School Library Media Activities
There are more to library activities than just books and literature. The library also promotes the integration of technology into the student's learning experiences throughout school. There are numerous activities -- from elementary school through high school -- to help students learn how to use media and technology.
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Animal Fact Cards
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In the Animal Fact Card library activity, students gain a better understanding of living things and life cycles while learning how to research, identify and evaluate information. This activity was developed by the Nebraska Department of Education for students in grade three. For this activity, the librarian leads a discussion on how to identify living things based on characteristics such as vertebrates and invertebrates or predator and prey. Using a computer with an overhead projector, the librarian creates a list of ideas that students feel should be on the animal fact cards. Students formulate questions, establish search criteria, and use computers to research the project. Have students create fact cards for each animal with a printed photo of the animal on one side and the animal's information on the other side. Have the students organize animals in meaningful categories.
Digital Storytelling Presentation
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In Digital Storytelling Presentation, high school age students utilize library media technology to create an electronic photo story. For this activity, create groups with four to five students who have all read the same book. Have each group select three elements of the story to include in their presentation. The students will use media resources to choose appropriate images, sounds, narration and text to support these elements. The students will present the digital storytelling presentation to the class, explaining the unique elements of their story. The librarian should check image acquisition and citations to verify all information has been cited correctly.
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Library Science Jeopardy
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In this online library activity, students follow the format and rules of the popular game show Jeopardy!. Create groups of three to five students and have each group play the online game together on a computer. Categories for the game include pioneers, machinery and technology, buildings, arts, and history. Have each student keep track of the number of questions answered correctly.
Verifying Information on the Web
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Verifying information on the web is a library media activity designed to show students how difficult it can be to confirm the accuracy of the information they find on the Internet. This lesson is intended for high school children. Break students into groups of three and have each group visit the News of The Weird website. Each group should select a story from the website and verify its accuracy through an academic journal such as Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe. Have students visit the Urban Legends website where they will select another story to verify its accuracy in an academic journal. While both sites have interesting stories, the News of The Weird website stories should be verifiable through an academic journal while the Urban Legend stories may be more difficult to verify.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit Cd Library 2 image by sarkee from Fotolia.com
