two students working on laptops in a library

Student Learning through School Library Programs

Librarians support students by providing instruction on inquiry based learning, information skills, and critical thinking.

School library programs encourage students to think and explore globally.

School libraries are vibrant places of learning. Librarians teach the inquiry process which encourages students to ask questions, explore and evaluate information, and create new knowledge for themselves. Sometimes this learning is a research unit, a hands-on opportunity to create something, or the basis of a skill to apply in new situations. Whether it be an elementary, middle, or high school library, school librarians look to activate students’ curiosity while helping them grow as critical thinkers, skillful researchers, and enthusiastic readers.

FCPS school library programs are foundational for student success in school and in life.

Inquiry-based learning is important because students are encouraged to make connections between what they already know and ask questions to extend their understanding. As a result students are empowered to take ownership of their learning.

School librarians often collaborate with classroom teachers and facilitate experiences for students to apply information skills in the context of the school curriculum. An inquiry-based research process may go through several stages.

What makes you curious?

Students are provided the opportunity to wonder about a topic, thinking through what they know, notice, and are interested in exploring.

Context and Perspective

School librarians provide a common experience for students to ground their learning. This might include activating or developing background knowledge, providing context to a topic, or sharing information for clarity and understanding.

Explore and Question

School librarians may help students identify resources to explore that will help generate important questions. As students develop more specific and sophisticated questions on a topic, they will begin to formulate a plan and identify further areas to explore.

Gathering and Evaluating Information

Students will need to identify sources of information and evaluate them for accuracy, currency, relevancy, and bias. School librarians help students identify and use reliable sources for valid information, consider what is fact and opinion, and look for evidence to support a claim. At the same time librarians teach students search strategies for digital resources and how to accurately take notes and credit sources, understanding the difference between what they learn through research and their own ideas.

Create New Knowledge

Students will continue to explore their questions and begin to develop their own ideas related to what they’ve learned. They will determine how to demonstrate their understanding and often create something original, blending the information they have discovered with their own conclusions and ideas.

Sharing, Feedback, and Reflection

School librarians create opportunities for students to share their learning with others, often with the goal of obtaining feedback that they can incorporate into their final product. They then reflect on the process, their learning, and the outcome.

Adapted from Guided Inquiry Design

School Librarian Standards for Learners*

View each standard to see the associated benchmark and indicator.

The student will build new knowledge by inquiring, thinking critically, identifying problems, and developing strategies for solving problems.

Think - The student will display curiosity and initiative.

Formulate questions about a personal interest or a curricular topic.
Recall prior and background knowledge as a context for new meaning.

Create - The student will engage with new knowledge by following a process.

Use evidence to investigate questions.
Devise and implement a plan to fill knowledge gaps.
Generate products that illustrate learning.

Share - The student will adapt, communicate, and exchange learning products with others in a cycle.

Interact with content presented by others.
Provide constructive feedback.
Act on feedback to improve.
Share products with an authentic audience.

Grow - The student will participate in an ongoing inquiry-based process.

Seek knowledge continually.
Engage in sustained inquiry.
Enact new understanding through real-world connections.
Use reflection to guide informed decisions.

The student will demonstrate an understanding of and commitment to inclusiveness and respect for diversity in the learning community.

Think - The student will contribute a balanced perspective when participating in a learning community.

Articulate an awareness of the contribution of a range of learners.
Adopt a discerning stance toward points of view and opinions expressed in information resources and learning products.
Describe understanding of cultural relevancy and placement within the global learning community.

Create - The student will adjust awareness of the global learning community.

Interact with learners who reflect a range of perspectives.
Evaluate a variety of perspectives during learning activities.
Represent diverse perspectives during learning activities.

Share - The student will exhibit empathy and tolerance for diverse ideas.

Engage in informed conversation and active debate.
Contribute to discussions in which multiple viewpoints on a topic are expressed.

Grow - The student will demonstrate empathy and equity in knowledge building with the global learning community.

Seek interactions with a range of learners.
Demonstrate interest in other perspectives during learning activities.
Reflect on personal connections within the global learning community.

The student will work effectively with others to broaden perspectives and work toward common goals.

Think - The student will identify collaborative opportunities.

Demonstrate a desire to broaden and deepen understandings.
Develop new understandings through engagement in a learning group.
Decide to solve problems informed by group interaction.

Create - The student will participate in personal, social, and intellectual networks.

Use a variety of communication tools and resources.
Establish connections with other learners to build on their own prior knowledge and to create new knowledge.

Share - The student will work productively with others to solve problems.

Solicit and respond to feedback from others.
Involve diverse perspectives during inquiry processes.

Grow - The student will actively participate in learning situations with others.

Contribute to group discussions.
Recognize learning as a social responsibility.

The student will make meaning for oneself and others by collecting, organizing, and sharing resources of personal relevance.

Think - The student will act on an information need.

Determine the need to gather information.
Identify possible sources of information.
Make critical choices about information sources to use.

Create - The student will gather information appropriate to the task.

Seek a variety of resources.
Collect information representing diverse perspectives.
Question and systematically assess the validity and accuracy of information.
Organize information by priority, topic, or other systematic scheme.

Share - The student will exchange information resources within and beyond the learning community.

Access and evaluate collaboratively constructed information sites.
Contribute to collaboratively constructed information sites by ethically using and reproducing others’ work.
Join with others to compare and contrast information derived from collaboratively constructed information sites.

Grow - The student will select and organize information for a variety of audiences.

Perform ongoing analysis of and reflection on the quality, usefulness, and accuracy of curate resources.
Integrate and depict in a conceptual knowledge network an understanding gained from resources.
Communicate curation processes openly for others to use, interpret, and validate.

The student will discover and innovate in a growth mindset developed through experience and reflection.

Think - The student will develop and satisfy personal curiosity.

Read widely and deeply in multiple formats.
Reflect and question assumptions and possible misconceptions.
Engage in inquiry-based processes for personal growth.
Write or create for a variety of purposes.

Create - The student will construct new knowledge.

Problem solve through cycles of design, implementation, and reflection.
Persist through self-directed pursuits by tinkering and making.

Share - The student will engage with the learning community.

Express curiosity about a topic of personal interest or curricular relevance.
Co-construct innovative means of investigation.
Identify collaboratively innovative solutions to a challenge or problem.

Grow - The student will develop through experience and reflection.

Respond iteratively to challenges.
Recognize capabilities and skills that can be developed, improved, and expanded.
Accept feedback for positive and constructive growth with an open mind.

The student will demonstrate safe, legal, and ethical creating and sharing of knowledge products independently while engaging in a community of practice and an interconnected world.

Think - The student will follow ethical and legal guidelines for gathering and using information.

Apply information, technology, and media responsibly to learning.
Understand the ethical use of information, technology, and media.
Evaluate information for accuracy, validity, social and cultural context, and appropriateness for need.

Create - The student will use valid information and reason conclusions to make ethical decisions in the creation of knowledge.

Use and reproduce others’ work ethically.
Acknowledge authorship and demonstrate respect for the intellectual property of others.
Include elements in personal-knowledge products that allow others to credit content appropriately.

Share - The student will share new information with a global community responsibility, ethically, and legally.

Share information resources in accordance with modification, reuse, and remix policies.
Disseminate new knowledge through means appropriate for the intended audience.

Grow - The student will engage with information to extend personal learning.

Personalize use of information and information technologies.
Reflect on the process of ethical generation of knowledge.
Inspire others to engage in safe, responsible, ethical, and legal information behaviors.

*Adapted March 2018 from American Association of School Librarians “AASL Standards Framework for Learners”, 2017.