I thought that reflecting on my own practice objectively might be quite challenging. As an experienced practitioner, working in a school with a curriculum framework based on inquiry learning, I was confident about my inquiry pedagogy, probably because I moonlight as a workshop leader for the International Baccalaureate and run workshops about inquiry for teachers in IB schools. Fortunately, I managed to be open-minded during the process of analysing a student inquiry that I had had a significant hand in planning. What I discovered when the student inquiry was measured against theoretical models was that, not only was there room for improvement, but I needed to examine the role I was playing in an inquiry.
In my role as teacher-librarian, I model inquiry teaching to colleagues who attend library lessons with their classes. I love whipping students into a frenzy of excitement about their inquiry and engaging students in discussions that provoke deep thinking; introducing content that has students wondering and making connections, but what I discovered through the analysis is I wasn't doing my job! I hadn't differentiated between inquiry learning and information literacy. Maybe I was dazzled by Kevin Costner's notion that if you build it they will come, but I forgot that it was my job to show the students how to get there: to explicitly teach students how to inquire, how to conduct research. It was a combination of the SLIM survey results and the GeSTE windows that brought me crashing to my knees. I was surprised at the numerous comments students made about the difficulty they encountered attempting to locate information, yet I happily positioned the Year 5 inquiry in the Transformative Window. There was an incongruity in these circumstances. There was something missing. The skills and processes of the Generic Window had been overlooked, possibly due to an assumption, based on apparent, but not actual, student competence. However, given the nested windows in the GeSTE model, the Year 5 inquiry did not meet the criteria of the Transformative Window. Unfortunately, I can't have a do over on my library lessons, but I can ensure that I am addressing the basics of information literacy, to support student inquiry in the future. It is ironic that I have made this revelation now, after working in a library for two years, at a time when I am nearing completion of my teacher-librarian formal qualifications, but it is not surprising. It is not surprising because as I reflect over the learning I have done in the past semester, I realise that my own information literacy skills have been on a steady upward trajectory. Learning to conduct expert searches on the internet and using databases was truly enlightening. I started teaching these skills to my students and the penny should have dropped at that stage ... information literacy skills make a difference. It felt good to be sharing such valuable knowledge for a reason. Despite the confronting realisation I have experienced, there was a lot of consolidation and affirmation of my professional practice. I am a very adaptive teacher, always enthusiastic to try new things and I continually strive to improve, so I am not disheartened, but inspired by possibilities. There has been a lot of soul searching as I reflected on my own practice, an appreciation for all that I have learned, and an increased empathy for student researchers who may be floundering, in need of guidance from a teacher-librarian, maybe from me. In my professional learning journey, the challenge now is to embed information literacy skills and processes in the context of the inquiry, because information literacy is at the core of the inquiry. The focus of my ongoing personal inquiry will be to integrate the information literacy into my pedagogical repertoire.
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Students at International Baccalaureate (IB) World Schools undertake six inquiries each year as part of the Primary Years Programme (PYP). The purpose of this Year 5 inquiry was for students to gain an understanding of the central idea: ‘Significant events have an impact on a community’. The focus of the inquiry was provided by the key concepts of Change, Causation, Perspective, and the lines of inquiry:
The collaborative planning that occurred between the classroom teachers and the teacher-librarian in the Year 5 inquiry resulted in an inquiry that was a rich learning experience for the students. The teachers strategically planned a series of inquiries, within the overall inquiry, to scaffold the student experience throughout the Information Search Process. The first inquiry was modelled by the teacher-librarian and related to The Overland Telegraph, the second was a guided inquiry in the classroom exploring the Gold Rush, both of which preceded an independent student inquiry on a significant historical event determined by individual student choice. Because of the incorporation of both teacher-initiated guided inquiry and a student open inquiry, the overall Year 5 inquiry about how significant events have an impact on a community is classified as a coupled inquiry (Dunkhase, 2000; Martin, 2001 as cited in Martin-Hansen, 2002). At this school, Year 6 students undertake a substantial open inquiry in the final year of the Primary Years Programme. The scaffolding provided in this year 5 inquiry prepares the students for the greater independence required in an open inquiry. When planning the Year 5 inquiry the teaching team were guided by the IB Primary Years Programme Planner. The PYP planner is a document that has many similarities to Wiggins and McTighe’s Understanding by Design planning framework, both of which are based on a backward by design approach to planning. Eight questions frame the PYP Planner, and the questions inform teacher planning:
