CCPS School Library Impact

Collaboration with school librarians is enhancing students’ Capstone research process at the School of Technology. On October 31 and November 1, school librarians Kimberly Dyar (RSHS) and Lisa Lane (EHS) worked with Rachael Coffey’s students in the Agricultural Science Capstone Research and Design course as they learned how to effectively research scholarly literature that will inform their Capstone projects. Capstone projects mirror the professional scientific process. These projects require students to utilize critical thinking, effective communication, and independent work as they research and read scholarly articles, design experiments, collect data, and communicate their findings. Library media specialists play a vital role by instructing students on how to research effectively, offering ongoing support through individual conferences and curated websites like this one that students can revisit as often as needed. Together with Ms. Coffey, the media specialists planned and instructed lessons on topic development, search term vocabulary, database search strategies, and file organization. In addition to working with the School of Technology Capstone students, high school librarians support Capstone students and teachers at their home schools throughout the school year, differentiating research instruction to meet the unique needs of each class.

We gathered feedback from School of Tech students about their experiences using digital databases to find articles for their annotated bibliographies, which provide needed background information on their self-selected topics and inform their experimental design. Check out the video below to hear their responses and view their group reflection notes.