B_Keenan_7 Things You Should Know About

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7 Things You Should Know About

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7 Things You Should Know About the Information-Seeking Behaviors and Information Literacy Skills of

the 21st Century Learner

Bobbie B. Keenan

Georgia Southern University

FRIT 7136 – Reference and Information Sources

Dr. Judith Repman

September 27, 2010




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Scenario

The Standards for 21st

Century Learners are rapidly being adopted as the collective educational

mindset emerges from the drudgery of the traditional classroom and soars into the ever evolving

information age. The Standards for 21st

Century Learners help students acquire information literacy

skills that are essential to effectively navigate the vast amounts of information available to students of

all ages on the Internet. It is vital that students, with the guidance of educators, develop information

literacy skills that will allow them to recognize which information is useful, reliable, and relevant to their

needs. Information literacy skills will enable learners to be able to problem solve, analyze, organize, and

evaluate information, and acquire new knowledge throughout their life time.

What is it?

21st

Century Learning Standards are standards developed by the American Association of School

Librarians (AASL) to help educators so they can effectively prepare students for information driven

society. Standards for 21st

Century Learners are:

I. Inquire, think critically and gain knowledge

II. Draw conclusions, make informed decisions, apply knowledge to new situations, and

create new knowledge.

III. Share knowledge and participate ethically and productively as members of our

democratic society.

IV. Pursue personal and aesthetic growth (American Association of School Librarians, 2009).

These standards can be applied to all content areas and across all grade levels and beyond. Thestandards have defined indicators and benchmarks established for specific grades to ensure that the

standards are being met in a consistent and timely manner. Information literacy is a resource-based

approach to learning in the classroom, library media center, and community. Teachers and library media

specialists work together to provide students with a wide array of resources to solve problems (Bucher,

2000).

Who is doing it?

Fifth grade is one of the benchmark academic years for 21st

Century Learning Standards. In fifth

grade learning becomes more formal as students prepare to go to middle school, so it’s a good time to

evaluate where students are and what they know. In order for educators to successfully implement 21st

Century Learning Standards and help students develop information literacy skills they must understandthe information-seeking behaviors of the average fifth grader in order to anticipate problems that might

arise

Currently, Arizona, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada,

New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, South Dakota, West Virginia, and Wisconsin have implemented the

21st

Century Learning Standards into their K-12 curriculum.




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How does it work?

The Standards for 21st

Century Learners enables students to use information literacy skills to better

understand and navigate what they encounter on the Internet and with other forms of media. Students

that don’t have information literacy skills tend to exhibit information seeking behaviors that prevent

them from achieving their goals. For example, researchers looking for ways to better utilize and make

available web resources for primary school students, found that students without adequate information

literacy skills displayed multiple information seeking behaviors that were counter-productive .

1. Weakness in technical literacy skills hampered students in the Bowler study. Some students did

not have knowledge of how computers work beyond entertainment purposes.

2. When beginning a research assignment, students had a tendency pick a subject that was too

broad. They didn’t demonstrate inquiry skills such as brainstorming, listing key concepts,

formulating initial questions, and exploring relationships by clustering and networking keyconcepts (Bowler, Large, & Rejskind, 2001).

3. Fifth grade search strategies consisted of browsing and single word searches. These broad

methods of searching left most students feeling overwhelmed with information that may or

may not be relevant to their search.

4. In early digital media studies, it was found that children did not explore text-only sites often;

preferred sites with high visual content and short, simple textual content, and liked more

animation and interactivity on the Internet (Dresang, 2005).

5. Students only spent an average of 48 seconds on websites before navigating to another site

leaving no time to properly evaluate a site for relevance or reliability (Hirsch, 1999).

6. Students rarely question the accuracy of the information they found (Hirsch, 1999).

7. According to Eliza T. Dresang’s study on information seeking behavior, students prefer to work

in groups for computer work.

Why is it significant?

It is mandatory that today’s students be computer literate as early as possible in order to have

as many options as possible available to them. In addition, a student needs the skills to accurately find

relevant and correct information. Once they have established these skills they will be able to explore

other information, learn more, and add to their store of knowledge as they grow. Also, having the ability

to collaborate and share information with others online or in person is also a vital skill for the 21st

century and beyond. Having information literacy skills helps students identify behaviors that will enable

them to be successful and avoid behaviors that would inevitably leave them frustrated.

What are the downsides?

Students that have poor technical literacy skills need to have physical access to computers to

overcome this weakness. Library Media Specialist must advocate to ensure that the media center is not




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only made available to students beyond school hours, but also that the media center has working

equipment for students, teachers, and the community if necessary.

Students that do not know how to effectively search for information in a timely manner, will end up

frustrated at best, and give up altogether at worst.

Students that cannot learn how to view text information as well as visual information will most likely not

be able to find accurate or relevant information which can hinder their learning experience.

Students that do not take the time to properly evaluate websites for relevance and accuracy will

ultimately waste valuable learning time dealing with inaccurate information.

Students that do not have good information literacy skills and practice poor information seeking

behaviors will ultimately end up frustrated and behind.

Where is it going?

Standards for 21st

Century Learners have already been adopted in Arizona, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas,

Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, South Dakota,

West Virginia, and Wisconsin have implemented the 21st

Century Learning Standards into their K-12

curriculum. The other states have some form of the information literacy skills standards as part of their

K-12 curriculum. There is no doubt that the world of education is evolving at a more rapid rate than in

previous years and everyone must get one board. As students and educators continue to acquire and

use information literacy skills, the library media specialist will have to ensure that they stay informed

and up-to-date on all the new and relevant technologies as they are made available. The role of the

library media specialists will no doubt take on a more prominent role in schools. They will need to not

only guide students through myriads of information, they will also serve as an invaluable resource for

teachers and administrators alike. Schools that have fully embraces the Standards for 21st

Century

Learners are currently teaching information literacy skills are ahead of the game and altering their view

of education, and it is just a matter of time until they are joined by the rest. Library Media Specialist will

lead the way to a better way of learning that will serve their students far beyond their school years.

What are the implications for teaching and learning?

Teachers have to begin viewing their role differently. Instead of strictly teaching facts to

students, teachers much now combine the fact-based teaching with information seeking. Using the

Standards for 21st

Century Learners as a guideline, teachers can teach students how to have a more

active role in what they learn and how they learn. Students will no longer be passive learners, but active

participants that rely on teachers to guide and advise them through their educational career. Students

can become competent, independent users and evaluators of information. The key is for educators to

help them develop the skills to evaluate information and to separate superfluous data from essential

details (Bucher, 2000).

References




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American Association of School Librarians, Initials. (2009). Standards for the 21st-century learner in

action. Chicago, Illinois: American Association of School Librarians.

Bowler, L., Large, A., & Rejskind, G. (2001). Primary school students, information literacy and the Web.

Education for Information, 19(3), 201. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.

Bucher, K. (2000). The importance of information literacy skills in the middle school curriculum.

Clearing House, 73(4), 217. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.

David, J. (2009). Teaching media literacy. Educational Leadership, 66(6), 84-86. Retrieved from

Academic Search Complete database.

Dresang, E. (2005). The Information-Seeking Behavior of Youth in the Digital Environment. Library

Trends, 54(2), 178-196. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.

Hirsch, S. (1999). Children's Relevance Criteria and Information Seeking on Electronic Resources. Journal

of the American Society for Information Science, 50(14), 1265-1283. Retrieved from Academic

Search Complete database.

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