What Makes a Good K-12 Resource Katy Ginger (support@dlese.org) DLESE Program Center (DPC) University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) http://www.dlese.org/Metadata/presentations/2005/2005-NSDL-K-12-resource.ppt

Primary Goal of DLESE Facilitate learning about Earth at all educational levels, formal and informal Strategies to Achieve This Goal Develop high quality collections Provide access to Earth data, imagery & tools Create discovery and distribution systems Provide support services to create/use materials Facilitate communication and collaboration across all interests of Earth system education DLESE does not hold, create or modify resources DLESE provides access to resources by providing search over metadata DLESE provides feedback to resource creators and review information to library users through teaching tips and various review mechanisms

Scope of DLESE Collection Emphasizes Earth as a System Study of processes, states, cycles and interactions Global and local perspectives Interdisciplinary connections between atmosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, space and biosphere Emphasizes Education Learning and teaching for improved understanding of Earth’s history, processes, and resources Supports research and assessment activities

Collection Criteria for all Resources Be relevant to Earth system education Function reasonably well Have attribution as to origin Reflect sound scientific principles and practices and current scientific knowledge Have an obvious and intended utility for teaching, research or learning about the Earth system Be free of advertising that is distracting or off topic for the learner Be free or low cost to educational users Criteria apply to broad scope and are not K-12 specific because we didn’t want to look like a K-12 only library but K-12 is the largest audience user DLESE requires a scope statement (describing what a collection is all about) but NSDL does not To address K-12 needs, individual collections have been specifically developed by K-12 groups for use by K-12 groups and DLESE developed Teaching Boxes (being showcased in other NSDL sessions)

Collection Criteria for Reviewed Resources Documents a process for ensuring: Scientific accuracy Importance or significance Pedagogical effectiveness Completeness of documentation Ease of use for teachers and learners Inspirational or motivational for learners Robustness as a digital resource

DLESE Resources (Vocabulary/ Granularity) Educational materials – classroom activity, computer activity, field activity, lab activity, tutorial, lesson plan, syllabus, curricula, course modules, field trips, problem set, demonstration, photo, visualization, webcast Assessment and pedagogical materials - exam, quiz, self-assessment, learning/teaching technique and educational research Research materials - journal article, summary, abstract, case study, report, theses, policies, proceeding, bibliography, etc. Data - Earth and space data (imagery, numeric values, map) Annotations - comments, reviews, teaching tips, additional content News and opportunities - information on grants, conferences, workshops, professional development, opportunities, etc. Tools - software or applications for interacting, accessing, manipulating or viewing, calculators and converters, models

DLESE Studies on Resource Quality/Reuse 2001 Discovery of Resources DLESE required metadata captures much essential info. but not all 2002 K-12 Perceptions on Quality Quality & limits on advertising should be emphasized in library policies (all) Scientific accuracy is paramount (grades 6-12) Age appropriateness/engaging activities is paramount (grades K-5) Complement, don’t replicate traditional materials (all) Label biased sites (grades 6-12) Current state of web resource design needs to be improved (all) Metadata should add value over the content of resources (all) 2003 Implement Nat. Science Education Stds. in Search Use the word ‘supports’ to connect resources to standards Pre-service teacher likely to search by standards but master teacher not Associate standards at state or district level 2004 Preliminary Web Log Analysis Grade range & resource type are the most often used qualifiers on search 2005 Community Review System (an annotation system) How many have used it? Will work for my students? Is it accurate?

Title and URL of resource Description Grade levels Resource types and Topics covered Educational standards and related resources (NSES and Geography) Resource creator Other contextual info (see reviews & teaching tips) and submit your own