Transcript Slide 1

Teaching the Big 6
through your library
website
Karen Shull, Librarian
Christian Brothers Academy
[email protected]
What is research
 What research is not: finding facts - either
online or in a book – to answer questions for
a worksheet or “report”.
 Starts with an essential or probing question
 Project depth depends on 2 factors:
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Teacher’s questions
Student’s ability to analyze, synthesize, and
form new questions.
 Bloom’s Taxonomy
Why teach Big 6?
 Can be used to solve problems, find
information, answer questions
 Is process driven - Scientific Method
for seeking information
 Incorporates critical thinking skills
 Changing world
The "Big6™" is copyright © (1987) Michael B. Eisenberg and Robert E. Berkowitz. For more information, visit:
www.big6.com
Paradigm shift
Today’s world demands a different set of
information skills.
In the past, it was enough to master facts.
Now, colleges and employers want people
who can find, analyze, and communicate
information at a sophisticated level.
They want people who are information
literate.
Teaching information literacy
 Must be taught within
the context of
classroom lessons
 Lessons in isolation –
no real information
need – will be useless
What is the Big 6?
 Decision-making methodology
 Developed in the mid-1980’s in
Syracuse, NY
 K-20 applicability
 Used with ANY content area
 Analytical tool
the google generation
where are the skills gaps? (quoted)
 There are two particularly powerful messages
emerging from recent research.
 When the top and bottom quartiles of
students – as defined by their information
literacy skills - are compared, it emerges that
the top quartile report a much higher
incidence of exposure to basic library skills
from their parents, in the school library,
classroom or public library in their earlier
years.
p.23-24 “Information Behavior of the Researcher of the Future”
the google generation
where are the skills gaps? (quoted)
 It seems that a new divide is opening up in
the US, with the better-equipped students
taking the prizes of better grades.
 At the lower end of the information skills
spectrum, the research finds that intervention
at university age is too late: these students
have already developed an ingrained coping
behaviour: they have learned to `get by’ with
Google.
p.23-24 “Information Behavior of the Researcher of the Future”
what are the implications for policy
makers? (quoted)
 Emerging research findings from the US
points to the fact that these skills need to be
inculcated during the formative years of
childhood: by university or college it is too
late to reverse engineer deeply ingrained
habits, notably an uncritical trust in branded
search engines to deliver quick fixes.
 This will require concerted action between
libraries, schools and parents.
p.32 “Information Behavior of the Researcher of the Future”
Step 1: Task definition
 Define
the problem
 Identify the information
needs
 This is where the
student learns to define
the scope of the project
The "Big6™" is copyright © (1987) Michael B. Eisenberg and Robert E.
Berkowitz. For more information, visit: www.big6.com
Step 1 results
 Understands how to analyze and question the
nature of a problem.
 Discerns areas that need clarification.
 Thinks creatively regarding areas of
investigation.
 Sets scope of investigation appropriately.
 Generates key content questions for the
investigation.
 Understands and can list information formats
appropriate to area of investigation.
Step 2: Information strategies
 Determine the type of sources that
will be most useful:
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Book
Journal
Databases
Internet
People
 Prioritize sources
Step 2 Results
 Understands and can list possible sources of
information appropriate to the investigation.
 Understands the difference between Internet
sites and databases.
 Understands the pro’s and cons of various
information sources, and can prioritize
effectively.
Step 3: Location and Access
 Locate sources
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Print materials
Internet as access to databases
Internet as research tool
 Find information
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Use valid search terms
Advanced searching
Step 3 Results
 Understands how to search the library
catalog and retrieve physical objects such as
books, as well as electronic items.
 Understands the reason to use a book
source.
 Understands the purpose of an encyclopedia.
 Understands how to choose an appropriate
database.
 Understands how to access, navigate, and
successfully search a database.
Step 3 Results
 Understands how to use the email function of
a database to email results to self.
 Understands when the Internet is an
appropriate choice.
 Understands how search engines and
directories differ, and when and how to use
each one.
 Understands Boolean, phrase, proximity, and
other advanced searching strategies for both
databases and web.
Step 4: Information Use
 Engage
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Read materials
View pictures and media
Listen to audio files
Interview people
 Extract
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Make good notes
Cite information sources
Step 4 Results
 Skims for the main idea when first researching.
 Looks for key ideas, facts, quotes.
