Discover Gale’s New Disinformation and Misinformation Portal

| By Gale Staff | High school educators know that strong digital literacy is a cornerstone of successful education in the 21st century. As technology becomes ever more pervasive in the classroom, it’s important for students to learn how to maintain a responsible online presence and identify facts from biased or misleading information. Understanding how … Read more

Discussing Opposing Views in the Classroom

| By Traci Cothran | In this interesting four-year study, as reported by Holly Korbey in Building Better Citizens, researchers Diana Hess and Paula McAvoy looked at the impact of political—not partisan—discussions in the classroom. They found that well-planned, thoughtful discussions led by informed teachers resulted in increased civic knowledge wherein students learned “how to discuss … Read more

The Facts behind a Meme

| By Beth Manar, Senior Content Developer, Gale | In today’s fast-paced social media news cycle, images of celebrities, government officials, and even ordinary citizens become fodder for viral memes that can travel the globe within hours of their creation. However, many times these images are taken completely out of their original context to make … Read more

Gale Has You Covered on the Facts about E-cigarettes and Vaping

| By Sheila Dow | Between 2017 and 2018, there was a dramatic increase among teen use of vaping devices in just a single year, with 37.3 percent of 12th graders reporting “any vaping” in the past 12 months, compared to just 27.8 percent in 2017, according to the findings by Monitoring the Future (MTF).1 … Read more

Research for a Great Debate

| By Beth Manar, Senior Content Developer, Gale | A debate is defined as a discussion, generally in a formal setting, in which two sides present opposing views on a topic. Debates have been recorded in history for millennia, and various debates have been labeled Great Debates over time, covering a wide variety of topics … Read more

Gale’s Hackathon: Passionate People Working on New Ideas

| By Aimme Keener | Gale’s credo starts with the statement “We believe in the power and joy of learning,” and the technology team truly embraces this.  Once a month, our team stops all of its day-to-day work on the floor and participates in a hackathon. Hackathons aren’t new.  They have become mainstream in the … Read more

Get Information You Can Trust with a Simple Search

Question:  When research often starts with a Google search and dubious results, how do we get online library reference materials in the hands of those who need it? Answer:  Opposing Viewpoints In Context’s Google Chrome Extension! Melinda was doing her Social Studies homework the other night and needed facts on gerrymandering.  Instead of using her … Read more

Why We Choose Gale

By Jenny Wirtz, Teacher Librarian, Ankeny High School

In Iowa, we are fortunate to have the support of Area Education Agencies (AEA) that assist the local K-12 school districts. One of the services that our AEA provides to us is access to many high-quality resources at no cost to our district, including several Gale products. However, I still choose to spend a portion of my shrinking budget on three specific Gale Databases because I believe they offer the best experiences for our high school students. What puts Gale above the competition? I believe it is their quality content, appealing layout and design, and above all the seamless integration between the Gale products and other tools we use such as Google Drive, Google Classroom, and EasyBib.

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Enhance Research with Opposing Viewpoints In Context

By Holly Hibner If there’s one source I love during a presidential election year, it is the Opposing Viewpoints In Context database! This is a librarian’s dream because our patrons are looking for information on all kinds of controversial topics, and matching their own stance to that of the candidates. Opposing Viewpoints presents all sides … Read more

Celebrate the Freedom to Read

By Traci Cothran

Reading is central to everything we do here at Gale—and whatbbw you do at your library every day—so it’s a good bet the majority of us use Banned Books Week to rally around the works that cause a little controversy.  This year’s Banned Books Week focuses on celebrating Diversity, and runs September 25 – October 1.

I’m an avid reader of middle grade and young adult fiction, so it drives me a little batty when parents ban amazing novels that speak to youth. Some authors are even dis-invited from appearing at schools to talk about their books and the issues affecting kids today.  For instance, the graphic novel Drama, by Raina Telgemeier, has caused grumblings for two gay characters kissing, but I’ve yet to meet a middle school girl who doesn’t love this series.  Author Meg Medina faced scrutiny with her novel about high school bullying, Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass, because the title has a swear word in it—and you know such language is never spoken in school hallways!  Kate Messner was dis-invited from a school speaking engagement while on tour for her book, The Seventh Wish, because the main character’s sister struggles with a heroin addiction, affecting the whole family.  But there’s no reason to talk about the real-life heroin epidemic affecting kids in high schools and middle schools across the U.S., is there?

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