Learning Library - Integration

Learning Library - Integration is based on the experience of Dianne Fields, a YWCA program coordinator who works at the Esperanza Academy in Lawrence, MA, twice a week. Dianne is the teacher for a Zoey's Room class. The basic idea of Integration, as the name implies, is to integrate a Learning Library challenge into a larger learning experience that may include other activities at the computer, offline activities, and group activities. The goal is to contextualize and expand on the key concepts found in a particular Learning Library challenge. A teacher may start with an existing challenge or may decide to create or adapt a challenge while considering for further classroom integration.


A brief introduction to the context around Dianne Fields' experience is crucial to understanding the larger picture of her Integration of the Learning Library into a Zoey's Room lesson. Zoey's Room is a science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) program situated within the Esperanza Academy, an all girl middle school. 7th and 8th grade girls come together during their STEM class to log onto the Zoey's Room online community to complete guided, hands-on activities to learn STEM concepts.

In this particular setting, Diane Field's lesson plan included topics related to objects and motions, consisting of major concepts such as speed, velocity, displacement, and acceleration. This topic is particularly relevant to the NML Skills - Play and Simulation. So Dianne knew that some revisiting of existing challenges in the Learning Library (see Education) was in order.

One of the key ideas that Dianne wanted to elaborate on in her lesson was experiments using the new media literacy, Play. To Diane, Simulations was about trying out different scenarios by varying pertinent variables in order to observe the relationship between variables. She browsed through challenges that she had tried out in the Learning Library and found the challenge, "Failed and Failed Often" fitted the bill.

"Failed and Failed Often" was about illustrating how in many games we are in fact conducting mini experiments and continuously examine how different variables (such as angle of a projectile or strength of an attack) may affect outcomes. This challenge was perfect for Dianne to illustrate how variables such as velocity and acceleration affect motion in her lesson.

However, the challenge itself was not enough as it did not explicitly relate the activities of the challenge to the lesson's topic. Thus, Diane integrated the Learning Library challenge with other activities in order to contextualize and highlight particular physics concepts. She began the lesson with a brief brainstorm of what the girls already knew about motion (a "what do you know? discussion) by starting the class with a hands-on activity of throwing and observing a ball getting passed from one another to prime students' attention to think about objects in motion. Students then logged into the Learning Library and completed the "Failed and Failed Often" challenge for some guided activities. The Your Turn in the Learning Library challenge only related to the games provided in the challenge, so Dianne extended the Your Turn to encouraging her students to share other games they play online that have taught them something about science and physics. Girls presented the games and together, the class ranked them as to which game was the best and unanimously chose Portal.

A copy of Diane's lesson plan can be found here

Dianne found this integrated layout particularly useful to orient students to particular learning concepts. By combining hands-on activities, Learning Library challenge, and group discussions, students were more attuned to particular learning objects while completing Learning Library challenges. Furthermore, the combination of online and offline activities also gave students different learning tools in order to examine and grasp a learning object from different modes of engagement. Here's what Dianne had to say about this experience:


In collaboration with Dianne, the Project NML Team has identified several elements that seem to be important to consider when integrating a Learning Library challenge into a larger lesson:

• Include some sensory and tactile experiences throughout
• Make sure that it's participatory and that all students get chance
• Keep it playful and let students experiment with different objects and ideas
• Begin with a prompt and end with a reflection

For more details about Integration and other tips and ideas, please check out our Teachers Guide: Integrating a Learning Library Challenge handout.


Get started by first reviewing the handout provided above. The handout lists four important steps in considering integrating a Learning Library challenge into your lesson. You might then just browse the Learning Library and get some ideas about topics to cover in your lesson (try a search!) or you might already have a particular topic in mind. Once you have identified a challenge that might be relevant, think about how it could work together with other types of activities. The Learning Library can be the main component of the lesson, or it could be a set up or take away. Make sure you create a lesson plan outline and considering sharing your lesson with a Learning Library challenge integrated below.