Computational thinking (CT) has emerged as an important method in the United States for helping children learn to solve complex problems and develop skills necessary for coding and other computer science-related endeavors. Research has revealed that CT can be encouraged with children as young as 3-4 years of age. While some preschools and schools…

When the author began his career as a school librarian, he took time to live with the collection and the school library the way it was inherited, with systems that were already in place. And during that first year, he observed. That period of observation and living with things as they were allowed him to start innovating and problem-solving from…

For a librarian with an innovator's mindset, inquiry can be a collaborative strategy for continual growth. When a librarian innovates with their community, radical, human-centered change is possible. According to the author, school librarians see the needs in the communities across grades, content areas, and demographics. The best advocacy is…

Learners encounter social and emotional challenges every day. Some rise to the demands, while others struggle. Social and emotional learning (SEL) lessons can help all learners thrive. Busy school librarians and educators who appreciate the power of teaching with picture books will celebrate this all-in-one text designed to promote SEL through the…

In 2005, Dale Dougherty and O'Reilly Media founded "Make Magazine," and coined the term Makerspace, which is broadly defined as a community workspace where people come together to solve problems using materials and tools they might otherwise not have access to (Dougherty, 2012). Recently, schools have allocated funding and resources into…

Breakout boxes are similar to the escape rooms that have popped up all over the country in the past few years. In an escape room, you and your friends are locked in a room and given a scenario and a time limit. You must work together to solve a number of puzzles to get out of the room before time runs out. Breakout boxes center around boxes, each…

To guide school librarians in their work of inspiring future generations of explorers, AASL tasked a 2020 ALA Emerging Leaders team with developing a guide of activities, resources, and professional development based on the Explore Shared Foundation in the "National School Library Standards." As learners prepare for college, career, and…

Instructional collaborations between classroom teachers and school librarians often involve the "research project." These annual assignments (typically) are opportunities to put the inquiry process into practice and provide a rich context for learning. The National School Library Standards for Learners, School Librarians, and School…

Tripp Reade is the school librarian at Cardinal Gibbons High School in Raleigh, North Carolina. This article describes how he redesigned his school's library orientation program after learning about escape rooms and a variant known as puzzle rooms. Puzzle rooms present players with a set of challenges to solve; they require "teamwork,…

Makerspaces, collaborative workspaces stocked with materials and tools for creating, building, designing, and learning, are becoming more and more common in schools and, in particular, in school libraries. Makerspaces in the school library allow for connections between making and literacy. Indeed, such connections are authentic and natural as…

The Colorado Study (Lance, Wellborn, and Hamilton-Pennell 1993) and its many replications in other states have demonstrated that when educators and learners had access to a qualified school librarian in the context of a thoughtfully built, adequately resourced, technology rich, and widely accessible school library, learners tended to flourish on…

For the forty-second time, the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) is sponsoring the publication of these Proceedings. Papers published in this volume were presented at the annual AECT Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Proceedings of AECT's Convention are published in two volumes. Volume 1 contains papers dealing…