The first four questions provide an overview of the Year 5 inquiry. There are several prompts under each of the key questions to further guide teacher planning. The questions are answered below, and associated learning experiences are detailed. 1. What is our purpose?Central Idea: Significant events have an impact on a community. **Students unpack the Central Idea using the 'Flat Chat' strategy - a silent written conversation, where students brainstorm what they know about key words. (See below) Summative Assessment Task: Students choose a significant event from Australian history and create a visual representation (mindmap/flowchart) to identify and describe the impact on the community. To demonstrate an appreciation of different perspectives of this event, they will write a first person account (diary entry of approx. one paragraph) from four different people. Flat Chat, Unpacking the Central Idea Photographs: Louise Cullen 2. What do we want to learn?Concepts: Change, Causation, Perspective Lines of Inquiry:
**In the planning phase of the inquiry, teachers pose subject or topic-specific questions that are designed to guide the inquiry and lead to an understanding of the central idea. This is a similar approach to the use of Essential Questions by McTighe and Wiggins (2008). Teacher Questions: What is a significant event? What is a community? How do significant events have an impact on a community? How has Australia developed over time? Who are the people involved in significant events? How has Australia changed? Why has Australia changed? How do different people view change caused by a significant event? **Australian Curriculum Humanities and Social Sciences content informs teacher planning at this stage. As the PYP is a concept-driven curriculum, of particular interest are the Australian Curriculum identified concepts for developing understanding which include: "sources, continuity and change, cause and effect, perspectives, empathy and significance." There are also several pertinent knowledge and understanding content descriptors that provided direction for this inquiry including: “The impact of a significant development or event on an Australian colony (ACHASSK108)” “The nature of convict or colonial presence, including the factors that influenced patterns of development, aspects of the daily life of the inhabitants (including Aboriginal Peoples and Torres Strait Islander Peoples) and how the environment changed (ACHASSK107)” There are also inquiry and skills content descriptors required for students to access the knowledge and understanding content, or explore the concepts: “Locate and collect relevant information and data from primary and secondary sources (ACHASSI095)” “Examine different viewpoints on actions, events, issues and phenomena in the past and present (ACHASSI099)” 3. How might we know what we have learned?Establishing Prior Knowledge: Students study an Australian Bureau of Statistics animated graph depicting the growth of the Australian population from 1788 - 2007 and the changes on the colony, state and territory boundaries on a series of maps of Australia. Students consider events that may have triggered changes in population growth and to the boundaries on the map of Australia and add these to a class padlet. Looking for: breadth / accuracy of knowledge of significant events in Australian history and any student misconceptions. Assessment of student learning in the context of the lines of inquiry: Formative Assessment tasks: Gold Rush Journal Entry, Mid-inquiry Reflection on Understanding of the central idea, Timeline events through conceptual lenses, 4. How best might we learn?The teachers planned for two inquiries to steadily build student independence before the third inquiry, an open-inquiry within the overall Year 5 inquiry. Each of the three embedded inquiries were structured using the Gourley Inquiry Model. As in the case of the Year 5 inquiry, it is common for several inquiries to be operating sequentially or concurrently within a larger inquiry. Human Systems Dynamics in Education define such inquiry cycles as Adaptive Action Cycles. This simple three step cycle is a deliberate learning process which asks What? So What? Now What? It recognises the constant cyclical nature of inquiry, which was evident throughout the Year 5 inquiry. Teacher modelled (collaborative) inquiry about The Overland Telegraph: Tuning in Students connect key words related to The Overland Telegraph to predict a significant event (indicates level of prior knowledge) Finding out Watch 'Constructing Australia: Wire Through the Heart' which begins "It was a moment that changed Australia..." Sorting out Refer back to key words and explain connections Making conclusions Students explain the impact The Overland Telegraph had on Australia in general, then the impact from different perspectives Going Further Connect to Burke and Wills expedition Reflecting/Taking Action Teacher led discussion identifying the interconnectedness