 Appropriately decides to invest in slower, more in-
depth reading; understands the necessity to do so.
 Understands the difference between fact and opinion.
 Understands how to authenticate/credential
information taken from the web, and the importance
of this step.
 Learns to use footnotes and other bibliographic tools
to find more information.
Step 4 Results
 Uses appropriate technology to facilitate note-taking.
 Understands the concept of plagiarism, and
understands the penalties for infractions.
 Understands and follows copyright rules, using
information in an ethical manner.
 Understands the purpose of citation, the various
citation forms and how to use them, including
parenthetical citations; can produce citations with or
without a citation generator.
Step 5: Synthesis
 Organize
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Divide information and analysis into logical
sections
 Present
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Develop an appropriate product
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Website
Essay
Newspaper article
Play, poem, or story
Film
Step 5 Results
 Understands how to prioritize the information found.
 Understands how to integrate his own analysis within
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the presentation.
Has a comprehensive knowledge of different effective
presentation tools.
Decides appropriately on the use of a presentation
tool.
Uses standard conventions of spelling and grammar
as needed in presentations.
Proficient in proofreading own work; understands the
necessity to do so.
Step 6: Evaluation
 Judge the product
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Are you satisfied with your work?
Will your teacher/supervisor be happy with it?
 Judge the process
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What could you have done better?
Step 6 Results
 Critically examines the quality of work.
 Analyzes own strengths and weaknesses
prior to handing off work.
 Strategizes for next project from the
experiences of current project.
Methodology
 Technology: Smart Board/projector
 Start with blank Step One box
 Librarian has copy both of the project and
teacher objectives
 Students are prompted to answer 1.1 and 1.2
of the Big 6
 1.2: Keywords in project assignment are
identified and expanded, generating
questions; also, information types identified
 Same procedure for Steps Two and Three
Students brainstorm – librarian
captures group work .
Students generate content
for Steps 1 & 2 –
questions from all classes
are melded into one web
page
Using the web site
 Teaching the Big 6 through practice, not theory
 Students work out Step 1 in a group atmosphere
 Ideally, classroom teachers would grade students on
Step 1 proficiency by their senior year
 Research tools
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Project page
Databases
MLA, MS Word help
Setting the bar
 Big 6 is ineffective if students are given too
much information
 Instructional design is key
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Bloom’s Taxonomy
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UBD: Understanding By Design
Ask open-ended questions
 Students need to be able to define effective
criteria for themselves
 Engaging curiosity stimulates thinking
 Student engagement rises when learning is
self-motivated; real learning is both more
likely to occur and be remembered
 More complex levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy
are utilized
 Plagiarism is much less likely with openended questions
Extending the lesson
 Challenging your teachers:
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How can you use compare/contrast?
Can you build a database with research
results?
 Research and discussion should lead into
asking and probing essential questions
UBD: Understanding By Design
 What do you want your students to be able to
do? (Identify desired results)
 How will you know when they can do it?
(Acceptable evidence)
 Plan your instruction with the end in mind
Goal
 Responsibility of K-12 to set thoughtful
intellectual patterns
 Most teachers agree that students should
graduate with information literacy skills
 Analyze proficiency at your campus - grading
 Big 6 is a decision-making tool for conducting
research
 Big 6 provides sound structure for intellectual
inquiry
Example: Senior Papers
 Philosophy:
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Each student will select and discuss ONE of the following:
In philosophy, ideas do not die; they go in and out of fashion.
In philosophy, the questions are more important than the answers.
 Morality/English/Information Literacy:
 Problem: You will write and research a paper in which you will
demonstrate your understanding of a moral issue as it is articulated in
Roman Catholic magisterial documents, and interpreted in a significant
literary novel or play and a visual text.
Example of freshman paper
 Topics for the Final Assignment Paper
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I. Discuss Robert Boyle's experiments and the
place of natural philosophy in England's Royal
Society.
II. Discuss William Harvey's physiological work
in its intellectual, institutional, and political
contexts.
Wrap-Up
 Information literacy is a
primary skill of the 21st
Century
 Research shows
techniques learned K-12
will be dominant later in
life
 Online access promotes
students actually using
the process
Contact
 Karen Shull, Libarian
 Christian Brothers Academy, Syracuse
 [email protected]
 http://mandarin01.cbasyracuse.org/library2/in
dex.html
 Google “CBA Markert Library”