The Role of Digital Libraries in High School Teaching of STEM

MIC 2003, Vancouver, B.C. August 5 – 8, 2003

The Role of Digital Libraries in High School Teaching of STEM

Panel PresentationSarita Nair, Katherine Hanson, Marcia Mardis, Wesley

Shumar


Agenda Panel Introductions & Overview Research Questions Presentations

The Gender & Science Digital Library Effective Access Michigan Teacher Network Math Forum

Questions & Feedback


Introductions & Overview What is the Role of Digital Libraries in

the High School Teaching of STEM? Sarita Nair – Project Director, GSDL Katherine Hanson - PD/PI Effective Access &

GSDL Marcia Mardis - Project Director, MTN Wesley Shumar – Ethnographer, Math

Forum


Research Questions How are high school teachers currently

using digital resources? What would they like to be doing?

How does collaborative planning (or the lack thereof) affect DL development?

Do K-12 educators care about metadata?

Where does ‘Google’ fit into the development paradigm?


The GSDL For all STEM disciplines Equitable materials for all students with

emphasis on female engagement Inter-disciplinary examination of the

role of gender in teaching and learning Serving a broad audience Offering a wide range of content


The GSDL Design considerations for K-12

Focus group feedback Results of pilot testing Usage data

http://www.gsdl.org Basis for Effective Access research

project


Effective Access Web use and textbooks are the two most

relied upon resources Teachers learn about resources from

colleagues and professional development Teachers say there’s not enough time to

make effective use of the web Resources used for background

information, not necessarily integrated into the classroom


Effective Access

Teachers http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?

u=26853192055 Developers

http:// www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=32220185416


Michigan Teacher Network Founded in 1998 for Michigan educators 17,000+ page views per day Statewide PD events searching and

classroom planning resources Original collection policy limited to Web

sites--now changing to item level http://www.michiganteacher.net


Michigan Teacher Network What’s consistent in the established

literature? Time is consistently a big factor Teachers say quality is important but don’t

take time to evaluate quality Teachers consult colleagues (Sutton, 1999)

But, recent research leads elsewhere…


Broad Category of Searches

Search Category

3000

2000

1000

0

Data collected from April 29-May 14, 2003


Top Searches 2/19-3/5/2003

classroom management 300

sciences 102

lesson plans 90

sound 87

states 91

history 72

social studies 71

economics 64

elementary education 64

technology education 58



classroom management

304

physical education 60

lesson plans 55

educational assessment

51

fractions 47

private schools 41

weather 39

rainforests 35

music 34

life science 31



classroom management

180

listserv(s) 146

poetry of kids 109

science 48

lesson plans 41

private schools 37

zookeeper 31

plants 30

plagiarism 28

organizational skills 27


Data collected from April 29-May 14, 2003

Curriculum Area Searches

Curriculum Area

4000

3000

2000

1000

0

Curriculum Area Searches

Curriculum Area

800

600

400

200

0


Conclusions

Many users exhibit “Search Engine Habits” Search for items beyond scope of

collection Seem to be expecting to search site

text, not metadata Perform searches on browsing

categories


Conclusions Most searches occur after school MTN users seek classroom management

help the most Science is the most searched curriculum

area Users search very broad or very narrow

concepts with few terms Users seem to want objects Users repeatedly type in the same search


Users misunderstand sometimes… Ozzy Osbourne Motown Hoe Down Health priorities in Australia Bay City Boating and Fishing Recipes (food) Spices and herbs Buying a car SARS Mazda rx-8 Bush declares war


Michigan Teacher Network Citation Analysis

Practitioner literature between 1998 and 2002

Collection development, working with S&M teachers, working with S&M students advice

Hypothesis: there’s not much out there


Michigan Teacher Network Citation Analysis Conclusions

Not much out there Collection development focuses on entire

Web site, not object level More than “This is How We Do it Good” Little authoring collaboration Need to do same study on S&M practitioner

literature for comparison What does it all mean?


The Math Forum - Introduction Building of the Math Forum site was

very ground up-the site evolved based on user interests The site evolved with the Web Focus was always in supporting a

community that cared about math education

Resources were built out of interactions and collections of gifts

A utopian system of generalized reciprocity


The Math Forum - Evaluation Evaluation at the Math Forum

established a process for understanding the possibilities for social interaction and resource development Community was central to the success of

The Math Forum The Math Forum strategy for building

resources gave people “buy-in” as well as creating a “rich site”

Different “teacher types” were supported in different ways


The Math Forum - Community From the beginning the Math Forum saw

themselves as a Community Community gives people a sense of

attachment and belonging The community was supported by f2f and

online activities Active teachers developed a sense of

emotional attachment to the site


The Math Forum - Teachers There are three main teacher types

using the Math Forum Novice, Intermediate, Expert

There seem to be some gendered differences in interaction

Leaders who become major contributors to the site are rare but essential


Conclusion Questions for Panelists Comments on Research Questions

Thank you!

The Role of Digital Libraries in High School Teaching of STEM

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