were most helpful. When I started to save these in RefWorks I created a few folders and continued to expand on these. I didn’t know yet where my LibGuide was going or how it would be organized, so I simply categorized the items into folders into general categories so I could utilize them later. Seeing as I had some web resources already I wanted to search for information on STEM in journals to get a better understanding of it. I was able to come across a few articles, but found most of what I would find here to be items not useful to the LibGuide, as it is more of a resource for student use. I thought at the beginning I would be using the database searches more than I ended up using them. I got around to searching on Google not until the very end of my project, when I was simply looking to fill holes in the gap of my LibGuide. At that point keywords also included “biology,” “astronomy,” “environmental science,” “anatomy,” “botany,” and “careers” added with “STEM” as I was then searching for specifics to the classes Matt teaches. When I began searching for specifics and using these additional keywords it was because things changed a bit in my research plan after I went to the WEMTA conference in March.

Before going to WEMTA I had a few things found, but not much. I had my social networking sites examined and a few resources here and there, but I was holding back as I had seen WEMTA was offering several sessions on STEM. Thank goodness for WEMTA! It was an eye-­‐opening experience for many reasons, but it truly guided me in my LibGuide creation and research. After WEMTA I simply explored all of the resources I was exposed to in the STEM sessions I went to, and those led me to a few other places as well. Once I explored these I began putting together the LibGuide into the organization of classes, sometimes that involved finding several different items, pages, games, etc found on one website that could be used for particular classes. My new search strategy really focused on the addition of the WEMTA resources and exploring the vastness of the websites I was exposed to.

In addition I began looking for books in STEM areas. I went to Follett’s Titlewave page and found a list of STEM books. From this list of over 200 books I found several that I thought students would find interesting and ones that were subject specific. The books were looked at in terms of what would be engaging for students to see real life use and applications of STEM content.

Diigo Groups, Delicious tags Twitter

Google search

#STEM

Search for books

Blogs, Ning

Sarch within websites

Database for articles WEMTA resources

In talking with Matt after WEMTA, we simply clarified what we had discussed previously. I don’t think he was truly aware of the extent of the research I was doing as he was a bit taken aback at how much I had to show him in terms of what I was finding… my LibGuide itself at this time was bare.

With all the information coming in we decided to keep with the idea of organizing information by class – again ease of use for Matt and the students was the motive for this choice.

Recording information throughout the process was made extremely easy in the use of Diigo, Delicious, and RefWorks. I don’t know how I would have been able to accomplish the recording and processing of all of this information without these resources. I relied mostly on Diigo, as when I found a resource I would save it with tags and into a folder in Diigo made specifically for this project.

Delicious was added into the mix when saving, but I honestly do not use it like I use Diigo, and so until I figured out how to save to Delicious when I save to Diigo, it wasn’t used as often. Once I had several resources found I started to go through them and evaluate whether or not I wanted to use it.

If I did, I put it into the LibGuide and saved it to RefWorks. This was the longest process of the entire project.

In examining the resource I had to ask myself where and if it would fit into the guide. I knew the categories we wanted: the individual classes, a tab for resources directed to Matt as a teacher, a tab on careers, a search tab, and then I decided to include a tab entitled “Explore.” I felt this last one was important in giving the students a place to truly do just that, explore. One thing Matt and I talked about was how students are bored with what we give them to do, no matter how hands on, interactive, etc. many will complain or not truly engage. I thought having a place to explore might peak their interest and get more use then if it was something designated to a class.

Many of the sites were so completely full of information and activities that I didn’t feel breaking each page up into ten different links was needed, so I simply linked to the page so that Matt could decide what he liked from the site or his students could explore and share what they liked or found useful.

