S1 pupils are starting out on their Ancient Civilisations project, most of which is based in the library. To help them with their research pupils are given a couple of information literacy lessons.

Note making took place last week. It involves pupils being given a presentation on how to take notes, including emphasis on using their own words and not copying and pasting unless using direct quotes, and touching upon plagiarism. They are then given the opportunity to practise a few note making styles.

This week pupils looked at using keywords to find information in the contents and indexes of books. To do this they play ‘Keyword Bingo’. Each group gets four books on various Ancient Civilisations and a bingo sheet with keywords or key phrases. As keywords are called out, pupils record the word(s), search for them in the books and note down which book and page number on which they found them. If the word called is on the bingo card, they cross it off. This is a fun way of getting them using the books, as well as introducing them to some of the topics which they could choose to do their research on.

 

 

 

 

 

We supplement library stock from The Orkney Library & Archive which ensures we have plenty of resources for 70 or so pupils. School library owned books are available for loan, whilst the Orkney Library books are for reference, to be used in the library only.

Next lesson we will be looking at planning the project and starting to do the background reading, encouraging them to use the books prior to moving on to internet research, if any is needed – we do have plenty of resources!