Welcome!

Nerine Chalmers BA, Grad CE, M of Ed.(TL)

Blurb for this PD:

Helping students improve their research skills: good questioning skills; using the PLUS search process; students searching PLUS search process; students searching on the internet.

We have 3 sessions in which to cover this. How are we going to do it?

First session:�Introduction and overview.�Development through the school – Where do

we start? What is the next step for our Grade 5s? How relevant is this discussion Grade 5s? How relevant is this discussion for MYP/Diploma?

�How does this tie in with 21st century learning?�How does this tie in with Units of Inquiry?�The P of PLUS – preparation/planning.�Discussion of specific units/scenarios –

sharing experiences.

Second Session (March 4):�Go through all stages of PLUS – include

scaffolding for students. �How the research would be organized; �How the research would be organized;

what lessons it would involve; what the students would do; how the TL could help; what the teacher would do.

� Hands-on session, using current planners, work on specific examples.

Third Session (18 March):

� Research on the WWW.� Pre-selected sites.� Pre-selected sites.� Searching the net. How can we help

students search – which search engines to use.

� Acknowledging sources

First session:

Introduction and overview.

�It’s all about the learning�Why the library?�Where do we start?

Dr. Ross Todd

Associate ProfessorAssociate ProfessorDepartment of Library andInformation scienceRutgers, The State Universityof New Jersey

Educational Change

1708

“Students today can’t prepare bark to calculate their problems. They depend on calculate their problems. They depend on

their slates which are more expensive. What will they do when the slate is dropped and

breaks? They will be unable to write.”

(Teachers’ Conference, 1708)

1815

“Students depend on paper too much. They

Educational Change

“Students depend on paper too much. They can’t clean a slate properly. What will they do

when they run out of paper?”

(Principal’s publication, 1815)

Educational Change

1907

“Students today depend too much on ink. “Students today depend too much on ink. They don’t know how to use a pen knife to sharpen a pencil. Pen and ink will never

replace the pencil.”

(National Association of Teachers Journal)

Educational Change

1928

“Students today depend upon store-bought ink. They don’t know how to make their ink. They don’t know how to make their

own. This is a sad commentary on modern education.”

(Rural American Teacher, 1928)

Educational Change

1941

“Students today depend upon these expensive fountain pens. They can no longer write with fountain pens. They can no longer write with a straight pen and nib. We parents must not allow them to wallow in such luxury to the

detriment of learning. ”

(PTA Gazette, 1941)

Educational Change

1950

“Ball-point pens will be the ruin of education in this country. Students use devices and then in this country. Students use devices and then throw them away. Businesses and banks will

never allow such expensive luxuries.”

(Federal Teachers Journal, 1950)

Educational Change

1976

“I can never imagine that anyone would ever “I can never imagine that anyone would ever need more than 64K”

(Bill Gates, once a school boy library monitor)

Rates of ChangeRate of producing information:

Ancient times (tablets) : 1 character/second1 character/second

1500 AD (printing press): 3000 characters/second

Today (laser printers) 20,000 characters/second

Rates of ChangeRate of storage:

Ancient times (tablets): 1 character/cubic inch

1500 AD (books): 500 characters/cubic inch

Today (chips): millions characters/cubic inch

Rates of ChangeSpeed of transporting 250 words over 3,000 miles

Ancient runners: 18 daysAncient runners: 18 days

Telegraph: 4 minutes

Fibre optic : thousandths of a second

Rates of Change

Human comprehension

Ancient times : 300 words per minuteAncient times : 300 words per minute

1500 AD: 300 words per minute

Today: 300 words per minute

Rates of Change

The recording and transmission of information has increased exponentially but

the human capacity to process and the human capacity to process and understand it is still about where we were in

prehistoric times.

Today

�21st century education�The rate at which information is �The rate at which information is

produced, stored and transported.

�Human comprehension

Information Literacy Standards for the Digital Learners of New York

1. Inquire, think critically, and gain knowledge.

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

3. Share knowledge and participate ethically and productively.

4. Develop an appreciation for ideas and information in pursuit of personal growth.

Digital learners transfer current knowledge to the use of new information technologies.

PLUS

Preparation/Planning

LLocation

Use

Self-evaluation

What is research?

Presentation

Transportation of Text

Information LiteracyInterventions

CONSTRUCTING NEW UNDERSTANDINGS

Interaction

Printout

Final version

Presentation

Rewriting

FINDING, ACCESSING AND EVLAUATING INFORMATION

Ross Todd presenting in UK

P

LP

P

L

US

S

P - Preparation/Planning

For the teacher:

Doug Johnson’s 4A’s of Great Research:Doug Johnson’s 4A’s of Great Research:

Assignments that matterActivities that InvolveAssessments that HelpAttitude is Everything

P - Preparation/PlanningFor the student:

Brainstorming - What exactly is my topic about? What do I already know about this about? What do I already know about this topic? Identifying an information need. Learning to frame realistic research questions. Planning a piece of research using diagrams or headings. Identifying keywords.

PLUS in the Primary School

� Simple Language�Teacher referenceTeacher reference�Student support and scaffolding�Skill mastery at each grade level

Discussion of specific units/ scenarios – sharing experiences.

�Planners for units of enquiry to work on for the next session.on for the next session.

Questioninghttp://questioning.org/Q6/question.html

http://www.fno.org/nov97/toolkit.htmlhttp://www.fno.org/nov97/toolkit.html

http://www.fno.org/dec99/scaffold.html

http://www.fno.org/toolbox.html