That was one of the hard parts in the evaluation and processing of information found – how much should I include? Too many links would be overwhelming. I included most of what I found in one way or another, because in the end this is a resource to begin exploring STEM education, which contains a wide range of information. The organization into classes may seem almost anti-­‐STEM in some way… but in the end it is a starting point, plain and simple. This was a guide to introduce, to see what is out there, and to engage teacher and student. In the end I feel it is a valuable resource that he and students can go to. Matt can go here to find information and ideas for making his curriculum more engaging and incorporating STEM identified lessons and resources. And students can go here to conduct research and find information for projects, etc. instead of using Google to get all of their information.

In the end I feel like it was a successful first attempt at a LibGuide. Looking at guides from my classmates I can’t say I feel mine looks the best and I can’t say there aren’t things on here that I may want to change. But I think that is also the beauty of a LibGuide, that it can be changed and adapted to the needs of the student and teacher at a given time. When I first showed it to Matt he was in awe of the look and feel of it, the same way I was when we first explored LibGuides and I saw what they were able to do. Now that I have experienced making a LibGuide and know what it can do, I think the next time I will be able to create one that looks and feels even better. I would have liked to include more visuals, and not as many links on the pages. That was simply more time consuming to accomplish. I also feel like my pages are too cluttered, but I don’t know how to go about fixing this.

I believe Matt is happy because I exposed him to some new resources and gave him a place he knows he can go to to explore references, materials, and get ideas based on his content areas. This means a bit less work for him, and any teacher is happy when his/her workload is lessened in any way.

I addressed and demonstrated the competencies for this class as follows: 1.

2.

Responds to and sustains spontaneous and curricular information needs, using listening, open questioning and other techniques to respond to information requests in a manner that encourages further inquiry The client LibGuide project gave me the ability to work with someone and find out what they needed. The completion of the LibGuide is a place where further inquiry can begin.

Understands the research and innovation process and models the question development and problem solving principles and procedures that enhance the information seeking process Interviewing Matt understand his needs. It was a different experience than the one I observed in my library shadow, as Matt was more open for anything rather than having something completely specific in mind.

3.

Identifies the structure of expertise and information in a discipline or area of study and outlines the shape, resources, tools and strategies of its information community I began my LibGuide by looking to the PLN of the science and STEM communities and from here looked to articles, books, and online resources for use in the classroom setting.

4.

Knows types of information; understands the difference among information sources and formats, their quality, and their utility for particular purposes and audiences The information and resources chosen for my LibGuide show this competency. I have included a variety of information sources and formats after evaluating them for usefulness and reliability.

5.

Develops and models the proficient use of a repertoire of information problem solving skills, tools and strategies, including a wide range of search strategies and information tools and formats In my research to complete the LibGuide I used a variety of tools and strategies.

Searching for “STEM” brought back many results and I needed to limit the type of resource I was looking for to find quality and useful tools in sources on the web and in print/database.

6.

Understands and applies the informal and formal indexing strategies and structures used to organize and maintain bibliographic records, reference tools, databases, and a personal knowledge base Using Diigo, Delicious, and RefWorks

7.

Monitors, assesses and employs existing and emerging technologies for information access, organization, processing, use, and dissemination, and makes appropriate use of interrelationships among all types of libraries and information agencies The variety of search engines used, databases suggested, WorldCat search. I did not have a way at the moment to link our library database to the LibGuide, nor do we have databases purchased for our school to link to. All things, however, that I am planning on rectifying in my role as school librarian (for one 44 minute period a day) next year.

Those will be added to the LibGuide when available.

8.

Develops custom information environments to support specific user needs and purposes, recognizing and addressing contributions from multiple cultures, as well as potential sources of bias, and obstacles to access The LibGuide is a custom information environment directed at specific users in this teacher’s classes.

9.

Understands and sustains the role of libraries in a democratic society by ensuring free and equitable access to information for all community members, regardless of ability level or background, respecting intellectual property and maintaining confidentiality and information security as legal rights

The LibGuide is designed to give students of all abilities a place to explore and learn. I have in here podcasts, videos, and games so that students who are not as adept in reading and processing information have other arenas to learn information.