Project PEARL Produces Trainer’s Guide to Help Students with Research
Pathways for Excellence and Achievement in Research and Learning (PEARL), a project funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services and directed by the Library and Information Science Program at UHM, has produced an online trainer’s guide. The three-year project provided professional development for teams of teachers and librarians from twenty Hawaii DOE and private schools working on researching skills in project-based learning with their students. The teams designed and implemented collaborative instructional approaches in reading, writing, and critical thinking to assist students in developing projects across diverse disciplines.
The trainer’s guide is downloadable from the PEARL Web site at http://www.hawaii.edu/lis/pearl/ The site also showcases examples of student projects as well as teaching resources for instructors. For more information on Project PEARL, contact its director Violet Harada, at vharada@hawaii.edu.
Karen Lee, Executive Director of the Hawaii P-20 Partnerships for Education, noted that the project is “a perfect example of work done in the cross-sector space that builds critical skills in our high school students to be ready for life after college.”
Acknowledgments to the PEARL development team: Carolyn Kirio, Kapolei Middle; Sandy Yamamoto, Kapolei High; Michael-Brian Ogawa, UHM Dept. of Information & Computer Sciences; Jodie Mattos, UHM Libraries; Megan Terawaki, UHM graduate assistant; and Kendyll Doi and Ed Meyers, UHM technical assistants.
Akina and Yamamoto Win LIS Blair Awards
Johanna (Hana) Akina and Jenny Yamamoto are the fall 2013 recipients of the Robert and Rita Blair Memorial Award. This coveted award is presented to graduating students who show special promise in providing library services to children and youth. The LIS faculty select the awardees based on high academic standing and strong evidence of professional leadership.
Hana has served as vice president of the ALA Student Chapter, leader of the LIS Web Team, and secretary of Hui Dui, the LIS student organization. In addition, she has volunteered at Kahuku Public and School Library and tutored high school athletes at Kahuku High and Intermediate. She will be working as the librarian at Aiea Elementary for the spring 2014 term.
Jenny is currently a teacher librarian at Leilehua High School. She has served as the school’s Senior Project Coordinator and is actively working on collaborative partnerships between the school and Wahiawa Public Library. As part of her senior project work, she was invited to join a team of presenters at the 2012 Schools of the Future Conference. She shared the exemplary work being done at Leilehua on Project PEARL, a collaborative initiative to improve students’ research skills. Jenny plans to continue her work in the Leilehua school library after graduation.
Dr. Asato Receives Social Science Research Council Grant
Dr. Asato received a $40,000 grant from the Social Research Council through the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Fellowship. Dr. Asato will conduct comparative research on the Philosophy of Modern Public Libraries in Japan and the United States. The grant allows Dr. Asato to conduct an onsite collaborative research with colleagues in the Kyoto University in Spring and Summer of 2014.