[CASL-L] HIT: High School Research Project

[Sarah Briggs]

Good morning,

I had a number of requests for responses to my inquiry regarding high
school research projects and the role of the high school librarian. Below
is my original inquiry followed by the responses I got. Thank you to
everyone for your suggestions!


Original inquiry:


Good morning,
I am collecting information regarding research/technology projects that all
high school students participate in, such as a digital portfolio they work
on over the course of four years or one particular research project they
complete as part of their English or Social Studies classes, for example.
If you have some kind of project that no one graduates without doing,
please let me know. I am particularly interested in whether the school
librarian is involved in this process, and to what extent. I can be reached
at either sjg.librarian at gmail.com or sbriggs at milforded.org.

Thank you,

Sarah Briggs
Library/Media Specialist
Jonathan Law High School
Milford, CT
sbriggs at milforded.org

sjg.librarian at gmail.com



Responses:


At Trumbull  High School all Freshman go through a *marking* period course
called Freshman Foundations. They cycle out of the health class.  It is a
fantastic course. The students are introduced to Google Drive,(THS has been
a google apps schools for years now) they research and write a 3 page
paper. As the Media Specialist I teach how to access and use Google Drive,
Databases, Plagiarism, Website evaluation, digital footprint, google form
and google spreadsheet. The students are also required to create and
present a google presentation about their research topic, an
e-portfolio-where I show them how to set up pages and folders for each
academic year and course within the year. This is created using a Google
site. They also read for the first ten minutes of class and respond using
edmodo. Next year we are switching to Google classroom.  Oh, and they also
choose lit circles and read a book. I can’t tell you how much I love
co-teaching this course. I get in everyday for the first week, and then go
back for the graphing and e-portfolio. We are adding a graphing component
this year-SLO-so they will be able to create data tables- a request from
the Science teachers.  After the paper, they will create a survey using
Google form, survey their class –using phones-and create the data table and
graph. We want them to experience how facts and information are gathered.
They will then use the table as part of the presentation-slide show. I
can’t say enough about the course. Trumbull is twice the size of Law.
Graduating class is 555. There are 3 teachers, who teach 2 sections each of
the course. Two are reading teachers and one is our writing specialist.  I
think they have been teaching this for 4 years now? Maybe longer. The
classroom they meet in has 30 computers. From what I hear the scheduling
 was a nightmare the first year, but they have it down now….


At our school, we have academies, including STEM and AMAT.  Students in
STEM are required to have an e-portfolio for the four years they’re in the
academy.  It isn’t a graduation requirement but one that has to be
maintained when in the academy.  Regular English IV students have a
captstone project they have to do a presentation on using a digital tool.
This is required for a six weeks grade and is a major assignment.  I help
with those classes by showing them different tools and how to use them as
well as giving them options to pick and choose.



The Connecticut Common Core standards carve out a key role for the school
librarian so there is hope on the horizon. For the first time in a long
career I feel that my input is valued. I serve on several data teams
and have been involved in ELA/SS curriculum writing, I have developed a CC
curriculum template for the research unit. The standards are under writing
for each grade 9-12. The unit will be embedded in all curricula. We plan to
use the TRAILS assessment as a formative and summative assessment. I will
be collaborating with grade 9 and 10 teachers to complete a
curriculum-aligned research assignment after Christmas. We are discussing
using Noodletools so that students may deveIop a writing portfolio over the
four years. It is truly a dream come true.

All sophomores at Greenwich High School have to complete a Sophomore
Research Project in order to graduate (if they don't pass it in 10th grade,
they have to do it again in 11th grade).  Media Specialists are
significantly involved in this project - depending on the Social Studies
teacher, the project is either collaboratively taught by the LMS and the SS
teacher or is primarily taught by the LMS with the SS teacher primarily
responsible for grading.  The project focuses much more on the process as
opposed to the end written product and is very skills infused - inquiry,
note-taking, conducting research, outlining, etc.  Students learn how to
use Google Docs, NoodleTools, Turnitin, etc., and conduct research using
school databases, Google, e-books, and print materials.  In the past, each
LMS created a wikispace for each teacher that he or she worked with in
order to guide the students through the SRP process and updated the
wikispace on a daily basis with assignments, notes, lessons, etc.  Our
school system just migrated to Schoology so we will use Schoology to guide
the SRP process this year but here is a link to the wikispace
<http://swidlersrp.greenwich.wikispaces.net/home> that I used last year
with one of my teachers if you want to get an idea of what I did in the
past.  The entire project takes 6-8 weeks to complete and the LMS is
usually in the classroom each day with the students even when not teaching
a specific lesson.  The LMS also communicates via e-mail with students and
reviews and comments on students' research questions, note cards and works
cited.  And the LMS will meet with students individually to review their
research, outlines, first drafts, etc. when students so request. In
addition, GHS also has a senior health/wellness project that all seniors
must complete in order to graduate.  Again, this is a very LMS-directed
project and every student must meet with one of the LMS to review their
work before submitting their essay and doing their presentation. Here is a
link to the wikispace
<https://sites.google.com/a/greenwich.k12.ct.us/welllness12/> that guides
that process. Finally, all students also have a presentation requirement in
their junior English classes but LMS involvement in that is completely hit
or miss, depending on the teacher.  We would like to be more involved in
this project eventually but given that we need to get 650-700 sophomores
through the SRP process and another 650-700 seniors through the health &
wellness project every year, we haven't really had the time to make more
inroads on the junior English presentation project yet.

