Transcript Slide 1

Be still and listen to the voices:
From research to practice
Dr Ross J Todd
Associate Professor
Director of Research CISSL
Rutgers, the State University
of New Jersey
[email protected]
cissl.scils.rutgers.edu
www.scils.rutgers.edu/~rtodd
Plutarch
“The mind is not a container
to be filled, but a fire
to be ignited”
INFORMATION VS KNOWLEDGE
DEBATE
The Information-to-Knowledge Challenge
Now I am
really
confused!
The Information-to-Knowledge Challenge
No
Wonder
I am
lost!
The Information-to-Knowledge Challenge
A
knowledge
society?
Such
insight!!!
The Information-to-Knowledge Challenge
McDeath,
I guess
The Information-to-Knowledge Challenge
Any one you
might
recommend
for the job?
Why do we need school
libraries?
Food for the Mind?
School Libraries and Learning:
3 Core Beliefs
Information makes a difference to people.
Making a difference does not happen by
chance: Teaching-learning role is the
central dimension of the professional role
of teacher-librarians INSTRUCTIONAL
INTERVENTION
Learning outcomes matter: belief that all
students can learn, and develop new
understandings through the school
library, and demonstrate outcomes
What is an Effective School Library?
Research tells us:
It has a qualified teacher-librarian: both a
leading teacher and a credentialed librarian:
Learning Activist not a Classroom Escapee
It has an explicit and tangible library policy
focusing on learning outcomes
It actively supports the curriculum through
provision of up-to-date adequate resources
(print & electronic)
It provides individual and group instruction in
information and critical literacies (teachers and
students)
What is an Effective School Library?
Research tells us:
It has a vibrant literature / reading
program for academic achievement and
personal enjoyment and enrichment
It collaborates with other libraries: public,
government, community resources
It provides leadership to students and
staff in the use of electronic resources
and integrating information technology
into learning
How do effective school
libraries help kids?
Are school libraries a
class act?
13000 students tell us!
“Student learning through Ohio
School Libraries”
identify how students benefit from school libraries – state wide
though exploring the “help” construct
provide statewide data on best practices and promising practices
in school librarianship
identify pedagogy for teaching and learning in information based
schools
encourage continuous improvement in effective library services
which support academic content
confirm for school librarians that their role impacts student
achievement and life long learning
identify professional development opportunities for reflective
practice in order to build effective school library programs
provide a framework for dialog among parent communities, school
boards, administrators, school librarians, and teachers on the
value of effective school libraries
help school librarians develop evidence-based practice for their
own school library
“Student Learning Through Ohio
School Libraries”
39 school libraries participated from list selected by
the Ohio Experts Panel using criteria of
“effectiveness” validated by the International Panel
Grades 3 – 12
Funded by State Library of Ohio
Web-based data collection with security and ethical
protocols built into process (Rutgers – 3 backup
sites)
Data collected from 28th April to early June 2003
13,123 valid student responses (13,328 logged)
879 teacher / administrator responses (935 logged)
Data “cleaned” - unable to match some to IRNs
Analysis using SPSS (“Statistical Package for the
Social Sciences”) Version 10.0 for Windows.