of Australian history. Further questions - Given we didn't know about The Overland Telegraph and it had such a significant impact on the Australian community, what other events have helped to shape Australia? Teacher-initiated student inquiry on the Gold Rush Tuning in Establish prior knowledge **Students record 'What do I think I know?" about the Gold Rush (see below) Gold Rush Tuning In - 'What do I think I know?' Photo: Louise Cullen Finding Out Web-based research about Gold Rush, (mini-lesson on note taking, plagiarism); Expert Jigsaw groups form to research different aspects of the Gold Rush Sorting Out Jigsaw groups re-form and collate information (see below) Jigsaw Expert Group Collation of Research Photo: Louise Cullen Making conclusions Identify and describe the Gold Rush from one perspective **Students selected one perspective to recount, in one diary entry, life during the Gold Rush (see below). Student diary entry from an indigenous perspective Photo: Louise Cullen Going Further Excursion to Birrigai to experience life on the goldfields and develop an understanding of the events leading up to the Eureka Stockade uprising (see below); View the documentary ‘Eureka Stockade’ (note taking). Student Gold Field / Eureka Stockade experiential role play Photos: Louise Cullen Reflecting/Taking Action Australian Gold Rush: Reflection Pyramid **Students reflected on the Gold Rush Research using the prompts: What have I seen? What have I heard? What will I ask now? How does this connect to our central idea? (see below). Student reflection on Gold Rush Research Photo: Louise Cullen Student selected significant event Tuning in Working in small groups, students access www.austhistorytimeline.com, select three events from Australian history, and use the key concepts describe the cause of the event, the change that the event caused, and the various perspectives on the event. (See below) Students tuning in to historical events Photo: Louise Cullen Finding out Working independently, students select an event and conduct research so they can explain the significance of the event and write a diary entry from four different perspectives. While seeking differing perspectives on significant historical events, it was important that students evaluated the sources of information carefully, adopting the role of text analyst or text critic when accessing sources of information. They had to consider who had produced the text and for what purpose, often they were looking for what was missing from the text as much as what was explicitly stated (Luke & Freebody, 2002). Conceptual lenses were applied which allowed students to interpret text with a different focus. This positioned the inquiry within the Transformative Window in the GeSTE Windows Information Literacy model (Lupton & Bruce, 2010). Sorting out Draw out perspectives from the research Making conclusions Write diary entries by applying research findings Reflecting/Taking Action Summarising understanding about the Central Idea Journal entries and student reflection Photos: Louise Cullen ReflectionReflecting, during and upon conclusion of an inquiry is an expectation for teachers involved in the PYP programme. Considering a range of inquiry-related theories and models has been enlightening in the reflection process. As a consequence many recommendations have emerged that may improve learning outcomes. On a personal/professional note, as the teacher-librarian collaborating on the Year 5 inquiry it is apparent that the primary focus of library lessons concerned inquiry content, for example learning about The Overland Telegraph. In the teacher-librarian role, expertise in the area of information literacy should be the primary contribution, albeit contextualised through relevant content. A shift is required in future inquiries and the teacher-librarian is the staff member best equipped to identify and address the needs of students in the zone of intervention in information seeking, as described by Kuhlthau. Although the inquiry was judged to be positioned in the Transformative Window of the Lupton & Bruce GeSTE Information Literacy model , which is inclusive of the Situated and Generic windows, the difficulty experienced by some students when conducting research (according to SLIM survey responses) indicates that greater attention to the skills and processes in the Generic window was required. As Gourley's inquiry model is being used as a framework for the inquiry process, it is recommended that the prompts in the Finding Out stage of the inquiry are explicitly shared with students and enacted during the inquiry. The prompts include:
"Typically by the end of Year 6, students:
Question Matrix to support student generation of questions ConclusionThere are many positive aspects to the Year 5 inquiry. The inquiry was well structured, using a recognised inquiry model, addressed curricula requirements, maintained student interest and providing scope for student choice. However, the inquiry analysis has highlighted areas where the inquiry could improve. In particular, an increased focus on addressing information literacy, to assist student research skills within an inquiry, and the use of a questioning framework to assist students to generate rich inquiry questions are recommended. ReferencesInternational Baccalaureate Organisation (2007) PYP Planner. Cardiff: International Baccalaureate Organisation.
