Another round of library research started last week with S1 Geography classes starting out on their Environment projects (Environment Project leaflet). Classes are given 6 periods in the library to carry out their research. The first lesson consists of a reminder about planning their work and showing where the relevant resources are shelved or displayed, as well as the importance of noting down which resources they used for a bibliography.

Pupils may have chosen their topic already, or this is the lesson in which they can make their decision by looking at the resources available, and discussing their ideas with the Geography teacher of school librarian.

We encourage them to do some background reading prior to filling in a planning template, especially if they have chosen a topic the know little about. The template gets them to think about timescale for the project, keywords and key phrases which they can use for searching for information in books or on the

internet, and research questions to help them think about exactly what they want to find out. The template also allows pupils to record the resources they used for their research in preparation to prepare a bibliography at the end of their project.

The classes have all settled really well into their research and most pupils are independently carrying out their research. Help is on hand from their Geography teacher, school librarian, and Support for Learning assistant where needed.