Thing13. Subscription Databases

I wish I knew how to get my students to use subscription databases more and google searches less. Leslie gave a great presentation about the databases when she talked to my classes, but now what? I have given the students the information and created a pathfinder for one of my classes last year on where to start in using the databases for one of the research projects I assign, but I don't give that out until second semester. Maybe I need to do that for all my classes earlier on so they know where to start. We have a hard time at Central due to our lack of a computer lab that could hold all of the students in a class, but thankfully Leslie is working on that. Until then, I might try to create a scavenger hunt assignment using the databases to find the information that they can do either in school or as homework. This would be great to do this all together off campus, but how do I get three classes of ninth graders to the public library? If I could set that up, that would allow them to get library cards if they do not have on--as well as make sure they know how to use the databases in both locations. I will try to get this together.

UPDATE FROM NOVEMBER MEETING: It was really great to have the time to work with different databases and have others show the way. Often I use trial and error to get to know a database; searching for hours trying to find information in my first year of graduate school was frustrating--how great it would have been to have had this session before I started graduate school. I hope to transfer this information to my students so they don't have to go through the frustrations that I did. After reading one of the other participant's updated blog posting about the meeting, I also added a link to my class blogs to the resources we explored today. Now--if I can find the time to show each class how to navigate each one...