The Mom I Want to Be

 

Teach your children how to find information rather than concentrating on the information itself.  There’s so much to learn and so many sources of information, that you have to know how to find what you want.

 

PROJECT: To find information using different library reference materials to encourage kids to learn how to do research

 

AGES: Eight to 12

 

PREP: Your job consists of preparing the questions your child will be researching at the library. If it’s been a while since you did any library work, you should begin by soliciting the advice of a reference librarian. Try to come up with a list of questions to fit your child’s interests, sense of humor and ability.

 

List the resources you’d like your child to make use of, figuring that 10-year-olds will be able to track down the answers to about 10 questions in an hour and a half. Start with the library’s computerized catalog (or card catalog) and the basic reference materials your child is already likely to be familiar with (dictionary, encyclopedia, atlas, almanac, etc.). Check out other resources such as the READER’S GUIDE TO PERIODICAL LITERATURE, CONSUMER REPORTS magazine, THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY DESK REFERENCE book and every child’s favorite reference work, the GUINESS BOOK OF WORLD RECORDS.  Write your questions. Examples might be:

 

• You want to buy a CD player. What brand is the best buy for your money?

• You’re doing a research paper on the great flood of 1993. Name two magazine articles you might use.

• Who was the fattest person who ever lived and how much did he or she weigh?

• In which New England state did the Morgan horse originate?

 

Type up the “find” list and include some ground rules: Your child has one trip to the library to get as much of the information as possible and she should write down the answer and the source of the information. Let them know that reference librarians are the best resource in the library. Don’t waste their time with questions you can answer on your own, but don’t hesitate to go to them for help. They hold the keys to the kingdom. Let your child go off on his library quest. Allow him to decide whether to set a time limit. Some kids love to race the clock, others hate it. Keep track as she works and offer help in figuring out how to work with the different resource materials once she has found them. When the time is up (or the sheet is complete), examine the list together and compare notes. You might even find you both checked good sources but came up with different answers. Discuss why. Then take him out for a treat: an ice cream or a new paperback at the local bookstore.