Kuhlthau, Carol. (2010). Guided inquiry : school libraries in the 21st century School Libraries Worldwide, 16 (1), 1-12. Kuhlthau, C. C., Maniotes, L. K., & Caspari. A. K. (2007). Guided inquiry: Learning in the 21st century. SantaBarbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited. Lupton, Mandy and Bruce, Christine. (2010). Chapter 1 : Windows on Information Literacy Worlds : Generic, Situated and Transformative Perspectives in Lloyd, Annemaree and Talja, Sanna, Practising information literacy : bringing theories of learning, practice and information literacy together, Wagga Wagga: Centre for Information Studies, pp.3-27. Martin-Hansen, L. (2002). Defining inquiry: Exploring the many types of inquiry in the science classroom. The Science Teacher, 69(2), 34-37. Short, K. (1997) ‘Inquiring into inquiry’. Learning 25(3), 52–54.
To assess student learning during the inquiry, the student participants were surveyed twice, once at the beginning and again at the end. 23 students were involved in the survey, but due to unusually high student absence towards the end of the inquiry, only 13 completed both Survey 1 and Survey 2. 20 students completed Survey 1 and 16 students completed Survey 2. The survey used was the School Library Impact Measure (SLIM) (Todd, Kuhlthau & Heinstrom, 2005). Below is a summary and analysis of the student responses to the surveys.
Question 1
Take some time to think about the 'How we organise ourselves' inquiry. Write down everything you know about it.
*Only responses of students who completed both surveys are included in Graph 1 and Graph 2.
There was an increase in both the quantity of responses given in Survey 2, and the complexity of the responses, as indicated by the greater number of both explanation and conclusion statements. Such an increase suggests the "development of intellectual quality reflected in deeper knowledge and deeper understandings (SLIM Appendix B)". The Year 5 cohort are experienced at explicitly reflecting on their understanding of the central idea at the conclusion of an inquiry. This may have contributed to the phrasing of responses as either explanation or conclusion statements. For example Student 5 wrote "Natural disasters, such as Cyclone Tracy have a significant impact on a community." Student 8 concluded that, "A person or a group of people can do something to change/impact a community," and went on to explain, "When the Overland Telegraph Line was connected, Australia was able to communicate with the rest of the world more quickly and it made a big difference to many people's lives."
What was surprising was the significant increase in the number of fact statements, but this can be explained because some students used the facts to illustrate both explanation and conclusion statements. For example Student 6 wrote, "Many significant events have occurred that changed Australia to what it is today such as, The First Fleet arriving, Crossing the Blue Mountains, bringing Merino sheep, the Gold Rush, the Overland Telegraph Line, the Freedom Ride, Federation and women voting." Several students listed numerous examples of significant events in Australian history, which were classified as fact statements, even though they weren't phrased as full statements. This decision was made because unfortunately the students completing the survey were not given clear instructions and encouragement to detail their prior knowledge in full sentences, as per the administration guidelines for the SLIM survey. Question 2
How interested are you in this inquiry?
*All student participant results are included in Graph 3 and Graph 4, represented as a percentage for fair comparison.
This survey was conducted after the first tuning in lesson of the inquiry, which had a goal of piquing student interest and sparking wondering. The results indicate that overall student interest in the inquiry was high and the tuning in lesson was a success. The lesson was teacher directed, but had a lot of scope for open ended thinking and student discussion. The students viewed an animated graph that illustrated the growth of Australia’s population over time: Australian Bureau of Statistics Animated Historical Population Chart. Students were invited to speculate about what may have caused certain growth spurts and explain the patterns of population growth in the different states and territories.
They then viewed a series of 21 Australian maps, which illustrated how the state and territory boundaries have changed over time, starting with a map showing traditional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lands. There was great wonderment and amusement at the changes. One common comment was, "I didn't know that Western Australia used to be 'Swan River Colony'," and students asked "Why was the ACT called FCT?" and "What does FCT stand for?" Of course, for the purpose of the inquiry the teacher-librarian didn't know the answer to these questions. The class then revisited the animated graph of population growth and made connections between the two pieces of information. After a class discussion, students were invited to record their ideas on a padlet. They were asked to suggest events that may have affected the population change (see below).
