Information Literacy Process Model Comparison

Colleen AdamISTC 65110/5/11

Happy Information Literacy Awareness Month!(yes, it really is)

The world is saturated with information. Some of it reliable, some of it faulty. Even when information is reliable – there is just too much to read every sentence on every topic in the world. Students need to be able to make sense of all of the information that is available to them. Information Literacy is becoming more and more vital to their success in education at all levels. UNESCO is even currently in the process of receiving funding/time to create media and information literacy indicators across all countries ()

Information Literacy Process Models need to support our students in their research endeavors. Beginning in the 1990’s, the models were finally becoming recursive – but that is not all they need. According to Information Age Inquiry, these models need to replicate a “process that involves asking questions and searching for evidence that can be used to design arguments, make decisions, and draw conclusions”.

My CriteriaI evaluated 3 separate Information Literacy Process Model’s using the following criteria:

1. How well do they support information literacy acquisition?a. Are all steps of the research process included (including synthesis and application)?b. Do they provide room for recursive research/re-evaluation of information?c. Are their helpful, applicable, resources to use?d. Can they be used on their own or does a teacher need to scaffold instruction?

2. How do they align with curricular initiatives?a. VSCb. Common Corec. AASLd. ISTE

3. Ease of use?a. Are they easily understood by their intended audience?b. Do they provide differentiation opportunities for diverse learners?c. How well can they be integrated into current curriculum?

Introducing…the Models!INFOZONE Inquiry

BCPS 6-12 Research Model

The Big 6 Overview- Created by Mike Eisenberg and Bob Berkowitz- Most popular and widely-used model in the world- Meant for research and any problem-solving task- Has a specific page for students to use- Resources for teachers are broken down by subject/level/objective- Teacher uploaded lesson plans- Provides alignment to ISTE standards- Intended for grades 6-12

Positives Negatives

Easy to understandMultitude of resourcesCurricular alignmentStandards alignmentDiverse applications

Hard to navigate for studentsToo much reading/not enough application for student pageNot recursive

Big 6 Steps

1. Task Definition1.1 Define the information problem1.2 Identify information needed2. Information Seeking Strategies2.1 Determine all possible sources2.2 Select the best sources3. Location and Access3.1 Locate sources (intellectually and physically)3.2 Find information within sources

4. Use of Information4.1 Engage (e.g., read, hear, view, touch)4.2 Extract relevant information5. Synthesis5.1 Organize from multiple sources5.2 Present the information6. Evaluation6.1 Judge the product (effectiveness)6.2 Judge the process (efficiency)

The steps themselves seem comprehensive, but they are listed in a linear way and do not provide opportunities to revisit previous steps to further hone research.

The break down of each major step into two smaller steps is helpful in scaffolding the research process for students.

Criteria 1

Support of information literacy acquisition?a. Are all steps of the research process included (including synthesis and application)?

Yes! Steps 5 and 6:

b. Do they provide room for recursive research/re-evaluation of information?No – the process is presented in a linear format

c. Are their helpful, applicable, resources to use?Yes! – Click here to see some examples. HOWEVER, you do need to

search through as some of the resources are poorly made or ineffective because anyone can upload them.

d. Can they be used on their own or does a teacher need to scaffold instruction?A teacher would need to scaffold this model. Click here to see why.

5. Synthesis5.1 Organize from multiple sources5.2 Present the information6. Evaluation6.1 Judge the product (effectiveness)6.2 Judge the process (efficiency)

Criteria 2

Standards Alignment?a. VSC

It can relate to a few of the 7th grade LA standards (what I teach), but the VSC has very few, if any research related standards so it is hard to correlate between the two. The Big 6 has a lot more skills than are asked of in 7th grade LA with the current VSC’s.

b. Common CoreThe Reading Standards for Informational Text 6-12 align well with the Big 6 Research Model.

