We are moving toward a future in which digital practices are becoming more ubiquitous. Also, there is evidence to suggest that innovative digital practices are changing the face of 21st-century learning environments. Critical to 21st-century teaching and learning success is continued emphasis on learner preferences, shaped by innovative digital…

In the information-rich, rapidly changing 21st-century, educators are faced with unprecedented challenges. While new technologies have brought the people of the planet closer together, they have also brought them into contact with an overwhelming array of information sources. The Library of Congress is positioned to help educators respond to these…

In response to the rapid advances in information technology, greater pressure has been placed on academic libraries and teaching faculty to incorporate information literacy skills into the curriculum. Although these skills have been taught for decades, the principles and concepts of information literacy have taken on new urgency as they are…

Historical thinking skills, according to the U.S. National Standards for History, differ significantly from historical understandings. Historical understandings refer to content-specific knowledge. Historical thinking encompasses the "doing of history," including chronological thinking, historical comprehension, historical analysis and…

Many instruction librarians teach students that the URL extension .gov is one sign of a reliable, authoritative Internet source. This is true in many cases, but there are other very important reasons that government information deserves a larger place in information literacy sessions. It offers a clear example of several concepts students must…

Over the past decade, educators have stressed the importance of creating exciting and intellectually stimulating environments where students are actively involved in constructing their own understandings. Whether it's designing a WebQuest to spark curiosity in science or establishing an oral history project to spur interest in local history,…

Creating digital videos provides students with practice in critical 21st century communication skills, as the video production involves critical thinking, general observation, and analysis and perspective-making skills. Producing video helps students appreciate literature and other expressions of information and students creating digital video…

Readers theater is a storytelling device that stimulates the imagination and promotes all of the language arts. Readers theater is an oral interpretation of a piece of literature read in a dramatic style. It involves and motivates students, energizes the language arts program, and stimulates learning. Geared for children in grades 1-4, this book…

This document is made up of materials supporting a presentation about a program designed to encourage freshman and sophomore high school mathematics students to use the school library to research famous mathematicians. The handouts that compose the document are: (1) a description of the assignment, "Conversations with Mathematicians"; (2) a list…

Studies show that metacognitive strategies can increase learning skills and that independent use of these metacognitive strategies can be gradually developed in people. The school library media center is the ideal place for students to learn how to develop metacognitive strategies; that is, they can learn how to connect new information to former…

This guide was developed to assist teachers and media staff in Winnipeg, Manitoba to work together to plan programs that help students develop independent, resource-based learning skills. The first section of the guide describes how library research projects can be used to teach independent learning skills. The guide discusses opportunities for…

This book provides activities for fourth, fifth, and sixth grade teachers and librarians to use in the spare moments that can be transformed into educational experiences. The activities range from individual paper-and-pencil games, to partner activities, to whole-class ideas, and combinations thereof. The activities are arranged by subject (i.e.,…

Includes 10 articles that address issues involved in teaching library skills in middle schools and junior and senior high schools. Topics discussed include computer-based technology; blending print and electronic sources; search strategies for online systems; expert systems for reference questions; information skills and thinking skills; and…

This volume contains 47 papers presented under the following four major categories: (1) "Visual Literacy and Education," including curriculum development, teaching visual literacy, thinking skills and visual literacy, teaching video production techniques, teacher education, cable television in public schools, using filmstrips in the classroom to…

Presented by 15 staff and school media specialists among others, this giude is a model for developing school library media programs that will meet the information retrieval needs of students in the twenty-first century. The guide incorporates the new Iowa State Guidelines and provides for the infusion of the following areas into educational…