Research Models

I found the discussion regarding research models to be very interesting. It seems that in order to select an appropriate model, and to rewrite it in child-friendly language, one needs to carefully consider the terminology used. The only way to really know what is going to be effective is to take a step back and look at the goals of teaching research from a pedagogical standpoint. The various stage of the model in use and the terminology used to express this model need to fulfill the goals and learning objectives at hand.

According to Riedling, the information literacy process has five basic steps (p. 6):

1. A need for information
2. a question
3. the search for information
4. an answer or response
5. an evaluation

These steps allow students to fulfill the goals of information literacy: “the abilities to access, comprehend, use, and evaluate information.” (p.6)

As a teacher on call, I have no classroom currently and only have a year’s experience teaching full time, so I am currently less engrossed with the practical and feasibility of these issues. When I have worked as a new teacher, however, my focus quickly becomes what will they do for the next 45 min? rather than how will I achieve and evaluate the learning outcomes? Certainly, this is an imperative consideration as well, seeing as the model has to work or no nobly considered goals will be achieved. Nonetheless, I found I could not agree with the common opinion criticising the terminology of Big6 model that Jennifer explained succinctly on May 17: “Like Brooke, I prefer the easily understood term "communicate" to the more abstract "synthesis." I also prefer "reflect" to "assessment" or "evaluation" because it is a broader term less likely to restrict students to a statement of success or failure.” While these are important issues, I found that in order to reflect the pedagogical goals at hand, the terminology used in the Big6 is more appropriate, as I explained in my post on May 21:

I think that the focus on synthesis of information over the presentation or product is a key concept for students. The goal here is not to produce a report, but for learning to occur. As to reflection versus evaluation, I think that evaluation is far more relevant. This should be a critical thinking process, in which the evaluation of method and results should be emphasized. … The research process should be focused, rather, on problem solving and critical thinking, as these are foundational to information literacy.

Synthesis and evaluation are both common key terms when referring to information literacy, and thus need to be in place in the research model. Synthesis may be a difficult term to use with young children, but “communication” does not adequately fulfill the pedagogical goals. As well, students should be able to evaluate and assess their own work and the quality of their answer as well as the sources they are using. The idea that students may have that evaluation is about failure or success is a misunderstanding of an important word that should be addressed rather than ignored.

Definitions

Not having any real experience working in a library, I was expecting there to be words in the glossary that I was unfamiliar with. I came into the course with little specific knowledge and little experience teaching information literacy, with only a love of books and other materials to bolster my knowledge of reference materials. Reading the index, I found that there were a good number of acronyms that are used primarily in the United States, something to be expected. What I did not expect was the intersection of school library and public library concepts.

What struck me the most, and what I commented on in the discussion is the relation between:

Bibliographic Instruction: Any activity designed to teach students how to locate and use information
Information Literacy:The ability to access, comprehend, use, and evaluate information

Reading this, bibliographic instruction initially struck me as an outdated version of information literacy, or at least a concept of a limited scope that should be a small piece of what makes up information literacy. However, while I know a bit about information literacy as it was certainly an important topic when I did my B.Ed, I had come across this term. I wondered what its practical application was, and if it is commonly used currently and in Canada.

I explained these wonderings in my comment on the discussion on May 14:

Is the key difference regarding the "location of the information" in bibliographic instruction, as opposed the the comprehension cited for information literacy? Surely, though, the "access" in information literacy includes finding it? Location is certainly included in my understanding of information literacy.
Could bibliographic instruction simply be used to refer to the teaching of information literacy? Are they parallel terms from different schools of thought, one of which is not used here?

Anne confirmed my suspicions, when she explained that “Bibliographic instruction predated "info literacy" and actually refers to teaching patrons how to use a library, and more specifically in academic settings teaching undergrads the joys of the Library of Congress classification system.”

By contrast, however, Riedling describes it as “an expression widely used and accepted in the modern library world. It is defined as any activity that is designed to teach students how to locate and use information…teaching lifelong learning skills” (p. 5)

All this leaves me wondering still. Possible, bibliographic instruction could be the action of teaching the skill we can information literacy, although this more common term isn’t mentioned in the textbook’s explanation. Additionally, the glossary definition doesn’t line up with the in-text explanation, which closely parallels the glossary definition of information literacy. I concluded, in the end, that the ambiguity presented by Riedling is likely a product of the intersection worlds of school and public libraries, of the difference in terms in the US, and of the fact that the book is 6 years old and may not quite align with the current quickly changing world of information literacy.