For example, in grade 7, students are expected to “Trace and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing whether the reasoning is sound and the evidence is relevant and sufficient to support the claims” (Reading Standard 8 for Informational Text). In order to do this, students will need to be able to have effective Informational Seeking strategies to find information to support their claims, and know how to use Location and Access to find pertinent information.

Also, 7th grade writing standard 6 requires students to “Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and link to and cite sources as well as to interact and collaborate with others, including linking to and citing sources”. This directly links to the Big 6 skills of Synthesis and Evaluation.

c. AASLYes! There is a wonderful page that aligns all of the Big 6 steps to the AASL standards.

d. ISTE NETSYes! The same page linked above aligns the NETS standards as well.

It’s great that the standards are already aligned so that teachers can use this as support for the Big 6 model without having to do the dirty work themselves!

Criteria 3

Ease of Use?a. Are they easily understood by their intended audience?

Teachers would certainly understand and easily navigate through this model. Students would likely struggle with the abundance of information on the student page, though would understand the steps. Teachers would certainly need to teach students in grades 6-12 how to actual define a task, determine the most effective strategies, etc.

b. Do they provide differentiation opportunities for diverse learners?Yes! The multitude of resources and uploaded lessons cater to various

types of learners. However, teachers would need to scour through the given links to find pertinent lessons for each type of learner.

c. How well can they be integrated into current curriculum?These steps can easily be integrated into the current research models in the

BCPS curriculum – but the unit resources would need to be re-designed to mention the steps in the process. For example, the Out of the Dust model, uses different words to identify the tasks so they would need to be changed, like instead of “Scenario”, it would need to read “Task Definition”

BCPS Research Model Overview- Created by BCPS- Used in most BCPS for research – though I’m not sure all teachers are

aware of its existence- Meant to provide resources for research tasks- Has one page only for both teachers and students- Resources are broken down by the task they align to- Plentiful resources for each task – though not all will apply to all

situations- Does not list alignment to standards- Intended for grades 6-12

Positives Negatives

Easy to understandEasy for students to navigateMultitude of resourcesCurricular alignmentAligns to standards (even if not provided)Recursive

Too many resources for students to sort through on ownStandard alignment not providedSteps are all necessary but may create apprehension in students because there are so many (9)

BCPS Steps The steps themselves seem comprehensive, and are listed in a cyclical format which mimics the true research process.

The fact that each step creates a pull down menu that lists skills and links to resources is a great tool so there aren’t too many extra links.

Big 6 Resource ExamplesKeyword Helper: Strategies Mentioned:

Jigsaw Puzzle Strategy: Step 5.1 of the Big6 process is to “organize information from multiple sources” (Eisenberg, 2001). Often times, my college students will have precise parameters for their assignment. Other times a professor may require students to use a specific number of research articles or books for a paper or presentation. In this case, I explain to students that organizing information is a bit like solving a jigsaw puzzle…

Sorting Strategy: Organizing information is a step-by-step process, and the success of that process can determine the quality of the final product. Another synthesis strategy is sorting, since arranging information into similar topic groups can assist with the initial organization aspect. If a research paper must have three major points, then sort your information into the major topics you must cover, and you can synthesize the information into a usable end product…

Outline Strategy: Create an outline of your research paper to help you organize your information. If you know exactly what you want to cover, you can match your notes to each section of the outline and establish a hierarchy of information to match the items on the outline. Write the corresponding number from the outline onto your note card or jot the outline number on the paper where you have written your notes…

Concept Mapping Strategy: Some students use mind mapping or concept maps to organize information. A student who is a visual learner may find the idea of a concept map appealing and interesting. A concept map may be used to promote the development of new ideas, such as divergent understanding and perspectives, and provides opportunity for critical thinking (University of Victoria, 2003).A good concept map for synthesis of information would be a simple hierarchical concept map…

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Scaffolding NeededExample of the student page: While there is great

information here – many students will not sit down and just read through information in this format. Also, there are not enough resources throughout the text for students to be successful.

Teachers could:- Create Webquests- Use given lessons/resources- Provide students with handouts to remember steps and questions

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