eLibrary CE & Inquiry-Based Learning Activities

Generally, many teachers don't assign inquiry-based learning activities at the start of the school year. They really need to get to know their students and get the course rolling first. So, this activity is designed to help teachers prepare for times in the school year when they have more incentive to assign these activities. This also gives them time to collaborate with their librarian to support these activities.

Despite the growth of the Internet, many teachers are reluctant to assign inquiry-based learning activities. Most of these teachers have little experience in assigning these activities and will need more than the great content of eLibrary Curriculum Edition to be motivated to do this. When you ask teachers who are reluctant to assign inquiry-based activities, you often get answers that include the following:

• "It takes too much time away from the classroom and I won't be able to cover the book."
• "I'm concerned about students accessing information that could get me in trouble."
• "I don't want to waste time in evaluating the appropriateness of what the students select."
• "I don't have any models that I can use to help me and my students in the research process."
• "How do I know that these learning activities are standards-based and help increase student achievement?"
• "I don't know how to evaluate the reports and presentations."

It's no revelation then, that teaching is much easier when its major strategy is based on lecture-discussion and multiple choice testing as the end product. But is learning easier and more effective? Scientific research indicates that lecture and discussion is the least effective way of teaching and learning. The increasing drop-out rate and the number of students who go to college and need remediation attest to that.

The same research indicates that inquiry-based learning is one of the most effective ways if it's done correctly.

ProQuest provides teacher tools to support more effective inquiry-based learning activities. Explore the links below to learn more about this support.

1. Creating ideas for activities that appeal to students and integrate the curriculum and standards.
2. Managing the activity to ensure that students get relevant and credible results.
3. Helping students to organize, analyze, and synthesize the information--critical thinking.
4. Helping the students to convert their ideas into reports and presentations.
5. Evaluating the process and the report or presentation.

The bottom line is that ProQuest and eLibrary are the only source of the teacher lesson planning tool--the BookCart and CourseCarts (see main enewsletter)--that ensure that most of the concerns of teachers listed in the six questions above will be answered and lead to more student achievement in essential skills and academic content.

Assessments: Easy, Automatic Scoring with QuizCarts

eLibrary QuizCarts are a great way for teachers to assess student knowledge of content before they start the formal research process. This is especially important when a topic/issue has not already been thoroughly introduced through the textbook or classroom discussion.

Teachers can create a multiple choice test of up to ten items and instruct students to use one of the resources such as an encyclopedia to get the necessary background that ensures a successful mini-research activity. What's great about this system is that students can take the quiz within a BookCart and email the answers to the teacher selected email address.

Results are tallied automatically, saving teacher time and ensuring students are prepared for the research activity that will invest three to five class periods in learning or could be wasted.

The key to creating QuizCarts in BookCart Editor is to first select the Product box option, Quizzes, instead of the default, BookCart, when you are creating a new BookCart/QuizCart. You must also include the appropriate email address of the teacher or librarian in the Email box and then check the box at the bottom Show Reading/Websites before Quiz.

For more details, click here.

ProQuest has created some models that you can review to prepare you for creating your own QuizCart collection.

Logon to your eLibrary Teacher Edition (links), click the BookCart Admin tab, select ProQuest Carts, then click our BookCarts with Quizzes folder. Explore by clicking on a BookCart/QuizCart title of interest.

Reminder: eLibrary Support for Professional Development

eLibrary supports educator professional development in two distinct ways:

1. Access to a free professional library: Browse more than 100 education magazines and journals, as well as a variety of magazines that provide the latest news and developments in the worlds of science, literature, history, geography, mathematics, etc. Print articles to update and supplement your textbook in the classroom.
   
   
2. More than 30 ProQuest model BookCarts: Librarians can copy these BookCarts for teachers to use and learn from (yes, BookCarts can benefit teachers too!) BookCarts address many of the hot topics in schools today: Differentiating Instruction, Classroom Discipline, and 21st Century Literacy and Skills as examples. (See the Special Collections tab.)

Download the following resources to get listings of the free professional library and tips on publication browsing:

Professional Library Publications to Browse

Professional Development BookCarts (See Special Collections worksheet)

Back To School Special
Innovative Librarians & eLibrary BookCarts

Each of these librarians had a BookCart vision for increasing librarian-teacher collaboration. Their stories (read here) will provide motivation and strategies for other librarians who subscribe to any of the eLibrary family of learning resources and want to get started on building their own collections of 21st Century resources for learning through inquiry-based activities:

Ana Banos
Sweetwater Union High School District, San Diego, CA

Ann Martha
Philadelphia School District, PA

Diane Gallagher Hayashi
Stelly School, Saanich SD, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Elizabeth Golden + Johanna Lawler
Greater Essex County SB, Ontario, Canada

Carolyn Hoye
Coyle & Cassidy HS, Taunton, MA

All Stories: Read here!