Conservation of Energy Pathfinder

Recently I learned about pathfinders. At the elementary school level, pathfinders are an important part of the guided inquiry process. Pathfinders can provide students with a step-by-step model of the research process from initial investigation to the creation of a well considered inquiry question and forward into the research resources. Taking into account the understanding that a library is more than a book room, I set out to create a research tool for the 21st century information environment or "learning commons."

Working with two grade five teachers at Secord, I created a pathfinder on the topic of Energy Conservation. The site is particularly effective when used within the library since the library provides a great shared space in which to use both virtual and paper resources.

The first links in the menu cover the basics: Keywords, Research Strategy, and Rubric. These can be edited by the individual teachers to match their class' needs. The rest of the links are the resources and I chose to begin with virtual resources and then the hard-copy Secord resources (circulating and reference collection) follow.

Ideally, students begin their research with whatever medium appeals to them. The library, with its Smartboard and hard-copy collection, provides a space in which students discover and share with small groups or with the whole class.

In regards to the virtual aspect of the site, in particular the Web Sites Recommended section, our elementary audience gets a very broad selection of hand-picked sites and, of course, at least one teacher (but preferably a teacher and a teacher/librarian) is at hand to ensure "safe" Internet practices. But the most important aspect of this part of the pathfinder is the demonstration of the wealth of information to be found in virtual resources, be they National Geographic Kids videos or the Grolier online encyclopedia.

This is a web 2.0 tool. Students will see this when they find the word list and rubric edited by their teacher to reflect their class' research process. I hope to see each teacher create a page for their class rubric. Each grade 5 teacher has access and I'm working with two teaches who will lead the way for their colleagues.