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Within the school library community, there have been persuasive calls for school librarians to contribute to science learning. We present a conceptual framework that links national standards of science education ("Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas," referred to as "Framework") to core elements embedded in "AASL's Standards for the 21st-Century Learner" (referred to as "Standards"), the standard that guides the teaching and learning of multiple literacies for which librarians are responsible in schools. Based on this conceptual framework, we highlight how four middle school librarians in a large school district in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States enact and expand their five roles--information specialist, instructional partner, teacher, program administrator, and leader--while they participate in Sci-Dentity, a science-infused after-school program. We observed clear links between skills, dispositions, and responsibilities from the "Standards." taught and facilitated by these school librarians, to principles in the Framework. We contend that the learning of the Standards is crucial to creating and sustaining science-learning environments as envisioned in the "Framework" and argue that school librarians' role in science learning is more vital than it has ever been. (Contains 1 figure and 1 footnote.)

Understanding how to better engage young students in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) is essential. The constraints of U.S. K-12 schools (e.g. insufficient institutional supports, lack of technology access, testing pressures, etc.) often make it difficult to create truly engaging STEM curricula with which students can deeply identify. Educators currently have a unique opportunity to leverage resources that resonate with young people today, such as: science fiction, sci-fi movies, and sci-fi games; popular science media such as "National Geographic" and "Discovery Education"; and online communities and social-media platforms. This is a prime time for school library programs to link these forms of media and technology to science learning. The authors contend that school library programs are uniquely suited to lead innovative thinking about how to leverage these resources to help young people see the value of STEM in their everyday lives. For school library programs to function as bridges to these resources, many substantive questions must be addressed. How could school libraries structure educational programs, access to media resources, and curriculum to create engaging learning experiences for students? What would be the role of the school librarian in designing and implementing STEM-infused programs? To begin answering these questions, the authors report on the Sci-Dentity project launched in January 2012. Sci-Dentity is a project through which researchers at the University of Maryland are collaborating with school librarians to design ways to incorporate science storytelling, new-media literacies, and participatory culture to ignite students' interest in STEM. (Contains 3 figures.)

School librarians play a pivotal role in facilitating learning of all subjects in primary and secondary schools in the United States, but their potential contributions to science have not been explored. In this paper, we show how school librarian practices can directly enhance aspects of science education by providing concrete examples from a study where we engaged school librarians to co-design and co-implement a science-infused after-school program. We found that librarians are a strong asset in science learning, as they foster youth engagement in authentic inquiry practices and engage young people’s everyday life interests in science learning. This study contributes new insight into how librarians can use their expertise to enhance science education efforts in schools. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]