Getting The Data
2 Instruments
Impacts on Learning Survey (Students)
Perceptions of Learning Impacts (Faculty)
“helps” measure of 48 statements of learning
outcomes: (13,123 students)
Critical Incident response to capture voice of
students: to write about a time when school library
helped them recently: what was the help and what
did it enable them to do (10,316 responses)
Evidence-based response to capture voice of faculty
“how they know the library helps students”
7 Constructs of “help”
1. how helpful the school library is with getting
information you need
2. how helpful the school library is with using the
information to complete your school work (l.L skills)
3. How helpful the school library is with your school
work in general (knowledge building, knowledge
outcomes)
4. How helpful the school library is with using
computers in the library, at school, and at home
5. How helpful the school library is to you with your
general reading interests
6. How helpful the school library is to you when you
are not at school (independent learning)
7. General school aspects –Academic Achievement
1. How helpful the school library is with getting information
you need
11. The school library has helped me know the different steps
in finding and using information
14. The school library has helped me know when I find good
information
2. How helpful the school library is with using the
information to complete your school work
21. The school library has helped me know how to use the
different kinds of information sources (such as books,
magazine, CDs, websites, videos)
24. The school library has helped me put all the ideas
together for my topics
3. How helpful the school library is with your school work in
general
38. The school library has helped me figure out my own
opinions on things
4. How helpful the school library is with using computers in
the library, at school, and at home
44. The school library has helped me search the Internet
better
45. The school library has helped me be more careful about
information I find on the Internet
5. How helpful the school library is to you with your general
reading interests
51. The school library has helped me find stories I like
52. The school library has helped me read more
6. How helpful the school library is to you when you are not
at school
67. The school library has helped me when I have a personal
concern or issue
7. Now, some general things (ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT)
71. The school library has helped me do my school work better
72. The school library has helped me get better grades on my
projects and assignments
73. The school library has helped me get better grades on
tests and quizzes
74. The school library has helped me think harder about my
school work
75. The school library has helped me feel more confident
about doing my school work
☺☺☺☺
=
most
helpful
(you think you got a
great amount of help)
☺☺☺
=
quite helpful
(you think you got a
good amount of help)
some help
(the help you got was
OK, so so)
a little help
(you think you got
just a bit of help)
☺☺
☺
=
=
If you do not know an answer, or if something does
not apply to you, click the box "Does not apply".
Critical Incident
“Now, remember one time when the school
library really helped you. Write about the
help that you got, and what you were able to
do because of it”
To validate – “witness” quantitative data; to
elucidate “helps” not identified in 48 statements;
to provide the “voice” of the students
10,328 written statements were received, and
these were cleaned to 10,316 valid statements
“it help me sell my body for fruit snacks”
“I am black and I like fried chicken”
“zfzswdegegegeeeee”
Sample Characteristics
Boys 48.0%
Girls 51.1%
Ages 7 – 20
Grades 3 –5 17%
Grades 6 – 9 45%
Grades 10 – 12 38%
White 78.5%, African-American 5%
Urban/Suburban 81%, Rural 10 %
Some Findings
“Yeah, the
school library
rocks”
Celebrate School Libraries
Only 73 respondents out of 13,123 indicated that none of
the 48 statements applied to them – that the perceived
helps, as listed, of the school library with their schooling
and learning at home did not apply to them. ( 0.56% of the
total sample)
In other words, 99.44% of the sample (13,050 students) has
indicated that the school library and its services, including
roles of school librarians, have helped them in some way,
regardless of how much, with their learning in and out of
school as it relates to the 48 statements.
1n a total of 106 students in the 3 categories where the
respondents said “does not apply” in 48, 47 or 46 of the
statements, 72 (68%) are boys and 34 (32%) are girls. More
than 60% of them are in grade 9, 10, and 12.
