This link has been bookmarked by 1 people . It was first bookmarked on 11 Apr 2008, by Wisely.
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11 Apr 08
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Prepared for: Vermont Center for the Book 256 Haywood Road Chester, VT 05143 -
The project is designed to answer five questions: 1. How can the public library become a science and mathematics learning center for young children and their families? 2. What information and training do librarians need in order to make science and mathematics learning come alive for young children? 3. What information, knowledge, and materials do librarians need in order to infuse science and mathematics content into their practice, programming, collections, and displays? 4. Who are the community resource partners who will augment this effort? 5. How can the answers to these questions be disseminated nationally? -
Exhibit 4. BIG Idea Vignette 1 Eight children assembled in a large basement level room called “the meeting room.” They took mats from a pile in the corner and placed them on the floor near the librarian’s chair. Seven parents (all mothers) sat in regular chairs on one side of the room. The librarian announced, “We are going to start our BIG Idea Science and Math program and learn exciting things like sizes.” She picked up a book titled, Inchworm, showed the cover to the children, and said the title and author’s name. She read the book with expression, showing the children each page as she read it. She asked a few questions about what she was reading, such as, “What do you think that would feel like?” Children responded. One child commented that the inchworm must feel ticklish. “Yes, I hadn’t thought about that,” replied the librarian. One child asked, “Can you measure sound?” The librarian said, “That’s a great question. You can measure sound. Can you say something loud and then say it softly? That’s one way.” The librarian then showed the children the book, Actual Size, and said, “We are going to do some scientific investigations. What do you think, will your hand be bigger or smaller than the animals I’m going to show you?” The children looked at their hands. The librarian continued, “Every animal or part of an animal in this book is the actual size. What’s this?” A child responded. “[Child’s name] hypothesis is that this is an eyeball. It’s a giant squid! His size is more than half the size of a football field. Which is bigger, a moth or an eyeball? Let’s measure.” -
Exhibit 5. BIG Idea Vignette 2 Two librarians were visiting a nearby child care center located in a church. One librarian found the room with the 3- year-olds while the other worked with the 4- and 5-year-olds. The librarian working with the older children gathered them in a circle and passed out a sheet of paper titled, “Fast, Faster, Fastest.” She put two books on top of each other and pulled out a toy car. She asked the children, “What do you see on the paper?” The children replied, “A car, book, and ramp.” The librarian said, “That’s right. We are going to predict which car is going to go faster when we roll it down the ramp. Let’s count how many books there are.” They counted together and affirmed that there were six books. She queried the children, “Which car will go faster? Will it go faster when there are two books, four books, or six books?” The children predicted six books. The librarian tested the hypothesis, first by rolling the car down the ramp with two books, then the ramp with four books, and finally, the ramp with six books. “What happened?” she asked the children. “Which was fastest?” The children replied that the car was fastest with four books. “Right. We predicted six, but four was faster. Do you have any guesses about why?” Children guessed, some saying they thought it had to do with the speed limit or the length of the ramp. The librarian asked, “What about the slope, which is the angle of the ramp? A child asked what would happen with five books. She demonstrated. Another asked about one book and she tested that as well. She pointed out that the ramp was at a different slope each time. The children affirmed this. She asked, “What if we try to keep the angle the same or varied it to see what happens if it is higher or lower?” She demonstrated using various angles. Children asked for many variations. She continued, “Maybe our original prediction was right, but slope matters.” -
She then said, “Let’s talk about movement. Do you know what that is?” Children waved their arms. The librarian spread her fingers, did a half twist and other movements. The children repeated what she did. She then asked them to look at the hands of the clock on the wall and queried, “Are the hands on the clock moving fast or slow?” Children responded. “What else is moving in your classroom?” The children pointed out various things that move in the classroom. The librarian then showed the children the book titled, Hop Jump, and said the title and the author of the book. The children sat down when their teacher asked them if they were ready to listen. The librarian read the story with expression, asking questions such as, “Have you ever seen a frog dance? She was leaping, turning, twisting, and dancing.” She talked about the words and asked the children what they thought would happen next. She then had them stand up and practice jumping, hopping, leaping, twisting, and dancing. She asked them to recall the sequence from the story. She then said that the other librarian would be working with them next and told them goodbye. -
Exhibit 6. BIG Idea Vignette 3 Seventeen children (nine girls and eight boys) along with three caregivers from a nearby Early Childhood center arrived for Discovery Time in the meeting room at the library. The room had a large, colorful rug for children to sit on. Several chairs for adults were along the sides of the rug. The librarian had a table of materials and a chair at the “front” side of the rug, and opposite librarians at the back of the room and a little bit away from the rug were two long tables set up for activities. A display of books was on another table at the back corner of the room. After all the children were seated with strategic relocation of a few children, the librarian started with a question, “I understand you brought a collection today. What kind of collection? Tell us about the collection.” Many children wanted to talk about other collections they considered bringing or had at home such as superheroes and Barbie dolls. The collection they agreed to bring from the center to the library was marbles. The librarian praised individual children for being good listeners and good observers as they described items in the collection. She said, “Let me tell you about my collection. In this folder, I have a collection of cards.” She described and showed several different kinds of cards. “Do any of you collect cards?” -
Next the librarian introduced the book titled, Hannah’s Collection. As she read it and showed the children pictures from the book, children listened attentively and sometimes expressed surprise or delight at the number or arrangement in patterns of items in a collection. “Which collection should Hannah take to school?” asked the librarian. One girl suggested the jewelry, while boys suggested money and keys. Several children exclaimed, “Read it again!” The librarian showed some of the pictures again, and let children express why they liked certain collections in the book. When they talked about the button collection in the book, she showed them the activity they could choose to do with buttons. At this time she demonstrated a sorting graph with buttons, and tried to avoid children who immediately wanted to handle all the different buttons. The librarian found the book titled, Seashells by the Seashore. As she read this book, she took comparable shells out of a pail and passed them around. At the end of the reading, she put all the shells back in the pail. Then she described another activity the children could choose to do. There were containers with shells and magnifying glasses with which to examine shells more closely. Also, children could make a card with a picture of their favorite shell. -
The librarian announced that she had one more book to read titled, A Pair of Socks. Before reading the book, the children were told to look at who was wearing socks in the room and whether they matched. As they read the book, the librarian asked about a lonely sock and related this to children’s experiences with socks at home. She showed them pictures in the book and they noticed when and why socks do not match. When they finished reading the book, the librarian passed out one-of-a-kind socks to children. She then produced a magnetic board and a collection of socks for Children to select from to make matching pairs. She demonstrated finding a match and putting the pair of socks together on the board. Then each child did the same for the sock he/she held. Finally, the children talked about matching socks at home. The rest of Discovery Time was devoted to children working on the buttons and seashell activities. The activity tables were set up so that about half the children worked on one activity for about 10 minutes and then changed places with a child at the other activity.
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