Thank you Jenny, Jo, Nicole, Danielle and Alexandria. I’m going to play with a
rough draft of an outline based on some of the instruction you’ve shared – and
will share them with you via Google Docs. I think this has potential for
teasing out the “big ideas” of database…maybe…
Best,
debbie
From: baisl-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:baisl-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf ;
Of Alexandria Brown
Sent: Monday, April 01, 2019 6:45 PM
To: baisl@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [baisl] Re: Database lesson
We don't do formal presentations with classes. Instead we do a live demo. It's
less about teaching them how to use a database and more about teaching them how
to conduct a search that can be more or less replicated anywhere. It's about
teaching them research skills that can be translated across platforms - from
Gale to Google. For freshmen, it's about how to do a simple search then narrow
down by the filters on the sidebars. For sophomores I'll introduce the advanced
search option, and usually by then many of the kids have already dabbled with
it. Juniors and seniors mostly need help tweaking their Google searches to weed
out the irrelevant results and a quickie refresher on the databases.
Starting with freshmen but then going over it again with sophomores I do
boolean searches. Most kids know what searching an exact phrase is (using ""
around a phrase) and can understand using + or - to add or subtract results.
They usually understand the concept even if they haven't ever done it before,
so the learning curve isn't steep. Plus, most databases search mechanisms can
handle boolean. As does Google, ProQuest, Britannica, etc. So, again, it's
translatable skills rather than framing it as learning one specific database.
As for the demo process, I usually talk them through my own search - they watch
me do it on the projector screen. It's a topic that's close to whatever project
they're about to do. I start big - like with "china" as my search term - then
gradually narrow down by boolean search modifications, advanced search options,
and/or filters. As I demo it, I explain each step then ask for their
suggestions about how I might proceed. For example, I show them the sidebar
filter options and explain what they do, then click on one and ask them which
options I might want to select based on our search criteria. I pick an article
that looks relevant and show them how to open it. I always tell the students to
keep a google doc specifically for citations. I have them copy the citation
information and the permalink to put in that doc so they don't have to worry
about finding the article again. It's an interactive demo where I'm guiding the
kids but they don't feel lead or lectured to.
The whole process takes about 15 minutes and the kids are usually good to go,
with some one-on-one support from me throughout the project. After the demo I
stay in the classroom for the rest of the period and walk around helping
students do research. They also know to come back to my office later for
research and citation help if they want it.
Thanks!
--
Alexandria Brown
Librarian
Marin Academy
1600 Mission Ave.
San Rafael, CA, 94901
On Mon, Apr 1, 2019 at 9:18 AM Danielle Farinacci <dfarinacci@xxxxxxxx
<mailto:dfarinacci@xxxxxxxx> > wrote:
Hi everyone,
I have gone away from traditional database lessons and instead give the
students tasks where they learn it on their own. What I mean by this is that I
choose three or four databases relevant to the project (there might be more on
the libguide though), and then I briefly point them to each one, discussing
what it is good for and highlighting anything that is unique to that database.
I task them with figuring out what types of sources are available in the
database, finding a relevant article or image (keeping track of keywords),
saving the article somehow, and citing it. I give them 5-10 minutes in each
database, depending on the project. After exploring each database, I have the
students share out how they accomplished the tasks. This is where I can help
any misguided students and make sure they are using noodletools to their best
advantage.
I find that they learn best when they fail first and remember what to look for
in the next database. We move through as many databases as we have time for,
and the students walk away with a handful of sources and citations, not to
mention practice in each database.
Some teachers start to get uptight that you are taking too much time, but when
they start to see that they are actually doing the research, they relax. I have
found they walk away with more sources this way than if they just have "open"
research time after the lesson.
So, to make a long story short, maybe the slides could be about what you need
to look for and figure out how to do in each database.
thanks,
Danielle Farinacci
Head Librarian
Lick-Wilmerding High School
755 Ocean Ave., San Francisco, CA 94112
415-333-4021 x216
dfarinacci@xxxxxxxx <mailto:dfarinacci@xxxxxxxx>
On Sun, Mar 31, 2019 at 8:06 AM Jenny Andrus <jenny_andrus@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:jenny_andrus@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> > wrote:
Debbie, I think that your idea is a wonderful one, and I would be very
interested in seeing the results. I like the idea of a few generic (but
informative) slides that can be added to for the specific database and project
at hand. I too have struggled with how to teach a database in a short enough
time to provide important information and yet allow students to get to the work
of actually researching. I usually start by modeling what they will be doing
with the whole group, but I actually feel most helpful when I can be there to
help them individually with the hands-on piece -- even something as simple as
logging on can be a barrier. They tend to give up easily, so being there to
walk them through the steps really helps. Typical exchange:
Student: "This database has no information. Can't I just google it?"
Me: "Let's read this paragraph together. Wow. There's a lot of information
packed in there...do you see something that relates to your question?"
Jenny
On Sat, Mar 30, 2019 at 5:23 PM Debbie Abilock <debbie@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:debbie@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> > wrote:
In my role as a teacher-coach, I’m seeing some librarians do database lessons
in collaboration with teachers that take too long (partly because of doing them
live) and end up frustrating a teacher who came in to have kids “do” their
research. My idea of the moment is to create a generic template of five slides
(so maybe 10-15 minutes of teaching) that “teach the database” – it could have
a live component and it should be related to the specific research kids are
doing of course. Anyone ever tried this? Is it a reasonable premise that one
can teach what’s important in this time frame?
I thought I’d do it in Google slides – so we could all benefit if it works -
also I think I want to a Gale database since there’s some consistency across
them in Context ones…and the cover a lot of topics/disciplines. Insights?
Examples? Chortles? Or, should I go back to the drawing board….?
best,
debbie
Debbie Abilock
Adding Friction
<https://www.academia.edu/12296633/How_do_I_teach_students_to_write_a_researchable_question>
, a column @SLC
“Jane Jacobs was forever taking on ambitious subjects from new directions,
marching imperturbably into all she didn’t know. She’d never understand, she
told an interviewer once, how other authors could ‘stand the boredom of just
writing down everything [they] already knew.’ But she paid the price for
indulging her insatiable curiosity. With each new book... ‘I always get scared
to death.’ Caught up in complexities of a new field not at first fully
apparent, ‘I realize it’s too deep for me, but I have to keep on with it.’
Until she gets it.”
- from Eyes on the Street: The Life of Jane Jacobs by Robert Kanigel; Knopf,
2016 p. 322.
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<http://www.liveoaksf.org/> Live Oak School . (415) 861-8840
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