#2 Licensed Databases: Are they useful in the classroom?

My Response: My experience with databases is every evolving. I remember spending hours in the library as a high school student and pouring over annals for articles on particular topics--the old fashioned way. As a graduate student I was familiar with some databases such as ERIC and LexisNexis. I am continuing to discover how important license databases can be with an 8th grader at home who is assigned many research papers. I work with her to expand her searching techniques that general began with Google.

A couple of articles I read were really helpful in showing teachers how to help students especially in the Google age. I started my searches with keywords such as, "student use," "students" and combined them with "(online) databases," "Internet," "digital/virtual libraries." I found that the "Internet" game me too much information. It also helped to specify K-12 vs. college. I had to ensure I selected full-text articles as well. For me, by far the most helpful database that had the most relevant articles was Academic Search Premier.

Two helpful articles.
In "Helping Students Use Virtual Libraries Effectively," researchers were interested in how prepared students are to use virtual library systems and what kinds of strategies both teachers and libraries employ to help students apply their skills in these environments. As expected, high school students had the more difficulty. However, interestingly enough much of the lack of experience for both groups was due to little or no experience with research papers.

"Teaching Students About Locating Resources @ Your Library," was more relevant to K-12 and instructional for teachers on how to introduce students to databases and why. the author provides steps on how to give a presentation to young students and suggests beginning with why databases and not Google. Since Google is a household name and most children know it, it is something they usually begin with. The author distinguishes the advantages of databases, Google and encyclopedias. The main difference is that databases have authoritative information.

I definitely see the value of using databases in the classroom and teaching students the benefit of them from an early grade.