Celebrate School Libraries
I’m in Grade 8. I don’t get it. Why do I need to do this
survey? Isn’t it obvious to everyone that we have to
have our school library to do all our school work. It’s
impossible to do it without it, that’s for sure. (male)
We all know that school libraries help students. Why
must we have a survey about it? All schools need
libraries, so let’s not worry about the surveys. (Grade
11 female)
I do most of my school work at home, and not at school,
but I do use the school library quite often when we need
hard book references for things such as reports and
Hyperstudio projects. Thank you for taking the time to
read the answers to my survey, whoever you are. Your
time, patience, and effort is greatly appreciated as we
need good libraries. (Grade 10 male)
T
Q11: The school library has helped me know the different steps in
O finding and using information
P
96.84
%
Q12: The information in the school library has helped me work out
the questions for the topics I am working on
95.95
%
Q13: The school library has helped me find different sources of
information (such as books, magazines, CDs, websites, videos) for
my topics
95.10
%
Q43: Computers have helped me find information inside and outside
of the school library
94.35
%
Q34: The school library has helped me learn more facts about my
topics
94.27
%
O Q21: The school library has helped me know how to use the different
F kinds of sources (such as books, magazines, CDs, websites, videos)
93.74
%
L
E
V
E
L
S
H
E
L
P
Q14: The school library has helped me know when I find good
information
92.81
%
Q41: Computers in the school library have helped me do my school
work better
92.41
%
Q26: The school library has helped me think about how I should go
about finding information next time
92.36
%
Q22: The school library has helped me work out the main ideas in
the information I find
92.07%
Q33: The school library has helped me get the first facts about my
topics
92.05%
Q27: The school library has helped me know that research takes a
lot of work
91.05%
Q15: The school library has helped me find different opinions about
my topics
90.94%
Q17: The school library has helped me feel better about asking for
assistance when I go there
90.73%
Q16: The school library has helped me feel better about finding
information
90.58%
Q35: The school library has helped me when I do not understand
some things
90.02%
Q44: The school library has helped me search the Internet better
89.63%
Q28: The information I have found in the school library has helped
me become more interested in my topics
89.21%
L
O
W
E
S
T
L
E
V
E
L
S
O
F
H
E
L
P
Q54: The school library has helped me enjoy reading more
76.71%
Q75: The school library has helped me more feel confident
about doing my school work
76.56%
Q73: The school library has helped me get better grades on
tests and quizzes
75.41%
Q66: The school library lessons have helped me solve problems
better
75.39%
Q56: The school library has helped me be a better writer
74.90%
Q64: The school library has helped me get more organized with
my homework
74.71%
Q53: The school library has helped me get better at reading
74.42%
Q3A: The school library has helped me talk more in class
discussions
73.15%
Q31: The school library has helped me remember my school
work
72.42%
Q67: The school library has helped me when I have a personal
concern or issue
60.42%
M
O
S
T
H
E
L
P
F
U
L
Q43: Computers have helped me find information inside and
outside of the school library
49.01%
Q41: Computers in the school library have helped me do my
school work better
41.58%
Q46: Computer programs (like Powerpoint, Word, and Excel) in
the school library have helped me do my school work
39.67%
Q13: The school library has helped me find different sources of
information (such as books, magazines, CDs, websites,
videos) for my topics
34.02%
Q44: The school library has helped me search the Internet better
33.18%
Q27: The school library has helped me know that research takes
a lot of work
32.26%
Q21: The school library has helped me know how to use the
different kinds of sources (such as books, magazines, CDs,
websites, videos)
31.51%
Q34: The school library has helped me learn more facts about my
topics
31.33%
Q47: The school library has helped me feel better about using
computers to do my school work
29.49%
Additional “Help” Constructs
1. The school library saves me time with doing my school work
2. The school library enables me to complete my work on time
3. The school library helps me by providing a study environment for
me to work
4. The school library helps me take stress out of learning
5. The school library helps me know my strengths and weaknesses
with information use
6. The school library helps me think about the world around me
7. The school library helps me do my work more efficiently
8. The school library provides me with a safe environment for ideas
investigation
9. The library helps me set my goals and plan for things.
Validation through Triangulation
Triangulation: use of multiple data
sources with similar foci to obtain
diverse views
Student quantitative responses
Student qualitative responses
Faculty quantitative responses
Faculty qualitative responses
Comparison of Mean Scores
BLOCK
MEAN F
MEAN S
RANKS
1 GETTING
INFORMATION
2 USING INFORMATION
3.2103
2.535
1S
2F
2.7420
2.251
3S
3F
3 KNOWLEDGE
BUILDING
2.5080
2.070
4S
6F
4 COMPUTERS
3.3081
2.529
2S
1F
5 READING
2.6553
1.907
6S
4F
6 INDEPENDENT
LEARNING
2.3119
1.772
7S
7F
7 ACADEMIC
ACHIEVEMENT
2.5283
1.966
5S
5F
Means of Reading Qs by Grade
3.5
3.0
2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
3
4
GRA DE
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
The Students’ Voices
When I was working on a project about science
I had no idea what I was doing I asked my
library teachers for help they helped and by the
end of the day I felt so much better!!! And from
that day on I knew what I was doing on that
project and I got a A I was so proud of myself
and my confidence went up a whole lot and
now when ever I do a project I know I have a lot
of power now to do well on projects!!!
