School Library Month is the American Association of School Librarians’ (AASL) celebration of school librarians and their programs. Every April school librarians are encouraged to create activities to help their school and local community celebrate the essential role that strong school library programs play in transforming learning.
Featured CLRC member – The Oneida-Herkimer BOCES School Library System
Westmoreland Middle School Library Collaboration in a Project Based Learning Unit
The 8th grade Westmoreland Middle School students partnered with their media specialist, social studies, science, english, and technology teachers and the Science Department students and faculty from Hamilton College on a Project Based Learning Unit (PBL).
The collaborative project was based on a global biological problem. The middle school students were asked to research a global biological problem, identify a defensible solution and submit a proposal to a panel of health experts for consideration.
The project consisted of writing a proposal, creating an accurate reference page using APA and creating a multi-media presentation. Throughout the process, students from Hamilton College visited the Westmoreland campus as “critical friends” in order to help the 8th graders improve their overall projects by giving suggestions and feedback on the proposals, reference pages and the multi-media presentations.
For the culminating activity, the students were invited to the Hamilton College Science Department. They presented their findings to a panel of experts consisting of Hamilton students and professors.
The Oneida-Herkimer School Library System is composed of 22 public school districts and 4 non-public schools – a total of 72 schools!