The tropical rain forests of Latin America provided the setting for the introduction of information resources available at the Rancho Bernardo High School library and provided an opportunity to access, assess, and apply the information gathered from those resources in a classroom related project.

Three hundred freshmen enrolled in the Ninth Grade Academy program at RBHS participated in the project early in the school year in an effort to foster information literacy skills early in a student’s RBHS experience. These resources and strategies were used throughout the year in other Academy projects and assignments.

Groups of students in each class were assigned one segment of the tropical rain forest to research: plants, animals, indigenous peoples, settlers, businesses, or ecotourism. Each group made a 3 minute presentation to the class relating their topic to the question Should the tropical rain forest be protected from further development?

The RBHS library resources introduced to the students were Catalog Plus, WilsonDisk, SIRS, Electric Library, selected sites on the Internet, and a CD-ROM program, The Rain Forest from ReMedia, Inc.. Generic terms were stressed when introducing these resources to students: index, table of contents, keyword or subject search, narrower or broader search terms, and Boolean searching. Practical tips were given for saving or printing information for further use.

In addition to the group presentations, a short paper and pencil test was given to assess student knowledge of the information resources used in this project. Listening skills and note-taking skills were applied and assessed during the presentations. Rubrics were used for student self-assessment.

Some changes will be necessary when the project is used next year. The resources themselves have changed, too many resources were included for the time students had to work on the project, the Internet will be discussed in more depth, and the rubrics need to be redesigned. Students did not seem able to focus on self-assessment. The project took place entirely in the RBHS library with very little out-of-class time needed. Some accommodation will be needed for absent students.