1. RISK
Teachers’ Notes for Lesson 1- Investigation Skills
(this should take place in the library)
Slide 1 – 4 Introduction to RISK and Dewey powerpoint explains how the whole unit will
work. This provides the chance to explain who WALT and WILF are, as well as how they
will be used throughout the unit.
Discuss the aims raised by WALT (We Are Learning To),
For example:
• What do the pupils think are the skills needed to find information?
• How do they think information should be recorded? (Mind maps, notes, pictures etc)
• How do they think we can make use of the information we find? (Evidence, reports,
debates etc)
NEXT:
The summary slide provides the opportunity to reinforce the cross-curricular nature of
this unit.
Emphasise that pupils can use the skills that they will learn in this unit in all of their
subjects. It is also worth highlighting that this is not a project which just requires large
amounts of information to be gathered, it is an investigation so pupils will have to be
focused on their questions and selective in their identification and use of information.
Slide 5
Display the smiley faces evaluation sheet which is on the powerpoint. Explain that its
purpose is to identify the skills which this unit of work intends to develop and to help
both the pupil and the teacher see where their skills are at the start of the unit and how
much they have improved by the end.
Activity 1 – Evaluating my Skills The pupils are to fill in the sheet in their booklet
showing which skills they are Very Confident in ☺, Reasonably Confident in , and Not
So Confident in by putting a tick under the appropriate face in the column
corresponding to each of the skills.
Slide 6 - Introduction to the Dewey Classification System (librarian may help)
Display slide 6 to introduce the idea of using the Dewey system and the library catalogue
to identify books and other resources which pupils can request for their investigation.
Explain that each subject has a code number and this code number is put on the labels of
all books on that topic. This helps pupils to find books in the library and to decide which
items listed on the catalogue might be useful.

2. Activity 2: Classificiation Ask one person from each table to collect a set of topic
cards. (see Appendix 1)
Ask pupils to sort these into related groups of subjects to demonstrate classification.
In each group of cards there is a term which describes all the rest
(eg animals in the group with horses tigers etc.)
NEXT Show the slide showing the main divisions of the Dewey System (slide 7)
Dewey Classification Scheme
Discuss how information books in libraries are arranged on the shelves.
Explain that all the books on the same subject are kept together and near to books on
similar subjects. This is also how shops arrange their products (apples next to oranges
and badminton racquets next to tennis racquets etc). This is called classification.
The Dewey code number for a topic can be subdivided using decimal numbers to give
related code numbers for related subjects
eg 796 = Sport
796.33 = Ball Games
796.334 = Football
Activity 3: Decimal Numbers Ask pupils to use the decimal numbers worksheet in their
booklet and sort the numbers into correct Dewey order starting with the smallest.
(answers given below)
a) 294.3 297 294.5 291
291 294.3 294.5 297
b) 363.45 363.51 362.5 363.12
362.5 363.12 363.45 363.51
c) 551.3 551.22 551.31 551.4
551.22 551.3 551.31 551.4
d) 510.45 510 510.7 510.451
510 510.45 510.451 510.7
Slide 8 and 9 - Using the Subject Index and Using the Library Catalogue
Explain that Subject Index and Library Catalogue can both be used to find books on a
particular topic. (librarian can help). Staff can log on to the library service website
www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/libraries and select library catalogue to display. There is an
active link in the powerpoint which will open the website in an Internet Browser window.
Type in a topic, Eg Ferrari then demonstrate that many different, irrelevant titles–
some about cars, some about a composer, some about a monk - might appear and
show how to select what is useful using the Dewey number or making a judgement using
the title.

3. Activity 4: Subject Index
Ask pupils to look up the printed subject index to find the Dewey number for two topics
that interest them.
Activity 5: Library Catalogue
Pupils can then log on to the library catalogue and search for books on a topic of their
choice.
If they want to request books from other libraries they need to use their own NEC card
number and their PIN number (which can be obtained from the library staff).
Appendix 1
Categories for Activity 2
Pupils should sort the subjects so that related subjects are together.
They should work out for themselves how they should be grouped.
Groupings:
Computers ; Floppy disk; Keyboard; Mouse mat
Flowers; Carnations; Crocuses; Roses; Snowdrops
Fruit; Apples; Bananas; Oranges
Pets ; Dogs; Guinea Pigs; Hamsters; Rabbits
Space ; Earth; Milky Way; Stars; Neptune; Venus
Sport; Football; Gymnastics; Ski-ing; Skateboarding; Swimming
Vehicles; Bicycles; Buses; Cars; Lorries; Trucks
Weather; Rain; Snow storms; Thunder

4. Apples Fruit Skateboarding
Bananas Guinea Pigs Ski-ing
Bicycles Gymnastics Snow storms
Buses Hamsters Snowdrops
Carnations Keyboard Space
Cars Lorries Sports
Computers Mouse mat Stars
Crocuses Neptune Swimming
Dogs Oranges Thunder
Earth Pets Trucks
Floppy disk Rabbits Vehicles
Flowers Rain Venus
Football Roses Weather