6/9/09

Students learn presentation skills in addition to the topics of their reports.

It is a learning experience repeated throughout the year at schools across Baltimore County; students must stand and present to their classmates what they have learned, how they have used research skills, and how it relates to the unit they are studying.

At Hillcrest Elementary School in Catonsville this year, students in grades 4 and 5 experienced the value of presenting research projects about animals to their friends and teachers. Using modern research tools such as the Internet as well as time-tested methods of learning, students acquired skills they can use in any career or college course throughout their lives.

A team of students presents research on the jellyfish to classmates.cs of their reports.

Under the direction of media specialist Georgette Ortiz, Hillcrest students worked in pairs to become experts on wild animals by engaging in research using print and nonprint resources in the school’s media center.

They drew their research from websites such as www.nationalgeographic.com, and also had to learn to use LCD projectors to add meaning to their team presentations. 

The old ways worked, too. Ortiz says that while many students today do not immediately think of the value of a printed encyclopedia – and may not even know how to use one – the Hillcrest students learned a variety of skills designed to enhance their researching skills, such as how to use the index in the last volume of the encyclopedia to find the appropriate facts.
 

A Hillcrest student reports his findings on loggerhead turtles to his classmates, including other varieties of turtle. In another part of the media center, his partner at the computer projects images from the National Geographic magazine website.

“Presenting research to their peers takes on a brand new meaning once you add the technology of an LCD projector, a screen, and of course, a captive audience,” said Ortiz.

Students also delved into new vocabulary as their peers introduced terms related to their animal research projects, and presenting pairs had to field questions from their fellow students following the presentation.

“It was very exciting to hear students talk about their animals with great passion,” Ortiz said. “One never knows the full impact that such as assignment will have on students in the long run. We may be raising another [primate scientist] Dr. Jane Goodall, a researcher who will save endangered animals, a veterinarian or simply a more compassionate, thoughtful human being.”

Story by Georgette Ortiz, Library Media Specialist at Hillcrest Elementary School, and by Charles Herndon, Communications Specialist, Baltimore County Public Schools. Photos courtesy of Hillcrest Elementary School.

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