All of our students are to create a digital portfolio which is then the
bases for a 'senior exit interview.' I have included a link to info sites
here at school—however, the process has changed some and will be modified
before the end of the year. Also, I don't think the links work on the
projects but maybe you can understand the basics of the expectations.
http://nphs.newpal.k12.in.us/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=25&Itemid=44

At our school, I am involved in research/inquiry based projects from grades
9 - 12. We have been a 1:1 school for over 10 years now, so tech is
integrated into everything we do...

Here's a couple things off the top of my head:
In 9th grade, students set up digital portfolios through Advanced Computer
Apps class (run by another teacher); I teach several units in this class
related to information fluency: using OPACs, database searching (called
Search App Smackdown!), curation tools (like Scoopit), evaluation (CRAP
system), documentation (using Noodletools), etc. These pave the way for
subsequent research done: 9th grade- Career research paper (APA style;
using databases, interviews, surveys); Civil War, etc.
10th grade: Biology research projects (biologists; genetics, etc.-
incorporating infographics; Holocaust research; Opposing Viewpoints
persuasive writing research; Book trailers (partners read same title,
create 2 min. video trailer to promote)
11th grade: Opposing Viewpoint seminar - Finding solutions to issues,
incorporating
infographics; World Cultures - folklore research;  Urban Legends research
and movie creation; etc.
12th grade - Government - Constitutional issues; research and production
for various senior projects for our students who attend the Tech school;
Senior Research Paper - encapsulates & assesses all skills - (basic and
advanced search of OPACS and web, evaluating info, documentation,
pre-search skills, in-text citation, close nonfiction reading, visualizing
info via graphic organizers, thesis writing, etc... peer review and
reflection elements included in this process) - For SRP, the formative
process steps are also assessed, and the points for the process are higher
than for the final written project. This helps to reinforce that it is the
research / inquiry process that is the most important part of what they are
doing, as this is what's really transferrable to career/college. Chief
communication between teachers/librarian/student occur via an "Inquiry
Process Guide" GoogleDoc. Everything is documented, all rubrics,
directions, and assessments leading up to the final paper are there.  Our
collaborative work on the Senior Research paper won the 2014 AASL
Collaborative School Library Award
<http://http//www.atyourlibrary.org/school-libraries-collaborating-college-readiness>

Sarah, when I was at ALA a few years ago, a librarian from a high school in
NYC which I think was Little Red School  or something like that presented
as part of a panel on embedded librarianship, I think.  Anyway, her school
had an incredible year long project that was community service oriented. I
wanted to get more info, but she never responded. Maybe you can check with
her.

The closest thing we have at this time is passing Senior Health, which
includes a research/presentation.  Luckily, the teacher agreed this year to
let me in on the project.  I required a bibliography, (which I scored) and
responsible sources database, ebook, and websites via Medline Plus.

​​I'm very involved with digital portfolios, but there is no graduation
requirement, nor does administration talk about it.  It was an outcome of
NEASC in order to measure our school wide expectations. In the beginning
teachers were required to have students turn in 2 pieces of work per
course. Class of 2013 was our first class that was supposed to have a
completed portfolio. It never happened. No we're conducting MAP testing 3
times a year for English & Math and will have data based on CCSS rather
than our school wide rubrics. I became involved because I really believe
portfolios are awesome. Unfortunately I can't require the teachers to do
anything more. We've discussed Powerschool & what looks like its ability to
collect work for a portfolio. They didn't have that tool 5 years ago. Other
than that there's nothing required that I'm involved in, except the
traditional research projects, but that's simply sharing how to search, I
don't grade anything. I'm actually collecting information on Senior
Experiences & the librarians involvement.

Our 10th grade English students do a research project, although the length
and resource requirements vary from teacher to teacher.  11th grade Social
Studies does a long research paper also, with much agreement on scope.  I'm
involved with the 10th grade, have them for 5 days of research related
instruction, website eval, citation practice.  Really short reminder with
11th grade - 10-15 minutes, hand out database sheet again, point out Social
Studies specific resources they might not (ok, don't) know about.

Thanks Sarah. I participated in this AASL Webinar a few weeks ago. You
might want to see if you can access it on the AASL site. It's been archived:

*Senior/Capstone Project: The Role of the School Librarian*

*West Hartford is just beginning to discuss digital portfolios and Capstone
projects for both middle and HS . We are creating a google site to use as a
template for grades 6-12 to use as a digital portfolio, we hope to pilot at
grade 6 this year , and yes LMS will be involved in supporting students in
learning how to use a google site to upload etc.   Part of the hold is
waiting for the SDE for more direction. *
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