Elgin High School - Research
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The document outlines the creation of a whole-school approach to improving student research skills at Elgin High School. A work group consisting of teachers and the librarian developed strategies and resources to teach core research concepts consistently across departments. This included a PLUS model poster outlining research steps, a CAR poster to evaluate online sources critically, and recommendations provided in a booklet on teaching research skills school-wide. Initial feedback was positive and the library continues supporting teachers through workshops and research assistance.
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Elgin High School - Research
- 1. A curriculum for excellence Research Creating a whole school approach Simple Consistent Reinforcing Cross-cutting
Editor's Notes
- Over the last three years I have been playing a lead role in creating a whole school approach to research within Elgin High School.
- This all came about, as I felt I had good knowledge on this aspect through an MSc that I completed prior to starting at EHS. At the same time, many teachers had highlighted that pupils were struggling with research skills within EHS and so I thought I could be of help here. I began by carrying out an initial audit to ascertain what research skills were being taught already within the school. It became clear that whilst all departments were teaching pupils research skills, approaches were fairly adhoc and varied. One of the main findings from my MSC was the importance of having a whole school approach with common language and goals. This would allow for continual reinforcement, as otherwise pupils would quickly forget the skills they had been taught. There was a clear need here and I felt it was a great opportunity to become more integrated within the school.
- The information skills work group met up over the period of two years. Ten departments met up over this time. Due to staff time pressures, an issue was the ad-hoc nature of staff involved. It was clear though, that all staff who attended saw this as a positive move within EHS. Specific problems which had been highlighted included: Cutting and pasting issues Lack of general knowledge and basic vocabulary needed to search for information Lack of a clear direction – pupils were often seen to be going round in circles. Problems selecting resources which were truly relevant and reliable. The group discussed practical ways to go about resolving these issues and we came up with a set of strategies to use in Elgin High School. We also discussed the best way of disseminating these strategies out as a common approach throughout the school and it was Helen who came up with the idea of producing information skills packs for all departments. We were conscious of the fact that we did not want to give teachers additional work due to the time constraints that they were already under. We thought very carefully about the items going into this pack so that this would be a support to teachers’ rather than extra workload. .
- The PLUS model was one of the main components in this information skills pack. We adapted this model to fit in with the needs of Elgin High School pupils. A good deal of discussion went into the steps included in this poster to ensure it adequately dealt with the problems that pupils were having in EHS. For example, a lot of emphasis went into the planning stage. As I highlighted earlier, we have many pupils with English as a second language. Many of them did not have the basic vocabulary needed for searching and so we ensured that we built up pupils basic vocab so that they could search effectively within contents and index pages and search engines etc. By ensuring pupils also have clear key questions this also helped prevent pupils from going round in circles. It was amazing seeing how well they pupils carried out the rest of the project by spending that little bit more time at the planning stage. We also felt that the PLUS model was an easy acronym to remember and helped to give clear direction to pupils. This model was also great at supporting a whole school approach as posters were distributed thorughout the school. Pupils could therefore see that this research process could be used in many different contexts and it helped to promote a common approach throughout the school.
- The CAR model was also included in the information skills pack. We felt that this model helped to tackle the issue of pupils not being critical enough of Internet resources. Again this acronym was easy to remember, it does what it says on the tin – Current, Accurate, Relevant, and posters were given to all teachers to help achieve a whole school approach.
- As highlighted earlier, we hoped to make life easy for teachers by ensuring the pack was a support rather than a hindrance. To do this the library teamed up with the Modern Studies department and we taught these core skills of PLUS and CAR during the first term of first year. This meant that all the groundwork had already been done, and all that teachers had to do was remind and reinforce the concepts that had been taught already. By including this in the pack, all teachers knew exactly what pupils had been taught already, so they could the use the same language enabling consistency, and could then build on this. Again this also helped to build on cross departmental working, this fulfilling the aims of CfE.
- The final item that was included in the pack was .... These were the strategies that were discussed by the working group to help tackle some of the main problem areas in research. For example a couple of solutions to help prevent cutting and pasting included: Setting up printers to ensuring that URL’s are included on printouts. This helps pupils to remember where they found their information, gets pupils into the practice of referencing resources. (The teacher can also ask for these to be included that the back of a piece of work if needed). Making use of more complex wording whilst setting tasks – Instead of asking a pupil to write a report on Ancient Egypt, ask them to gather five resources on Ancient Egypt, put these together and analyse what they found. Another great strategy which helped to increase pupils basic vocabulary on a topic was to carry out a class word challenge. Choose a topic e.g. ‘Censorship’ – Every pupil in the class should come up with an alternative word for this topic (expand/ refine/ alter) – helps boost vocab and hierarchical understanding. PLUS – Logical and memorable approach highlighting core steps in research process CAR – To enable pupils to become critical of Internet resources Word challenge – Choose a topic e.g. ‘Censorship’ – Every pupil in the class should come up with an alternative word for this topic (expand/ refine/ alter) – helps boost vocab and hierarchical understanding. Pre-selected websites Vs Free searching – balanced approach needed. E.g. Look at three websites and then search for more on your own. (Helps differentiate and still gives them practice of critical research skills). More complex wording whilst setting tasks – Instead of asking a pupil to write a report on Ancient Egypt, ask them to gather five resources on Ancient Egypt, put these together and analyse what they found. URL’s on printouts – Helps prevent copying and pasting, helps them to remember where they found their information, gets pupils into the practice of referencing resources. Selecting the best three sites out of a group – improves critical thinking e.g. how relevant/ reliable are resources for a given task, helps pupils to become more selective, improves independent thinking needed for lifelong learning.
- The information skills packs were presented to staff during a staff meeting. So what has been the impact of this initiative? It has been fairly slow progress but gradually more and more departments are asking for library support on this issue. It was hoped that once the packs were distributed the library could still carry on playing a key role. I have done this by providing the following services....... What is clear is that libraries have huge potential here as a key player with regards to research skills. Fits so well into CfE goals. I’m hoping to keep on building this up within the secondary school and to filter this out through primary schools too.