(Respondent 777 )
The Students’ Voices
1532 The school librarians don’t help
me at all like they make me do all the
stuff myself and wont tell me where the
things are even when I already looked –
they show me and make me learn how
to find the stuff myself and its hard
work!!!! You gotta use your brain, they
say
Students’ Voices
1015 I I would have never have found the sources I
needed for the paper if not for the school library, the
public library, and the helpful people who staff those
places. They even showed me steps to work
through to do the research and complete it. They
ran some classes specifically for us and they were
very very very helpful
1075 Well one time was when we had to do a report
on Animals and I had no clue how to find information
about my animal. So Mrs. X helped me find the
information on the computer. On the internet if its
true or false – to learn that is very important at
school.
Students’ Voices
3532 I was working on History project and we had to
have several sources (primary documents) and the
librarians instructed the students on how to go
about finding the information we needed and
compiling it into something worthwhile. I was able to
combine everything together and earn a good grade.
100 I needed help doing a project for government
that had to do with presidents and they had so many
books and then the librarian helped me find web
sites. But then they gave me ways of sorting
through all the ideas to extract the key points so I
could get my head around it all
Students’ Voices
66 I needed to write a paper and I went to the Library
where I was ultimately able to write a paper
successfully. My ideas were a mess and talking to the
librarian gave me a way to organize my ideas and
present the argument. I did really well!! I’ve never
forgotten that – used it to do many other assignments.
4155 I remember when I came up to the school library
for math. We turned the library into a co-ordinate grid.
It was soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
cool!!!!!!!!!!! And I could know about grids in my tests
433 It helped me find info on racism for a 10th grade
project, and made me really think about that, especially
I didn’t realize how racist some of my ideas were
6256 Sometimes I argue with my parents about things
and use the library to check if my opinions are true
1408 One time, I wanted books on Teen Suicide and
they were able to get some for me. It was helpful of
them as my cousin died that way and I could figure it
out a bit more for me.
6110 I guess I’ve discovered one thing. When I do my
research well, and do the proper thing with note cards
and writing in my own words, I seem to just get to know
the stuff and that makes a big help when I talk about the
stuff in class.
School Library as Dynamic Agent of Learning
1.
Providing access to information resources - both print
collections within the library and resources through
databases and the World Wide web
2.
Providing access to multiple viewpoints
3.
Engaging students in an active process of building
their own understanding and knowledge.
Understanding how to do research effectively,
understanding how to identify key ideas, analyzing,
synthesizing and evaluating information, testing their
own ideas, developing personal conclusions are
fundamental to students constructing their own
understanding of a topic.
School Library as Dynamic Agent of
Learning
3. Instructional intervention: Students appear
to indicate that the school library – not as a
passive supply agency, but as an
instructional agency – helps them
substantially in their learning
4. effective school library not just as an
INFORMATION PLACE, but also as a
KNOWLEDGE SPACE
Agent for Information Inquiry:
Key to Knowledge Construction
Engaging students in an active and meaningful
search process contextualized by specific learning
tasks, enabling them to explore, formulate and focus
their searches, and providing a supportive
environment (personal, physical and instructional)
for students to success in their research.
Instructional intervention focuses on the
development of an understanding of what good
research is about, how you undertake good
research, and knowing what the outcomes of doing
good research will be in terms of academic success
in research projects.
ESSENTIAL LEARNINGS: Skills and values
that underpin learning across the curriculum
Knowledge creation: Students achieve through being able to define
problems, frame questions, explore ideas, formulates focus,
investigate, analyze and synthesize ideas to create own views,
evaluate solutions and reflect on new understandings.
Knowledge production: Students can use technology and
information tools to produce new knowledge and demonstrate
achievement. They create information products that accurately
represent their newly developed understanding.
Knowledge use: Students develop transferable skills for sustaining
knowledge creation across and beyond the classroom.
Knowledge dissemination: Students can communicate ideas using
oral, written, visual and technological modes of expression –
individually or in teams.
