Article Critique #1
– Due June 2, 2003 (10 points)
Dempsey, Beth.
(March/April 2003). Teaching Research Skills to Young Students: The Critical
Role of the Media Specialist [Electronic version]. Multimedia Schools,
Supplement, 1-7.
Retrieved June 1,
2003 from http://www.infotoday.com/MMSchools/default.htm
Synopsis: This
article discusses the role of the media specialist, and states that, “there’s
perhaps no greater opportunity for a media specialist to support the curriculum
and connect with both teachers and kids than by encouraging research activity.”
(Page 1). It offers suggestions to
media specialists as to how they can create “kid-friendly” web sites (with
links) that assist even the youngest web users by including only the most
useful and age-appropriate information while filtering out sites that they
cannot/should not use. It also provides
information obtained from studies conducted to determine how young children
best learn from the Web, including visual images, graphs, and links to print
resources. Finally, the article
suggests ways in which the media specialist can foster relationships with
teachers and help them integrate research activities into the classroom.
Opinions: The
article offered some practical suggestions on how to create a web site that
young children can effectively utilize.
At the public library where I worked this past year, there were links to
databases that had already been filtered for content and age-appropriateness.
Many parents found these “screened” databases very useful for homework
assignments after first attempting to use the Web and getting frustrated with
the vast amount – and often extraneous and inappropriate – information they
encountered. They were confident that
their children could navigate the library web site by “clicking” on icons even
if they couldn’t read well, and that when they did find information, they were
sure that it was from a reputable source.
Finally, the
article offered some ideas for media specialists on how they can be more
proactive as part of the educational team by scheduling weekly planning time
with colleagues, supporting curriculum, encouraging flextime in the Learning
Center and learning about upcoming assignments. If done properly, the
author claims that the media specialist can, “make the media center the
curricular hub of the school – for any grade – and a key ingredient in
improving student achievement.” (Page 7).
As someone planning to enter the field, I found these suggestions – and
this web site – very useful. The only
negative critique that I have is that it did not include any statistics or
quantitative information to support its assertions.
Recommended
Resources from this article:
http://www.novi.k12.mi.us/df/novidf.html