LIBE 477- Reading Review Part C

 

Reading Review Part C

 

The topic I was looking at is information literacy. Reidling defines this as a person who can, “recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information”, (pg. 118). This is a large topic with some overlap with other kinds of literacy such a digital and reading literacy. To narrow my topic, I focused on the areas of research skills, critical thinking skills, recall/precision issues, and useful databases and search engines.

During the course of my research, I found a lot of generalization about information literacy, and descriptions about what skills it encompassed. It took a bit more digging to find specific information about how to help students achieve it. Unless I was looking at a site or book that was meant for teachers, I found information literacy was discussed in broad terms and different areas it was necessary for, but not as much in the way of concrete plans, steps, or tools about how to go about achieving it.

When I was looking for information and resources, I found there was overlap between some of the specific areas of information literacy that I was exploring. The areas of research skills and critical thinking skills are related because you need to use critical thinking to find good information sources for research. As Miller and Bass mention, critical thinking involves students who, “question everything and seek to understand the views and values of others”, (pg 75). Alberta Education’s competency indicators include “critical thinking, problem solving, managing information, creativity and innovation”, (pg. 1). Their definition of critical thinking includes:

 

 

Achieving Information Literacy, by the Canadian Association for School Libraries talks about the importance of collaborative program planning with teachers to help students achieve information literacy by teaching them skills mentioned by Reidling, that are needed to “access, evaluate, organize and use” information, (2019).

There are many good models on how to do research that are available, but one that I liked for its informal language is the Points of Inquiry, a framework produced by the BC Teacher Librarians Association, (2022). The different stages of research in this model are “connect and wonder, investigate, construct, express, and reflect”. The stages of “investigate” and “reflect” both involve critical thinking skills. When investigating, a student needs to critically evaluate their information source for authority, and relevance. During the reflection stage, the student synthesizes their learning and comes up with new questions. Throughout the process teachers and teacher-librarians are directly teaching research skills such as “evaluation of resources”, and “effective keyword and other search strategies”, (Points of Inquiry, 2022, pg 9).

The skills to evaluate digital resources are especially important for students to develop as some school boards are relying on free online information rather than purchasing vetted digital databases. There are many graphics for students available on how to evaluate online sources, but one that I liked for its simplicity was created by a teacher named Kelsey Bogan for her high school in Pennsylvania. This graphic not only lists four easy steps to evaluate an online source but gives specific places the student can go to in order to do this. For example, at the fact checking stage, it gives the keywords a student could enter, or a website they can check such as http://www.snopes.com. I think especially at an elementary level, this is the kind of scaffolding that would be necessary for students.

 

 

Teachers and teacher-librarians have an opportunity to collaborate and find ways to develop critical thinking skills through literature formats such as comics and graphic novels before students even go online. These are engaging for students and provide material to question and think critically about current issues, (Infobase blog, 2021). The critical thinking skills such as “evaluating source authority and content”, (Princh blog, 2022), can then be scaffolded and applied to online research. My takeaway regarding research and critical thinking skills is that it is most effectively taught collaboratively, with support and scaffolding that is available in educational research models.

A problem I became aware of through Pariser’s Ted Talk, is that digital information is filtered online to what the algorithm thinks we want to see, editing out differing points of view and contrasting perspectives. The ability to see and consider contrasting points of view is important to developing critical thinking skills. I knew this was the case with social media platforms, like Facebook, but had no idea that this applied to search engines such as Google. Another Ted Talk by Andreas Elkstrom revealed to me further how these search engines such as Google can be manipulated and how all searches have bias. This is information our students need to be aware of when learning about keywords and search engines in order to be critical thinkers and online researchers. The students can use this knowledge to sort through vast amounts of information and decide what is relevant and reliable without being overwhelmed, called the “recall/precision” problem, (Reidling, 2019). 

 

 

My takeaway here is that while directly teaching critical thinking skills is necessary to digital literacy, I think reliable, vetted databases are also useful for younger students learning researching skills. Student appropriate databases such as those published by EBSCO, (Reidling, pg 85, 2019), are appropriate places to start, but require a subscription. Some school divisions invest in these kinds of databases, then teachers introduce the use of search engines after the information about how to evaluate a source is covered. Cost can be prohibitive though, and teacher librarians need to communicate the resources that are available to advocate for them even being used. Another option is for the teachers to vet and choose a website in advance for the students to use from the internet for research.  The role of the teacher-librarian is important to the development of information literacy in students as they are the key to supporting teachers in scaffolding research and digital literacy skills and promoting student access to all the resources that are available.  

In reflecting on my findings, I am equally intrigued by two areas of my topic, critical thinking skills, and digital literacy.

I’m interested in exploring ways to support teachers in teaching their students about the use of search engines and keywords to minimize bias and find the information they actually need from the vast amount that is online. However, I’m also interested ways to support teachers in developing critical thinking skills in students so that they can be discerning users of digital resources. This leads me to reflect that perhaps my topic was too broad to start, even with my effort to the narrow the focus to specific areas of interest within the topic of information literacy. There is so much information available in all the areas that in the future I will perhaps narrow my focus even further by looking at one of these topics at a time. Interestingly enough, this is the same experience students will have when researching topics online.

 

 

Works Cited:

1.      Asselin, M., Branch, J., & Oberg, D., (Eds). Achieving information literacy: Standards for school library programs in Canada. Ottawa, ON: Canadian School Library Association & The Association for Teacher-Librarianship in Canada. Retrieved from: https://accessola.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/2003-AchievingInfoLiteracy.pdf

 

2.      Riedling, A. M., & Houston, C. (2019). Reference skills for the school librarian : Tools and tips (4th ed.). Libraries Unlimited.

 

3.      The Points of Inquiry. BC Teacher-Librarians' Association. (2018, October 23). Retrieved January 16, 2022, from https://bctla.ca/resources/point-of-inquiry/.

 

4.      Kapitzke, Cushla. "Information literacy: The changing library." Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, vol. 44, no. 5, Feb. 2001, p. 450. Gale Literature Resource Center, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A70769712/GLS?u=ubcolumbia&sid=bookmark-GLS&xid=54298709. Accessed 27 Jan. 2022.

 

5.      Infobase. (2021). Retrieved from https://www.infobase.com/blog/teaching-information-literacy-through-comics-and-graphic-novels-resources-and-ideas/

 

6.      Princh. (2022). Retrieved from https://princh.com/blog-information-literacy-is-a-process-not-a-skill/#.YfMXpurMLre

 

7.      Pariser, Eli. (2011). Ted Talk: Beware Online Filter Bubbles. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/eli_pariser_beware_online_filter_bubbles?language=en

 

8.      Canadian School Libraries “Leading Learning:  Standards of Practice for School Library Learning Commons in Canada.”   http://llsop.canadianschoollibraries.ca

 

9.      Bogan, Kelsey. (2018). How to Evauate a Source. Retrieved from https://www.gvsd.org/Page/16856

 

10.   Elkstrom, Andreas. (2013). The Moral Bias Behind Your Search Results. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/andreas_ekstrom_the_moral_bias_behind_your_search_results