Creating My First STEM Library Training

“Overwhelming majorities of Americans see education as the foundation of libraries’ mission.” 

(Horrigan, John. “Libraries at the Crossroads: Pew Research Center, September 2015,

Available at:http://www.pewinternet.org/files/2015/09/2015-09-15_libraries_FINAL.pdf )

The economy of the United States is rapidly changing to a knowledge economy. Jobs that pay living wages increasingly require an understanding of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). Formal education (including state-funded education) is out of financial reach for many people in this country. Economic inequality will continue to intensify as basic access to information is increasingly commodified.

Libraries play an essential role in ensuring that everyone has access to information. Traditionally, libraries have done this by maintaining large collections of books. Today people access information in different ways. People continue to read books, but they also listen to audiobooks, watch movies, read ebooks, go online, and learn by doing. Information access has transcended the printed word and basic literacy now means more than simply the ability to read. As a result, libraries must deliver learning opportunities directly to people.

This year I was asked to train library staff unfamiliar with programing, in an effort to give them the tools to lead public-facing STEM programs. This was an interesting challenge. I was to train people with varying levels of instruction experience, with subject matter that is outside of their normal specialty area.

I began by asking staff casually about their potential interest in taking and leading such a program. The initial indicators were mixed. People were curious, but also a little worried about presenting on material with which they had no familiarity. Many of our staff are adept at detailed reference in specific areas and many are exceptional generalists. All hold master’s degrees in the subject. But this was a different ask. This was the presentation of technical concepts to a group of learners. Thinking about my own educational experience, most of it was done by people with significant subject expertise or training. Even at the “101” level in college, my professors were for the most part PhDs. 

I have been doing staff training in libraries for about two years now. (A rookie by most library standards.) One of the most amazing things about the people that work in libraries is their ability to locate and acquire knowledge very quickly. As a trainer, I must develop training under time constraints, many times in fields that are not my own. It is incredibly helpful to work in a building that not only houses the world’s information, but is also staffed with experts in identifying and satisfying my information needs. This resource has enabled me to be both effective at creating training rapidly, while also providing an avenue to satisfy my own personal curiosities about the world. Libraries are like rocket fuel for learning.

Libraries need to conduct programing in a style that leverages the pre-existing strengths of library staff. The personalized experience of a quality library reference interview often feels like a shared journey between the librarian and the patron on a quest for knowledge. Our programing does not need to be lecture format; a professor speaking from the podium. Rather, our role is to present information in an attempt to spark the curiosity of our learners. Instead of “teaching,” we take the exploratory learning journey with our learners.  We can engage our learners through mutual exploration, two-way question-asking, experimentation, and explanation using a common curriculum of concepts. Guiding and sharing in the learning experience not as an expert, but as a facilitator.

My first task was to identify a STEM subject that had fundamental principles that learners could build upon once acquired. I settled on basic electrical theory because it is a gateway to many engineering concepts. 

Our library owns an array of activity kits and teaching materials. I developed my learning objectives and began to look at what tools I could use to most effectively transport the knowledge. The Squishy Circuit Kit was the best match for my learning objectives. It uses conductive and resistant Play-dough to create easy-to-manipulate electrical circuits. 

I began work to develop my own curriculum for using the kits and bounced the outline off a co-worker. She told me to not reinvent the wheel and to convert a lesson plan available online. I found a very straight-forward lesson plan from UCLA that matched my learning objectives.

Here is the link to the lesson plan:

http://beam.ucla.edu/sites/default/files/docs/Squishy_Circuits.pdf

My learning objectives for staff leading programs were as follows:

• Understand what electricity is
• Understand how batteries generate electrical current
• Understand what makes materials conductive
• Conductivity
• Path of least resistance
• Resistance/resistor 
• Closed circuit/open circuit
• Short circuit
• Series
• Parallel
• Measurements of electricity

Learning objectives for members of the public participating in staff-led programs are as follows:

• Conductivity
• Path of least resistance
• Resistance/resistor 
• Closed circuit
• Open circuit
• Short circuit

Staff have a few more knowledge requirements than the people in their programs. They need to be armed with a little more background to facilitate the program. The class is 3 hours and I broke it down in three parts.

In the first hour I showed staff a video from YouTube by Dr. Marty Jopson. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ch6jti8i6u4

This video is about one hour long and demonstrates the history of electrical theory using live experiments. It covers a significant amount of ground very quickly and provides a strong foundation for me to later discuss our knowledge requirements in depth. Dr. Marty is an excellent showman and the video models how to make electrical theory engaging. 

There is a key difference in how Dr. Jopson presents this subject matter and how we in libraries will present. Marty is an expert. He has big machines to do experiments, and the video is even shot at the Royal Institution where many of the concepts were first developed. This allows him to be a type of showman that we just can’t be. 

What we can take from him is his enthusiasm. It is very important that we demonstrate excitement about the subject we present. Enthusiasm is contagious and participant enthusiasm leads to deeper learning. It is also important to remember that in our library setting we have an advantage over Dr. Marty. Our small group, shared learning experience creates personal connection that an expert speaking to hundreds of people can’t foster.

In the second hour we dove deeper into the learning objectives using a combination of lecture, videos, and hands-on activities.

Creating a battery bank from lemons to demonstrate the impact on voltage of series and parallel circuits

In the final hour, participants conducted the activities in the UCLA lesson plan. After each activity we asked questions about the results we received in our experiments. When we did not know the answer to the questions, we developed new experiments using the kits to answer the questions. In this way, we became familiar with the subject matter, the materials, and the format of collaborative learning. Finally, we had a group discussion sharing ideas about we could deploy the programs in a public-facing library program.

Now the moment of truth. Deployment.

My hope is that the library staff conducting this training provide me with feedback to make the course better for the next group. My personal experience of learning with staff and collectively answering our own questions was phenomenal for me. I hope that staff and their program participants have an equally powerful learning experience as I did. Happy Maker March!!