Library and Information Science (LIS) Curriculum at Conant Elementary School
Our Vision and Mission
It is the overall vision of Conant Elementary School's Library and Information Science (LIS) program that we develop in students the skills necessary to fully participate in today’s global community. This requires critical thinking skills, communication skills, collaboration skills, and skills in creative problem solving (the National Education Association's "Four Cs" of 21st Century Skills).
Additionally, the LIS program views information science and imagination as congruent paths that intersect in Library and Media class. Where the science of information intersects with a nurtured imagination, and using the Four Cs as foundational skills that support our vision, students:
- Treat learning as a social responsibility where students learn from and teach each other as they work together to solve problems
- Explore and stay persistent in their quest for knowledge, embracing and encouraging their curiosity through sustained inquiry
- Responsibly and ethically engage with technology and the information they find and use
- Develop a love for literature which:
- Builds self-awareness, respect for oneself
- Builds social and cultural awareness, respect for others
- Develops a foundation of knowledge
- Exposes problems and how solutions are formed including ideas for improvisation
- Inspires the imagination
Our Standards-Based Library and Information Science (LIS) Curriculum
The Library and Media Center and our LIS curriculum establishes standards that align with the Massachusetts State Frameworks, with much of our LIS program covering the Massachusetts Digital Literacy and Computer Science standards. The standards articulate practices necessary for success. As students progress through their K-6 education, they acquire increasingly sophisticated knowledge, skills, and dispositions.
Topic #10: Digital Citizenship [LIB.DC.T10] Students will be safe, responsible, and respectful users of technology and digital resources.
Directions: Imagine you see a cyberbullying situation. You're going to create a card to help stop it. The card can be for the target, the bully, or someone seeing the cyberbullying. It can give them advice, give them action steps, or just say something nice that will make them feel better.
Example student response:
Topic #11: Computer Science [LIB.CS.T11] Students will integrate basic digital literacy skills with simple ideas about computational thinking.
Students create a program using robots, individually and collaboratively, that implements an algorithm to achieve a given goal, and use an iterative approach in development and debugging to understand the dimensions of a problem clearly, among other standards-aligned skill-building statements:
Topic #12: SEL Competencies [LIB.SEL.T12] Students will develop competencies in self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making (the CASEL 5) through literature.
Students completed a self-assessment where they were to rate themselves on five core competencies and then select one to focus on improving during the course of a project.
Example student response:
