Information Literacy and Technology Research Projects: Grades 6-9 »

NORMA HELLER is a former middle school librarian with the New York City School Library System and a graduate of Pratt Institute School of Information and Library Science, Brooklyn, New York.

When it comes to guiding students through the big end of the term paper or presentation, sometimes it's hard to know where to start, much less how to keep students on course once you get the ball rolling. These long-term projects culminate in products or presentations that nurture the information literacy skills students need to become self-directed learners. Students are educated, hands-on, about the many roles information technology can play in their search for knowledge. Brainstorming, strategizing, writing, critiquing, and oral communication skills are strengthened through these collaborative problem-solving projects. In each chapter, problems or issued presented for research integrate many curriculum areas. Students walk away from each completed task with a greater ability to ask the right questions and locate the best, most accurate, and timely answers.

VOYA

Packed full of ideas for integrating technology into the curriculum, this book of lesson plans, complete with checklists and assignment sheets, includes formats for information gathering. Teachers always are borrowing ideas from one another, from the materials they gather at conferences, from books, and recently, from the Internet. With the information explosion of the Internet and the increasing numbers of periodicals and books published each year, even the well-informed teacher can feel desperate about pulling it all together. Heller's book is both help and hindrance. The nine research topics presented are broad enough to fit into any curriculum, from science to visual arts. On the one hand, they integrate writing and technological skills while stressing the research process and the evaluation of resources—information literacy. Heller includes a list of suggested Web sites for each project and wisely suggests that the teacher review the list before suggesting sites for student use. Any one of the projects should produce well-informed information consumers. On the other hand, although appearing to present nine complete research lessons, the book requires that the teacher take bits from various lessons to create a whole piece of research. For example, only the first two lessons include an activity that teaches evaluation of Web sites. Perhaps the lessons are sequential, and a given piece does not need repetition in later lessons. These projects are large, with elegant products, however, and are unlikely to be done all in one year or even over three years. It would be helpful to refer the teacher choosing "Art and the Environment" back to the evaluation sheet found in the"Propaganda" chapter. A common sequence and standard procedure for research can be gleaned from the lessons but might have been better separated from them. Index. Appendix. 2001, Libraries Unlimited, 205p, $32 Oversize pb. Ages 12 to Adult. Reviewer: Lynne Hawkins SOURCE: VOYA, August 2001 (Vol. 24, No. 3)