Students were able to demonstrate their prior knowledge of significant events in Australian history. Kath Murdoch explains the importance of the tuning in phase of an inquiry when students can "make ‘visible’ their current thinking about the subject/question." I think this was an extremely effective learning experiences in the tuning in phase of an inquiry as it provoked student thinking and provided a stimulus for establishing prior knowledge. The lesson sparked student interest and introduced the conceptual idea that change occurs for a reason, without explicitly ‘teaching’ about any particular event. Even better, it generated student questions.
After using the SLIM survey to categorise student statements, my awareness of the type of responses given on Padlet was heightened. Interestingly, I observed that a large proportion of the posts on Padlet were explanation statements, which is significantly different to most responses given to Question 1, Survey 1. I speculate this may be because of two reasons. First, because the question students were asked was more specific and secondly because Padlet is a public forum students may have invested more effort into their responses. The data supports the effectiveness of the lesson with regard to kindling student interest and of steady or increased interest throughout the inquiry. Of the 13 students that completed both surveys, 46% gave a response in Survey 2 that moved up the scale, the majority from 'Quite a bit' to 'A great deal'. 3% of students had indicated ‘A great deal’ on Survey 1 and their response remained static, as did the responses of 31% who had initially indicated ‘Quite a bit’. However it should be noted that one of the students who selected 'Not much' in Survey 1, did not complete Survey 2. It would have been interesting to have seen the Survey 2 response of this student. Question 3
How much do you know about the 'How we organise ourselves' inquiry?
*All student participant results are included in Graph 5 and Graph 6, represented as a percentage for fair comparison.
The majority of students (55%) who responded in Survey 1 indicated their prior knowledge of the inquiry was limited. This was a surprise because the Australian Curriculum Year 4 Humanities and Social Sciences, which is embedded in student inquiries, provides a knowledge platform on which to build. As such, students can usually make connections between prior inquiries. In this instance students should have been able to drawn on an understanding of European settlement of Australia. One quarter of the Year 5 cohort is new to the school in 2015, but even this shouldn’t be a factor - or what’s the point of a national curriculum? Or, this researcher could be analysing through a glass half empty lens, because 45% of students indicated they knew 'Quite a bit'!
The Survey 1 results were a surprise, but they weren’t disheartening for two reasons. One, because there's no point doing an inquiry if the students are equipped with the knowledge already, and two, because as the children speculated about reasons for the population change, they actually demonstrated prior knowledge. It is possible the children underestimated how much they knew from the outset, or it was the 45% in-the-know that dominated the class discussion! Another explanation is the students could have based their judgement purely on their lack of knowledge about how the Australian state and territory borders changed over time, as this was the only lesson the students had experienced at that stage of the inquiry. What was pleasing was the shift in responses between surveys. All but one of the children, who completed both surveys, indicated their level of knowledge had increased by the end of the inquiry – phew! One child assessed that they had ‘Quite a bit’ of knowledge at the beginning and the end of the inquiry. It would have been interesting to interrogate this response further to determine if the child considered any new knowledge had been gained during the inquiry. Table 1 (below) shows the extent of the self-assessed improvement in knowledge about the inquiry topic, with 100% of respondents judging their knowledge was greater than ‘Quite a bit’. Question 4
When you do research, what do you generally find easy to do?
*Results of all students who completed Survey 1 are included in Graph 7
*Results of all students who completed Survey 2 are included in Graph 8
*Results of all students who completed Survey 2 are included in Graph 9
Student self-evaluation conducted at the beginning of an inquiry, such as in Survey 1 is useful formative assessment. Reading between the lines, and identifying the standards that did not rate a mention is possibly more informative than the responses given. For example the Year 5 students often pose questions as an explicit part of an inquiry in the PYP, so it is not surprising this skill rated highly, but the fact that no student referred to practices that honour intellectual property rights may indicate a need to review this area. Some of the other standards not listed include: distinguishing between fact, point of view and opinion; identifying misleading information; and critical thinking and problem solving, all of which are important skills when undertaking research, but students may not have thought to mention them because they assumed reading comprehension skills in everyday use.
