IMLS-Funded Project Investigates Elements Leading to Children’s Innovation Processes The Innovation Destination Site Offers Resources for Young Innovators and Adult Mentors
W Marilyn Plavocos Arnone
Ruth Small
innovatiONS 4
hat prompts young children to innovate? Where do they find the tools they use to develop innovations? How do they seek mentors to encourage their innovation paths? Those questions and others about the innovation process in young children are being examined in the “Young Innovators” project and the resulting insights are being gathered into a website for librarians and other adult mentors of child innovators. “The Innovation Destination” site is the work of researchers Dr. Ruth Small and Dr. Marilyn Plavocos Arnone, whose efforts were funded by a prestigious $249,495 National Leadership Grant for Libraries from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Dr. Small has served as the Laura J. & L. Douglas Meredith Professor at the iSchool; director of the Center for Digital Literacy and of the Center’s Project ENABLE; and co-editor of School Library Research. She retired from her iSchool faculty position in the fall of 2017, but continues work as a research professor. Dr. Arnone is an iSchool research associate professor and associate professor of practice. The pair have worked together on groundbreaking children’s information and library projects several times and have previously received IMLS research funding. The concept for the project came about through Dr. Small’s work over the past decade and its applications with young innovator organizations and the role of librarians in supporting innovation and entrepreneurship in children and teens, she says. The pair have worked with experts in mentoring and supporting young innovators on this project. Their collaborations have included prominent national and state organizations and community facilities By Kids For Kids; the Connecticut Invention Convention; New York On Tech; Time2Invent; OCLC’s Webjunction and the Center for Mentoring Excellence.
THE iSCHOOL @ SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY
NEW LIBRARY RESOURCES The grant has permitted Small (as principal inves tigator) and Arnone (as co-principal investigator) to develop, produce and distribute information designed to spur creative thinking among students in grades 4 through 8 and provide librarians and other adults who guide young innovators with new types of library resources. They also wanted to enable librarians to understand of the importance of motivating and supporting student inquiry and innovation by creating innovation spaces within their libraries and by demonstrating knowledge and skills for being innovation mentors. They worked with close to 100 school librarians throughout the project.
“While innovation and entrepreneurship are certainly about creativity and problemsolving, what really excites me is learning more about the curiosity triggers among young inventors and entrepreneurs.” — MARILYN PLAVOCOS ARNONE
The training and new resources comprise the content for The Innovation Destination website, which uses an iterative design approach to its learning games, bibliographies and research articles. Designed for use by elementary and middle school librarians, teachers, parents and students, the site’s centerpiece is KidsClips. The clips are video interviews with successful young innovators offering their insights into the innovation process. At the same time, the materials present the child interviewees as role models for other young innovator-hopefuls. Dr. Arnone observes, “While innovation and entrepreneurship are certainly about creativity and problem-solving, what really excites me is learning more about the curiosity triggers among young inventors and entrepreneurs.” Prior research
