Evaluation of a Reference Work
Science 8 is a fascinating curriculum in BC, and never more so than in the past three years. A key content area of the Science 8 curriculum is “the relationship of microorganisms with living things” (Building Student Success - B.C. Curriculum). At the immediate level, the curriculum asks students to look at how diseases and infections impact the human body; at the broader level though, it asks students to take a step back and examine how pandemics and epidemics have impacted human populations. It’s a rare learning experience for students of the past three years, to be learning about how epidemics and pandemics impact the world while seeing the immediate effects of a pandemic in real time with Covid-19. Theoretically, the hope is that the immediacy of the classroom learning in their own lives would help students to become more invested in their learning experiences.
Selecting science reference materials can be a tricky business though. Being an area of constant change and development, current information on scientific topics can become outdated quickly. Add in the lengthy publishing process of scientific reference materials, and oftentimes these books are “out of date before they [even] reach the student” (Riedling, 20). In fact, Riedling asserts that within any library collection, physical books on most scientific topics should be replaced after five years. With this in mind, I decided to examine my school library’s collection of books on pandemics and epidemics, and found it to be shockingly small. There were very few books that looked at a collection of epidemics and pandemics, instead of focusing in on a single epidemic/pandemic like HIV, but one that I found seems to fit perfectly with the BC Curriculum.
Part 1
Mapping Epidemics: A Historical Atlas of Disease (Brent Hoff and Carter Smith III, with Charles H. Calisher) shows how epidemics have changed human history and the role of humans in the emergence and spread of disease. This is nearly the exact same wording as the BC Curriculum document, so on the surface level it seems like a great resource; however, upon picking up the physical book, suspicions of its actual relevance arose – it’s old. Almost 25 years old.
With that, let’s dive into my official evaluation of this resource. I will be applying Riedling’s criteria for resource evaluation to a single-point rubric. In my teaching practice I much preferred single-point rubrics to the more traditional rubrics (Jennifer Gonzales from The Cult of Pedagogy refers to these as analytical rubrics). Both myself and my students found the amount of text in traditional rubrics to be overwhelming to take in, and when I used these rubrics to assess I often found that the issues or positives that I found in my students work were not accounted for in the very specific rubric criteria. A single-point rubric, looking at positives and weaknesses (or however you choose to label them) has much more flexibility in terms of feedback and is significantly easier to read.
Weaknesses | Criterion | Strengths |
| Relevance & Scope | |
Although the resource is on a topic that will interest students, this particular resource itself is unlikely to engage many students due to the text-heavy layout. | How does the resource align with curricular needs and student interests? | The resource aligns closely with curricular needs. |
This resource is intended for a high school audience, and those interested in infectious diseases. While it’s place in a middle school library is curricularly appropriate, its reading level and layout will not match the current needs and capabilities of the majority of the current student body. | What is the target audience, and does it match the needs and capabilities of the current student body? | |
| Currency | |
This resource was published in 2000, which is considered extremely out of date for pure science materials. Given that this resource is looking at epidemics and pandemics throughout history, this is not as significant as a weakness as it would be for other scientific texts. That said, it does not contain any information on pandemics and epidemics and their impacts in the last 25 years; this is problematic since there have been numerous epidemics and pandemics across the globe during that time. |
When was the resource published and/or updated? | |
| Authority & Accuracy | |
There is minimal information that can be found online about the two authors. Brent Hoff is a director, producer, and writer with an assortment of credits to his name, from work with The Daily Show and Nickelodeon to articles about squid (“Brent Hoff”). Carter Smith III is the author of many books, mostly to do with American politics and history (Carter Smith (Author of PRESIDENTS)). While both have a long list of credits, there is no indication of any academic accreditation that makes them authoritative figures on the subject matter. | Do the authors and contributors have experience and education relevant to the resource? | Charles H. Calisher, the consulting editor, has his PhD from the Georgetown University School of Medicine, and is currently a professor at Colorado State University in the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (CVMBS). |
In terms of accuracy, any information that has been newly introduced or discovered in the last 23 years on the treatment or biology of these diseases would not be included. In those cases, information from this resource could be considered inaccurate. | Is the content accurate and factual? | The content appears to be as accurate and factual as its 2000 publication allows. Historical information is unlikely to have changed. |
| Arrangement & Organization | |
| Is the information of the resource arranged in a user-friendly way? | The resource is organized so that the infectious diseases from history appear alphabetically in the book which makes it easy to navigate. |
There are minimal graphics in the text. While each disease includes a map of distribution, there are no images or graphics of the physical symptoms of many of these diseases, or what the infected cells would look like. These types of images are necessary in a resource for today’s students because it breaks up the text and targets multiple learning styles. This resource is incredibly text-heavy and this would make it a challenging resource to use with our current students. | Does the layout include images and other graphics, sidebars of relevant information, a glossary, an index, etc.? | Each disease has an average of 2-4 pages devoted to it (although HIV has 6). Each disease includes an introductory side bar with key information like global distribution; the cause and transmission; symptoms and treatment; and prevention and control. It also includes a map of the specific area in which the disease is most prevalent, and in certain cases like the plague, uses arrows to show the spread of the disease. There are a number of helpful resource features of this physical text. There is a table of contents and glossary of important terms at the beginning, with the terms in red font throughout the rest of the text. At the back of the book there is a timeline of infectious diseases from 8500 BCE through 1999, as well as an index, and an extensive list of further resources. |
While there are significant weaknesses to this resource (namely the currency and the format), it is still curricularly relevant. I will keep this resource in my library for the time being, mainly because there is a current lack of similar items, but I will weed it if I am able to purchase a more current resource that fits with the curriculum.