Overall students indicated that 53% of the Information Literacy Standards used in the SLIM survey were ‘easy’. Given that students were able to provide a free response to this question, it is interesting that there is a high correlation between the student responses and the SLIM standards, which are based on the AASL Information Literacy Standards. It would be interesting to provide the standards and invite students to rate themselves on each. There were fewer students who completed Survey 2, so a direct comparison of the number of responses for each information literacy standard is not necessarily an indicative measure, but an analysis based on the trends is possible. It is evident that the results of both Survey 1 and Survey 2 reflect the stage of the inquiry. In Survey 1, questioning rated most highly, but dropped significantly in Survey 2 because students had a greater focus on locating and organising information in order to answer the questions. As illustrated on Graph 9, two additional standards were included in student responses in Survey 2, 'produce an appropriate product' and communicate information', both of which also reflect the stage of the inquiry. Producing a product was the standard mentioned the most in Survey 2, which in fact, by necessity, encompasses many of the other information literacy standards. As a summative assessment task, the product that students were required to produce to communicate their understanding of the central idea was four diary entries about a common event, each portraying a different perspective. In the example shown below a student who chose the building of The Overland Telegraph as a significant event in Australian history, wrote about the event from the perspective of John McDougall Stuart, Charles Todd, a citizen in Adelaide and the S.A. Government. To assume these personas and write about the impact of the connecting of Overland Telegraph required detailed understanding about the event. The fact that such a high proportion of students (62%) mentioned this was an easy task indicates they considered they had conducted successful research.
Several students indicated they found the diary writing task easy because they only had to write a paragraph to sum up each perspective. One student stated, "I found presenting to the class was probably the easiest because I knew so much about the topic that I was confident." This was one of the four similar comments that resulted in the addition of the communicating information standard in Survey 2.
Question 5
When you do research, what do you generally find difficult to do?
In Survey 1, the most common Information Literacy Standards identified as difficult included:
*Results of all students who completed Survey 1 are included in Graph 10
A representative selection of Survey 1 responses:
In Survey 2, the most common Information Literacy Standards identified as difficult included:
It is interesting to note that although locating information was the most commonly identified 'difficult' standard in Question 5, accounting for 50% of the responses, it was by contrast identified as an 'easy' standard by 21% of students responding to Question 4, Survey 2. Many students relayed the difficulty they had locating information about different perspectives on a topic. The degree of difficulty locating such information depended on which significant event students had selected, which may be one factor to explain the contrasting results. Another factor may be differing student skill levels when locating information.
Analysing the overall trends of what students identified as difficult, is useful to inform teaching requirements to equip students with the skills they require to conduct an independent inquiry. It may also be beneficial to compare individual student responses across Question 4 - What is easy? and Question 5 - What is difficult?, particularly those that were inverse, such as the two illustrated below.
Question 6
What did you learn in doing this research project?
Year 5 students misinterpreted the intent of this question. Every student wrote about the content-related knowledge they gained during the research process, rather than focusing on the information skills they learned. One student did acknowledge improved search skills using Google. A summary of the breadth of content-based knowledge is depicted in the word cloud below.
This blog traces the evaluation of an Information-Learning Activity (ILA) or inquiry, whereby students were required to independently find and use a variety of information sources in order to learn about a topic. The inquiry was conducted by Year 5 students at an independent International Baccalaureate (IB) World School. In my role as the teacher-librarian, I collaborated with the Year 5 teaching team during the planning and implementation of the inquiry.
In an IB School the curriculum is framed using the Primary Years Programme that consists of six transdisciplinary themes. The student inquiry (ILA) was positioned under the IB transdisciplinary theme "How we organise ourselves: An inquiry into the interconnectedness of human-made systems and communities; the structure and function of organizations; societal decision-making; economic activities and their impact on humankind and the environment" (IBO, p.2). The learning intention of the inquiry was for students to develop a conceptual understanding of the broad central idea: "Significant events have an impact upon a community". The key concepts were change, causation and perspective. Three lines of inquiry provided direction and narrowed the scope of the inquiry:
The Information Learning Activity was designed using an inquiry-based approach to learning, with a balance of teacher-directed instruction, scaffolded student-inquiry and independent student-inquiry. The key learning area was History. To demonstrate understanding, the summative assessment task for this inquiry required students to:
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