Tracy Hinton

AIL 607
Summer 2014
Dr. Rice
Article Critique
General Information
Author Information Background
For this research study, four authors are mentioned as contributors to
the project. While the qualifications of all of them are quite extensive, they
do not appear to be listed in order of contribution. All of the authors are
linked to the University of Maryland as professors or as a graduate student,
and the first three authors work in the same department. Listed first, Mega
Subramaniam is an assistant professor and associate director in the College
of Information Studies, and she is also cited twice in this study for previous
publications with other contributing authors. Next, June Ahn is an assistant
professor, while Amanda Waugh is a graduate research associate. Last,
Allison Druin is ADVANCE professor for the STEM Senior Womens Council and
codirector of the Future of Information Alliance at the University of Maryland,
working both in the College of Education and the Department of Computer
Science. While there is no mention of the order of contribution, Druins
extensive research in this field of study appears to be more closely related to
the topic in this article.
Title and Source
As the title of the article suggests, the research concerns the SciDentity Project, which is a collaborative effort between researchers at the

University of Maryland and local public schools. Through various science,

science fiction, and technology projects, students are encouraged to write
stories and participate in other creative activities. In addition, the title is
concise and uses keywords that correctly describe the topics included in the
article. Published by the American Association of School Librarians (a
division of the American Library Association), Knowledge Quest is this
organizations key journal that is published bi-monthly from September
through June and serves as a key source of information for school librarians.
The article submission application requires that the research must be based
on an upcoming theme and range between 1,500 2,500 words. While AASL
members receive a complimentary subscription to Knowledge Quest,
individual issues may be purchased for $12 each. As a past member of
AASL, I have read numerous articles from Knowledge Quest over the years
and find the publication to consist of scholarly research that provides much
relevant information regarding the instruction of library media and
information retrieval skills.
Theoretical Background for Study
According to Subramaniam, Ahn, Waugh, and Druin (2012), Our team
of school library researchers and learning scientists from the University of
Maryland are collaborating with school librarians in four public schools,
located in a large U.S. city, to develop and supervise a free after-school
program for underserved young adults (p. 23). By watching science fiction
movies, reading science fiction and graphic novels, and playing science-

based games, the researchers hope to create a greater interest in science,

technology, engineering, and math topics with truly engaging STEM
curricula. The researchers note that their prior studies indicate that NASA
scientists were often inspired to study science by stories of Star Wars and
other science fiction novels and movies. With this knowledge, they hope to
encourage young people to develop a desire to further explore STEM-related
topics. If the study indicates a positive outcome, then library media
specialists can become key facilitators of hands-on learning projects that
involve STEM-related topics.
Possibly due to the limiting publishing guidelines (1,500 2,500 words)
and the audience of readers (school library media specialists), specific details
concerning the measurement tools are not mentioned in this article. Based
on my own interpretation, the authors plan to conduct a qualitative study by
using observations to determine if there is a higher interest in STEM-related
topics. Certainly they could also incorporate a quantitative pre-test and
post-test survey that measure the attitudes of students to determine if the
after-school program produced more positive feelings toward STEM-related
topics. Actually, I feel that the authors suggestions for lesson ideas would
be greatly enhanced if information was included concerning the details and
reliability of the study.
Statement and Significance of Problem
According to Subramaniam, Ahn, Waugh, and Druin (2012),
Understanding how to better engage young students in science, technology,

engineering, and math (STEM) is essential (p. 23). With the constraints of
few technology resources and inadequate funding, it becomes challenging to
create engaging STEM-related curricula with which students can identify and
enjoy. As educators seek to provide meaningful instruction to students,
school librarians can become valuable resources to link various forms of
technology and social media to STEM topics.
Hypothesis, Objective, or Research Question
The authors begin the research study with the following questions:
How could school libraries structure educational programs, access to media
resources, and curriculum to create engaging learning experiences for
students? What would be the role of the school librarian in designing and
implementing STEM-infused programs?
While this is not a specific focus, the authors also provide a link to
http://scidentity.umd.edu, which describes objectives of the research project,
even though much of it was already mentioned in the article. To further
clarify the focus of this
3-year grant, the following information is provided.
We are exploring three broader research questions in this project:
1. How can science fiction and creative narrative be utilized to help
connect science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) ideas into
young students evolving identities as learners?