Knowledge values: Students are ethical, responsible users of
information who accept responsibility for personal decisions and
information actions. They demonstrate concern for quality
information and value different modes of thought
Reading literacy: Students have high levels of reading literacy. They
become independent, lifelong sustained readers.
ISSUES
How School Libraries Don’t Help?
The problematic nature of library instruction
Playing psychologist? Moral high ground?
Personality issues
Infringement of perceived rights / BESS
Library systems and rules – who do they
benefit? Who do they serve?
What do we convey to students that is
important?
The problematic nature of library
instruction
3935 The school library has helped me find the
information I need for my research papers. Other than
that I don't see I do much of a use for it. Most of the stuff
they talk about, I already know how to do.
9364 If anyone says, "Be careful what you read on the
Internet" one more time, I'm going to die. We know how
to judge the accuracy of information! Anyway, that's the
end of my tirade - hopefully change will come out of
this....we need drastic reform here.
3764 I have not really received ANY help at all from the
library. We just hear the same speech about 100 times in
a row.. I don’t need to hear it again
learning Dewey yet again – year after year – for God’s
sake, get off it and teach us something valuable, we all
know how to do Dewey since Grade 3
Playing psychologist? Moral
High Ground?
3046 When I was young, I like to read
Goosebump books and the librarian
told me not to read these books
because they were a bad influence on
me. I now hate to read because I
stopped reading after that. I feel if I
would have continued to read when I
was young then I would enjoy reading
now.
Personality Issues
1771 Well, they help me with about all of my projects,
especially Social Studies and science. The science ones
they helped me much on were my Kite project (helped me
find the "how to make kites" books) and my Iron project (i
was in deep doo-doo on that one until they helped me
find a lotta books on Iron) Then in Social Studies they
helped me find books on a lot of my projects (King Tut,
Roman Catholic Church, etc.) It was pretty easy too, Very
helpful to me! And then they just helped me find
books....and loaned the book carts to my classrooms, to
help us out. I just think they need to be nicer sometimes.
9793 I can't remember the last time the librarians helped
me. The Librarians are mean and I am too afraid to talk to
them because they intimidate me. They have unjustly
yelled at me in the past so I am not going to them for help
when I could go to the public library or use my own
computer at home.
Infringement of perceived rights /
Bess
2583 All the censorship issues the student
encounter really hold back much of the possible
research we can do. IT is really annoying that I can
vote, be sent to war, and I cant even look at any
pages on the internet. Bess the dog really holds the
students back from their full potential.
3890 They should have a place were people could
go and look up what they want instead of something
school related. You should be able to look up nonschool related. This should be important but Bessy
babe puts an end to that
Library systems and rules
3960 The school library helped me to complete an
entire English project during class time. However, the
library rules are restricting keeping students from
coming and going as they please and limiting the
amount of time spent in the library. Though the library
resources have the potential to be quite useful, it is
inconvenient and not an inviting atmosphere.
2607 My librarian was deprived of a childhood, so she
wants us all to be controlled by insane rules that just
do not make sense. Like, the public library in our city
has a café where we can buy food and relax and
munch, but here, even if we dare bring in a candy, she
can sniff it out like a police dog and she goes crazy.
As you can imagine, I prefer the public library.
What do we convey to students
that is important?
3726 Well I went into the library for some
information and did not find what I was looking for
and the librarians were busy gossiping so I sat at
one of the tables and sorted out the information I
already had and made a list of stuff I still needed so I
could look it up at the city library computers after
school.
9398 Once I needed to video tape the library and
some students working for a project in one of my
classes. The librarians yelled at me at kicked me out.
I hate the library.
Without Effective School Libraries?
What would happen if this help was not
provided through school libraries?
What would happen without the
instructional intervention of teacherlibrarians?
Opportunities and Options
Evidence-Based
Practice
your fingerprint
on student
learning
Evidence-Based Practice
is about celebrating the
understood, not the
found
(Knowledge, not Information)
“It is hard to set in
motion what is still, or
to stop what is in
motion”
Cobham Brewer 1810–1897
Dictionary of Phrase and
Fable