Automation and other software, online tutoring, IM chat, and more for children and teens from School Library Journal
Yahoo! Teachers By Staff - 10/01/2007
Spread the word: Yahoo! has developed a free social networking site that lets librarians create, modify, and share standards-based curricula. Yahoo! Teachers lets educators search a specific subject and then pull up a list of preselected sites that adhere to state standards in math, science, social studies, and language arts. More
Free for All: Open Source Software By Karen Schneider - 08/01/2008
So what is open source software (OSS)? It’s software that is free in every sense of the word: free to download, free to use, and free to view or modify. Most OSS is distributed on the Web and you don’t need to sign a license agreement to use it. In fact, you’re probably using OSS and may not know it.
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Consider the Source: Cracking Open By Marc Aronson - 04/01/2008
Teens don’t know enough about history and literature to tie their own shoelaces. That’s more or less the conclusion of a study I read about in the New York Times (see “Survey Finds Teenagers Ignorant on Basic History and Literature Questions,” February 27, 2008). Common Core—a nonpartisan research and advocacy group that favors more teaching of the liberal arts in ...
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[Librarians]=Higher Test Scores By Staff - 03/01/2008
Here’s some more evidence that school librarians are essential to student learning: researchers at Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies (iSchool) have found that students who attend New York schools with certified media specialists have higher scores on their fourth- grade English Language Arts (ELA) test.
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The Sower: Interview with Keith Curry Lance By Doug Achterman - 10/01/2007
Without a doubt, he’s the Johnny Appleseed of school library research. But Keith Curry Lance is far too modest to accept this, or any other, accolade (Dr. Data? The Prince of Predictors?). “I just happened to be in the right place at the right time,” says Lance. That place was the Colorado Department of Education, which Lance has been affiliated with since 1985, right after he...
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The Trouble with The Gold Standard: School Libraries & Research By Carol Gordon - 10/01/2007
Strongly held beliefs die hard, even when they are unfounded or lack evidence. Some still believe that fish is brain food and rumors of Elvis sightings continue to fly through cyberspace. Other times, unfounded beliefs are denials of an uncomfortable or “inconvenient truth.” For example, the denial of global warming was a dangerous, unfounded belief that persisted for years despite ...
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High-Stakes Testing Threatens School Librarians By Chris Lehmann - 07/01/2007
As school districts nationwide face budget cuts, the role of the librarian—not to mention media centers themselves—are being called into question like never before. While some argue that the digital age has made the librarian obsolete, I believe that librarians face a far more insidious threat—the growing reliance on high-stakes testing.
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Thomson Learning, Including Thomson Gale, Sold for $7.75 Billion By SLJ Staff - 05/14/2007
The Thomson Corporation has agreed to sell Thomson Learning, which includes the library reference company Thomson Gale, to to Apax Partners (Apax) and OMERS Capital Partners (OMERS) for $7.75 billion.
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Podcasts are a great way to expand learning beyond the classroom or library. Here are more recommendations from Tech Chicks Anna Adam and Helen Mowers, following up their Dec. 2007 article Listen Up!
Gr 4-7–When their beloved Aunt Grace dies, Dan, 11, and Amy, 14–along with other Cahill descendants–are faced with an unusual choice: inherit one million dollars or participate in a perilous treasure hunt.
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