Thing 16 of 23 Things

These calculators are terrific for the motivated student that is aware of where to find them or is made aware somehow. It was mentioned on the mother blog that a link to the RPC could be made on a teen or student page. That certainly would be the easy part. In a very small, community with a very small library, such as the one I work in, I can ascertain a couple of major stumbling blocks on the path to utilize these well thought out resources. 1) Lack of library staffing-one person in the library 90% of the time. 2)The teacher (whom I probably know) might not be on-board to use some aspects, at least, of these resources because a) they are unaware of them b) their own concept of the ideal finished project may differ from the suggested model. Having said that, I still feel that I've been given one more piece of "equipment" to help out students, if they should ask. Hand-outs printed off these sites would be well worth a try. I thought the ELM database tutorials were very comprehensive in scope. I know I will be referring students to them in the future. I think the RPC could have a little tamer version for younger students or less involved projects. After all, it's best to teach them good habits early. I do feel like the library has a responsibility to promote all the online resources along with the traditional resources to make teachers, students, and parents aware of what a visit to the library or the library's webpage can offer to give the student the opportunity to be more successful. This "thing" has opened my eyes to what's out there to help students.