Throughout the year students are researching, but it seems like this is often the time of year when culminating research projects are happening. We thought this would be a good time to focus on all the tools we have at our fingertips as BLPS staff and students. For starters, have you checked out your school’s media webpage? It has a ton of resources just waiting to be clicked on, such as Worldbook and Discovery Education. It also has the Gale databases that we get free through OSLIS (the Oregon School Library Information System), such as National Geographic, Kid’s InfoBits (now known as Gale in Context), and Opposing Viewpoints. I’ve only listed a few. You really need to check out your library webpage. Just go to your school website, click on Academics and choose Media Center.
In the help section on your school media webpage (shown just above) is a link to Answerland. This is a great resource for individual students looking for help. Please don’t have all your students use this tool at the same time. It is only staffed by 1 or 2 people at a time, but it is available 24/7!
OSLIS also has some valuable elementary and secondary videos teaching how to research. These can be very useful to show and talk about at the beginning of a unit.
I could keep going, but this is probably enough to whet your appetite. If you need additional resources, please check with your Teacher-Librarian or Media Manager. They would love to help.
