Teachers: Teacher Librarian / 6th Grade Social Studies Teacher
Subject Area: Library and Information Skills
Grade Level: 6th
Unit Title: Egypt
Lesson Title: Egypt Research Skills
Overview: Students will use print source materials related to Ancient Egypt to learn source evaluation.
Connection to the Curriculum: In sixth grade, students study world history and geography, specifically ancient civilizations. Sixth graders also learn information skills applicable to research.
Connection to Standards:
History Social-Science Content Standards for California:
Grade Six, Standard 6.2: Students analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the early civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Kush, 7. Understand the significance of Queen Hatshepsut and Ramses the Great.
California Model Library Standards:
Standard 2: Students evaluate information
Time: Approximately 1 hour. Students will spend a 1-hour period in the library media center.
Materials/Equipment Required: Students will use print sources available in the school library.
Objectives: Students will gain experience evaluating print sources of information.
Suggested Procedure: Students will spend the first half of the 1-hour lesson in the library media center listening to a presentation and asking questions about source evaluation. The second half of the lesson will be spent trying out new evaluation skills introduced by the library media teacher.
Opening: Teacher librarian will introduce the lesson by sharing the book Hatshepsut, His Majesty, Herself (book review available at http://picturebooksforbigkids.blogspot.com/2011/07/hatshepsut-his-majesty-herself.html) by Catherine M. Andronik. Teacher librarian will share the steps for evaluating this book to determine whether or not it is a good source for a project that the students will soon be working on in their social science class.
Development: Students will be divided into groups and given several books on a single topic related to Ancient Egypt. The groups will use their newly learned process for evaluating print sources to determine the quality and appropriateness of the materials.
Closing: Each group will elect a spokesperson to present to the class the best print source as determined by their group for the upcoming Egypt project. The spokesperson will explain the results of examining their recommended source (i.e., the publication date, text content and age appropriateness, appendix content, index quality, ease of use, etc.) as outlined in the presentation on source evaluation.
Student Assessment: Students will listen to feedback from the teacher librarian after their group presentation. Other students may also comment and ask questions.
Extending the Lesson: Students might apply print source evaluation criteria with additional criteria to evaluate digital sources. Students could learn to create a citation for book evaluated. Students might learn note-taking skills as part of learning to gather information from a source.
