Librarians’ Role in Encouraging Exploration

Interesting article about helping students to select meaningful topics for their essays:
Deitering, A-M. and Rempel, H. (2017, 22 February). Sparking Curiosity – Librarians’ Role in Encouraging Exploration. In the Library with the Lead Pipe. http://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2017/sparking-curiosity/
"Students often struggle to approach research in an open-minded, exploratory way and instead rely on safe topics and strategies. Traditional research assignments often emphasize and reward information-seeking behaviors that are highly prescribed and grounded in disciplinary practices new college students don’t yet have the skills to navigate. Librarians understand that the barriers to research are multidimensional and usually involve affective, cognitive, and technical concerns. In this article we discuss how a deeper understanding of curiosity can inspire instructional strategies and classroom-based activities that provide learners with a new view of the research process. We share strategies we have implemented at Oregon State University, and we propose that working with teaching faculty and instructors to advocate for different approaches to helping students solve information problems is a crucial role for librarians to embrace."
Photo by Sheila Webber: Trees in Greenwich park, December 2016