2. What factors in school libraries and public schools can influence the
successful implementation of Cyberlearning projects such as Scidentity?
3. How can online social networks and communities be designed to
encourage young people to share, remix, and incorporate creative
media practices into their evolving interest in STEM? (Retrieved from
http://scidentity.umd.edu)
Procedures
During the after-school program, students participate in activities such
as reading books and watching movies about science (both science fiction
and popular fiction), playing science-based games, and writing scienceinspired stories. The project team and partner librarians create and revise
lesson plans for the after-school sessions. In addition, the librarians assist
the researchers as they design a social media site that facilitate creative
storytelling activities based on science. After each session, the team
debriefs to guide the instruction of future lessons. As they brainstorm with
school librarians, the team incorporates the suggestions from them as well
as resources available from the libraries. Through experimentation, the team
develops and implements different projects to inspire the students to further
explore STEM topics.
While the sampling method is appropriate as it involves public school
students from ages 11 14, the research design also appears to be suitable
to the solution of the problem. Although some of the research details are

omitted, a similar study can be replicated based on the objectives of the SciDentity program goals. Other details are not mentioned, including data
collection methods, instruments used, and data analysis.
Results, Conclusions, and Implications
While the research has not yet been conducted, the authors clearly
expect positive results from this 3-year study. Actually, their conclusions and
implications appear to be written prior to the implementation of the study
and are not surprising to the reader. Based on previous research on this
topic, they plan to use the provided grant monies to implement this afterschool program and to offer suggested instructional techniques to school
librarians and other educators. They have already discovered instructional
methods that should prove to be successful, and in so doing, they intend to
convince school librarians also to use these creative teaching strategies to
inspire interest in STEM topics. As expected when the details are scarce,
much information is missing from this study, including conclusions that are
substantiated and generalizations that are confined to the population from
which the sample are drawn. Actually, the researchers apply the expected
findings to all students, regardless of background and/or socioeconomic
status.

Overall Evaluation
While the outcome of this study will likely prove to inspire students to
develop a greater interest in STEM-related topics, the authors do not provide

enough details regarding the studys intended methods of measurement and

evaluation. There simply was not enough information given to replicate the
study. Having had experience in writing grants (at a much smaller level than
the one in this study), this information would have surely been required upon
submission of the grant application. The researchers would provide specific
information (in the grant application) regarding the instrument, as well as the
method used, such as qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods. Very
likely, this information is omitted (from the article) so that school librarians
could better focus on the activities that are detailed, as well as the intended
positive outcome of using instructional methods to engage and inspire
students to pursue STEM-related topics of study. From an educators
standpoint, I enjoyed the article and am convinced that the instructional
methods will prove useful and pertinent to school librarians. On the other
hand, as a researcher, I am not fully convinced that the project study is valid
and reliable, since those details are omitted.
Style, Format, and Precision
Throughout the article, the writing style is clear and engaging, with an
unbiased tone. Free of extraneous information, the authors develop a
logically organized outline that includes an introduction to the problem (with
references), a description of the Sci-Dentity Project, implications for the
school librarian, and conclusions. While the conclusions simply explain the
role of the librarian in implementing programs such as Sci-Dentity at each
school, it leaves the reader with a feeling that such programs are worthwhile

and even vital to encouraging interest in STEM topics. While the article
length is effective, more information could have certainly been provided.
Even the provided link does not fill in the gaps concerning questions that I
have about the research methods and specific details concerning the SciDentity program. Admittedly, I wonder if the authors intentionally leave out
such information as a way of keeping private the details of the grant. From
my experience, I have found that educators with successful grant-writing
experience do not freely share details of their grant application and research
methods, due to the highly competitive nature of these funds. Although I am
not sure that this is the reason for the omission of this information, it is
possible that these researchers did not want others to piggyback from their
hard work. Nonetheless, I thoroughly enjoyed this article and find the
research project to be an interesting and worthwhile topic of interest.

Reference

Subramaniam, M., Waugh, A., Ahn, J., & Druin, A. (2012). Sci-fi, storytelling,
and new media
literacy. Knowledge Quest, 41(1), 22-27.