Site to Boost Science Literacy
New government online tools to enhance student learning
By Debra Lau Whelan -- School Library Journal, 1/1/2004
Inspired by her 11-year-old nephew, Drew, Silverstein dreamed of creating a series of interactive tools and pathfinders to make this vast trove of government information digestible for students in grades 6–8.
"The goal is to teach children science information literacy, that is, the ability to understand, use, analyze, and distribute information so they are better equipped in the world," Silverstein says. Her reason for targeting middle schoolers? Because they're at an age where they're curious, have adequate technology and critical-thinking skills, and can articulate abstract ideas, she adds.
For example, Silverstein imagines an exercise that instructs kids on ways to test their drinking water using NSDL's online resources. Kids can then write a report advising city management on their water quality, "using these tools for the greater good," Silverstein says. Another exercise could emulate the eSkeltons Project, which allows users to view 3-D images of the bones of humans, gorillas, and baboons and collect information from an osteology database (www.eskeletons.org).
"It can teach kids to come up with a hypothesis about whether the jawbone of a chimpanzee and human is similar or different," she says. "Then they can use other NSDL resources to prove or disprove their theories or arguments."
The educational tools won't be just for classroom and library use. Silverstein wants children to access the Web site from home and use the resources on their own. Kids will also play a huge role in the project's development—they will be asked about their likes and dislikes and to share their ideas.
The two-year grant will allow Silverstein to hire six top education advisors, including Ruth Small, director of the Center for Digital Literacy at Syracuse University, and Allison Druin, the main researcher behind the International Children's Digital Library, which aims to provide 10,000 free e-books to the world's children over the next five years (see News, January 2003, p. 22). The team will identify key subject areas and devise interactive tools that teach kids how to evaluate and incorporate data into research projects. Another team of educators will evaluate the prototype and ensure that the lessons align with New York state science curriculum standards. A prototype of the interactive exercises, which will be available for free as part of NSDL's Web site (www.nsdl.org), should be complete in a year, in time to assist librarians and teachers with the new science-based assessments required under No Child Left Behind.