Part 2
Admittedly, I am going to stray from this assignment’s directions to seek out a new potential resource that could be added to my library, and instead I’m going to investigate one of the databases that my school district has purchased for all educators and students within the district to use. My rationale for this is that it is not only an excellent upgrade over the Hoff and Smith resource, but also I am certain that these databases are not well known to my staff. By evaluating this database and becoming more familiar with what it has to offer, I will be able to promote it to my colleagues in my role as teacher-librarian.
The database I’m going to be evaluating is the Gale: Science in Context database for grades 8 – 12. While some aspects can be evaluated on a wide scale, for others I’m going to compare a specific article on a disease that is also in the Hoff and Smith resource, Legionnaire’s disease.
Weaknesses | Criterion | Strengths |
| Relevance & Scope | |
| How does the resource align with curricular needs and student interests? | This resource aligns incredibly well with curricular needs and student interests. Because it is an online database, the information is current and relevant so that all students can research an infectious disease of their particular interest. |
| What is the target audience, and does it match the needs and capabilities of the current student body? | This database is intended for use with students in grades 8 – 12. Given that the curriculum in question for this assignment is Science 8, this is an appropriate match. Furthermore, each article in the database has information on the reading level of the article, which could be extremely helpful for both students and educators. |
| Currency | |
| When was the resource published and/or updated? | Being an online database, the reference works are updated to contain relevant information. |
| Authority & Accuracy | |
| Do the authors and contributors have experience and education relevant to the resource? | In the reference work on Legionnaire’s disease, the author is Julia Barrett, a certified editor in the life sciences sector (“Julia Barrett”). |
| Is the content accurate and factual? | Yes – the reference article is edited for accuracy by two different members in the field. |
| Arrangement & Organization | |
| Is the information of the resource arranged in a user-friendly way? | Yes, the different subsections of the reference article are hyperlinked in a table of contents. |
Not all of the reference articles have images or graphics. | Does the layout include images and other graphics, sidebars of relevant information, a glossary, an index, etc.? | |
While this database does have weaknesses, it is significantly better than Hoff and Smith’s book from 2000. Its regular updating makes it more reliable than a print format book, and it can be accessed by multiple people at once, while print format resources have a limited reach. The best part of this resource is that it is already available to our educators and students, and so once they become aware of its availability there will be no wait time like there would be in the purchase and arrival/availability of a brand new resource.
Works Cited
“Brent Hoff.” Film Independent, 16 Jan. 2020, www.filmindependent.org/talent/brent-hoff.
Building Student Success - B.C. Curriculum. curriculum.gov.bc.ca/curriculum/science/8/core.
Carter Smith (Author of PRESIDENTS). www.goodreads.com/author/show/62328.Carter_Smith.
CVMBS Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology Dept - Calisher, Charles. www.cvmbs.colostate.edu/directorysearch/search/memberprofile/cvmbs/33178/calisher/charles.
“Julia Barrett.” LinkedIn, www.linkedin.com/in/juliarbarrett. Accessed 8 Feb. 2023.
Riedling, Ann Marlow. Reference Skills for the School Library Media Specialist: Tools and Tips. Amsterdam, Netherlands, Adfo Books, 2005.
Comments
Post a Comment