Understanding & Promoting Library Materials

Understanding & Promoting Library Materials 

PART 1 *Five databases from the SD36 Online Digital Resources page*

Database #1: Discovery Education Math Techbook

This database shows an online textbook for sixth to eighth grade students learning math in British Columbia! There's an overview and table of contents page that shows you all the concepts they will learn listed down. There are tutorials for topics such as fractions, surface area, and decimals.

How this database could be useful to students at Fraser Heights:

• The math textbook could be used by math students in Grade 8.
• You could use it to learn a bunch of different concepts (like the ones I listed above) or use the tutorials for extra help when you don't understand them 
• If a student needed extra help with a certain concept (for example fractions), they could simply click on a video that explains it or there is a "practice" section where they could try the problems. 
• An example of a math project that I did was calculating budget and finding out the best sales for different items. There is a page on this database titled, "Which is the best deal", which contains all the details to a fun project identical to the one I did back in grade 8.
• This database could also be useful for teachers looking for resources for teaching their students. They could base their math lessons on the pre-made ones on the page.

Database #2: Poetry and Short Story Reference Center

This database contains a whole library of poems and short stories in eBook form! You can easily search for the title of an essay that you really like, and you can read it right in the browser. The collection also includes much more, such as biographies, literary journals, and reference works. 

How this database could be useful to students at Fraser Height:

• This database could be used in all the high school English classes as a resource. Instead of going to the library and checking out physical books, students and teachers could simply go to the website and search up the titles they are looking for. That would save you so much time (even though it is much funner to go to a library).
• In English class a lot of the time, one of the assignments is to pick a poem by an author we like and deep dive into the meaning. Although I can't remember the specific name of poem I read in English 9, I remember I had to find out the themes- which this website has information on. It would have been helpful to be able to easily find the poem online and use this website to search up poetry related information. 
• Teachers can also use this database to assign reading for their students. They can narrow down their search so that they can assign a story related to what they are teaching. 

Database #3: MyBlueprint

The MyBlueprint database is a program that lets you plan out your education or career opportunities as a high school student. You can use MyBlueprint to check graduation requirements or learn more about your own interests. There are even quizzes you can take to see which career paths suit you (your interests and your personality)

How this database could be useful to students at Fraser Height:

• High school students, especially the ones in grade 11 and 12 getting closer to post-secondary, can use this platform to figure out if they have reached all the graduating requirements (if they have enough course credits, if the courses they are taking align with their interests).
• This could be used in a Careers 11 class, where the assignment would be to look at different career paths and find jobs that suit your interests. (If you took the quiz for your interests, it would show you which career path is best suited for you) 
• Teachers could use MyBlueprint to monitor their students and see what they could do to fit their learning needs. (Ex. Include more hands on activities or include more slideshow presentations)

Database #4: World Book Timelines

This database shows different timelines for a lot of world history, including some important people, historic literature, and major events. It also allows you to create your own timelines, if you need to do that for a school project.

How this database could be useful to students at Fraser Height:

• While this website is meant to be used by students in grade 6 to 9, high school students in higher grades could also use it if they have a history or socials class. 
• If you were assigned a project and you had to create a timeline for notable historic inventors, you could click on that page and it would show you a whole list of people and their biographies. 
• For example, in my Socials 10 class, we had to choose a country and research all about it. I would've used World Book Timelines under "Asian countries" to help me look at the history of all the Asian countries. 

Database #5: KnowBC

This website tells you absolutely everything you need to know about British Columbia! There is a main page showcasing new book releases and featured encyclopedias from BC. You can learn all about nature, First Nations, history, and even look at various field guides. You can subscribe to this database and have access to it as a student from anywhere. 

How this database could be useful to students at Fraser Height:

• This could be used in Socials 8, Socials 9, and Socials 10. It is so useful for finding information, specifically on what the curriculum focuses on, which is First Nations and the history of BC. 
• A project that KnowBC could be useful for is researching the geography of BC (the types of forests, plants, and names of different areas.) If you wanted to know the names of plants in BC, you could look up the field guide for the medicinal wild plants of Canada. 

PART 2: VIDEO/ MOVIE STREAMING DATABASES

Video Streaming Database #1: CBC Curio

CBC Curio is a video streaming database that has many documentaries, new, and children's programs (both in English and French) They are mostly there for teachers to use in the K-12 classes (in all subjects, too)

In this video titled," What is Citizen Science", one of the contributors explains how regular people can play a role in eco science. This could be shown in a Science 10 class as an introduction to their biology/ ecology unit. It would useful to watch because it is a simple introduction to how students can help with climate change and do their part. 

This documentary is called "Backlash: Misogyny in the Digital Age" and it could be shown in a Social Justice 11 class. It's about women being abused online following an incident that happened back in 2017. The story is told by following four women and a man around in their daily lives dealing with "virtual violence". It's useful to watch in a Social Justice class because it could teach students about the dangers of what they see online. 

Video Streaming Database #2: NFB Campus (National Film Board of Canada)

The National Film Board of Canada database contains lots of documentaries and animated/ short films. All the content is based around important topics such as sustainability, Indigenous voices, and diversity.

"NFB Space School- Astrogeology" is a short video I found that could be shown in Science 10 classes. It talks about asteroids, meteors and coments, which is a great intro to the Space unit. It would be usedul for teachers to play this video because then students could see visually what different parts of space look like. 

A great video I found for a Social Justice 11 class is this one called "The Big Reset: Governance". It's a video about an interview with a criminologist named Munira Abukar where she talks about issues in today's society and social injustice. This would be useful for teachers to show to their students because it shows a real person talking about their experience with justice and it shows Munira talking about how change can happen.

A movie that I really want to watch is called "The Whale and the Raven". I found it while browsing the NFB Campus and the cover art and description just sounded so interesting. It's about the conflict between the government of BC, the Gitga'at First Nation and whale researchers. It sounds so interesting because in the description it says that the people in the Great Bear rainforest are struggling to keep their own territory as their home. This would totally be shown in a Social Justice 11 class.