Welcome!
This topic page is designed to foster a dialogue about teaching the whole child, with an emphasis on research and inquiry through the school library. We will explore how we are meeting (or struggling to meet) the challenges and opportunities inherent in our efforts to enable our learners to make sense of the information that threatens to overwhelm them and to collaborate with our classroom teachers to create a culture of inquiry in our schools. I hope you'll visit often to read new selections of curated resources and engage with me and my guests in continued conversation.
Barbara K. Stripling
Barbara K. Stripling
What Does Inquiry in a Digital Environment Look Like?
by Barbara K. StriplingIn my early years as a high school librarian, I was troubled by the question, "So what?" Yes, I could help my students find information, but I was not interested in mindless copying or regurgitating. I learned that my "so what" was to teach my students to think, to follow their own curiosities, and to reach their own conclusions. Today, new types of digital information and new technology tools have compounded the challenges our students must confront when doing research online.
We need to think deeply about how digital resources and tools can be effectively used to frame learning experiences and teach essential inquiry skills and attitudes. Can our students trust crowdsourced data? Can they separate fact from opinion in social media posts? How do they protect themselves from believing viral and baseless theories, from accepting disinformation, and from their own confirmation bias? Read More >>
Video
![Discussing the Value of Primary Sources [21:49]](https://schoollibraryconnection.com/assets/mediaserver/SLC/2255/2255824s.jpg)
Barbara K. Stripling discusses the value of using primary sources for inquiry with Kathy McGuigan of the Library of Congress, social studies teacher Jen Reidel, and elementary school librarian Tom Bober.
Video
![Shortcuts to Sources from Library of Congress [18:34]](https://schoollibraryconnection.com/assets/mediaserver/SLC/2255/2255817s.jpg)
Kathy McGuigan, educational specialist at the Library of Congress, provides a tour of some of the digital resources available from their collections of primary sources.
Video
![The Process and Stance of Inquiry in a Digital World [15:46]](https://schoollibraryconnection.com/assets/mediaserver/SLC/2255/2255949s.jpg)
Barbara K. Stripling, creator of the Stripling Model of Inquiry, and Darryl Toerien, originator of the Framework of Skills for Inquiry Learning (FOSIL), discuss the challenges of teaching inquiry, especially in a digital environment.
Selected Reading
Read an excerpt from School Librarianship: Past, Present and Future, edited by Susan W. Alman (Roman and Littlefield, 2017).
Selected Reading
In this chapter, Barbara Stripling discusses inquiry-based learning in terms of the Common Core and the digital environment.
Article
In this piece from the Knowledge Quest blog, Leanne Ellis discusses the importance of getting students to ask the right questions when it comes to research.
Article
In this piece from the Knowledge Quest blog Iris Eichenlaub talks about using her own research method of asking "what makes sense?" to frame inquiry and research for her students.
Feature
A few years ago, when David Olson's department began offering AP U.S. Government and Politics, he was faced with a conundrum.What do you do with the last three weeks of class after the test? He found the answer with school librarian, Robin Amado, who helped craft a campaign simulation using library resources.
Feature
Whether students are analyzing political cartoons or tracking troop movements on a Revolutionary War era map, visually rich primary sources can play an important role throughout the inquiry process.
Feature
Amidst all the freely accessible websites on the Internet Superhighway, there is buried treasure. The good ones we can label Open Educational Resources (OER) and it's likely you've been using these "freely accessible websites" for years.
Webinars
Watch this webinar to learn about the 10 Questions for Young Changemakers Framework, developed by Harvard's Democratic Knowledge Project, and the many ways it can be used in school libraries to help students develop successful—equitable, effective, and self-protective—civic agency in this digital age.
Selected Reading
In this chapter, Stanley discusses technology trends related to digital research and their applications to student research, as well as types of literacies and important questions for librarians to consider in our evolving information landscape.
"In the case of inquiry in the digital world, my perspective is that 'inquiry' is not the problem. Giving students time and space to develop curiosity and explore are essential to their development as thinkers and doers. For me, the 'problem' is the digital part in that many students today—if they are given the time and space to be inquirers—lack the skills and guides they need to be successful in the chaos of the online learning environment.
How can school librarians capitalize on our knowledge and pedagogical skills to solve the problem of students' digital overload? How can we insist on knowledge construction in the digital world rather than more and more consuming? How can we solve students' and our problem with Zoom fatigue?
Is 'isolation' the problem? I believe translating our practice and emphasizing interactivity between educators and students, connections between content and students out-of-school lives, and increasing one-on-one, peer-to-peer communication in the virtual learning environment may hold promise. What do you think?"
How can school librarians capitalize on our knowledge and pedagogical skills to solve the problem of students' digital overload? How can we insist on knowledge construction in the digital world rather than more and more consuming? How can we solve students' and our problem with Zoom fatigue?
Is 'isolation' the problem? I believe translating our practice and emphasizing interactivity between educators and students, connections between content and students out-of-school lives, and increasing one-on-one, peer-to-peer communication in the virtual learning environment may hold promise. What do you think?"
"Judi—I loved your blog post that pushed the conversation that I had with Darryl Toerien about inquiry to a new level and new questions. I agree that inquiry is not the problem, but that it is difficult to engage teachers and students in inquiry, especially during the pandemic. You pose questions that will provoke thinking about the roots of the real problem. I know you believe, as I do, that real critical thinking starts with problem identification, not problem solution."