Encyclopedia Discussion and Teacher Needs

We know Encyclopedias can be our first source of acquiring general knowledge about a subject. Wikipedia has been vilified by many educational institutions as well as academics as providing inaccurate information. However we find all types of people in all walks of life using this as their first source of information and then going to other online sources or print material for additional information.

In schools we are finding more students are going to online resources to gather their information for research papers. Therefore as Harris has said, we may need to make peace with Wikipedia, as students are familiar with this source either through home use, or because many schools do not have access to other online encyclopedias. Using Wikipedia for their overview is fine as long as work has been done before hand. The intermediate teachers at my elementary school, use the text book, print books and then allow students to go to Wikipedia to gather additional information. When they take information from Wikipedia they are told to check it against another source to make sure it is accurate. I don’t think this is a phenomena we can easily change, but like anything else we need to prepare students for the reality of life. As adults, we often check with other sources when we are making big life decisions. Kids need to know that not everything published on the internet is accurate, and to get a good overview we need to look at other sources to help us through the decision making process. That little research project they are working on in school is their first step towards being a critical thinking learner.

I am not teaching information skills to the intermediate classes due to my limited library time. When speaking to teachers, one of the problems I’ve heard from some of the intermediate teachers is that some of the print and online resources they are using with students are not providing enough in-depth information on various ancient cultures topics being taught in SS, an example being farming in Mesopotamia. Part of the problem may be that the IRP’s outcomes do not always match print the online sources we have access to. Teachers find students are given a general overview rather than a thorough in-depth look at a topic. Another problem teachers are noticing is that when they talk about tools or other topics, often an image isn’t available to help solidify the visual for the student .

Hearing these kinds of problems teachers are encountering with research, I believe my job when purchasing references whether online or print, I need to delve much deeper to investigate the scope and emphasis the reference source places on the topics I know teachers and students want to explore and which will give them a more thorough grounding in their topic. Therefore I realise I must confer with these teachers more frequently and ask if references are meeting their needs and their students needs and how I can help achieve these needs.

Print vs Electronic Reference Resources

Technology is part of most people’s lives whether they own a computer, cell phone with all the apps, or ipods and other gadgets being marketed today. Many of these technologies offer the ability to go on the internet which both adults and students are accessing for information. It is an important part of the TL’s jobs to prepare students so they can evaluate the onslaught of information, choosing what is relevant and accurate for their use.

Many students are using both print as well as electronic sources when researching, at times, as their primary sources or vice versa. This is happening as low as grade two and three students.

I can’t help but think that additional electronic reference sources would be a great benefit to the students and the staff. We do not have a district wide purchase of databases for schools, each school is responsible for buying their own. This presents difficulties as I struggle to justify the large cost involved. The reason I struggle with the electronic resource purchase of a {ie} Culture Grams program is, it is basically used by one teacher only, most years. The opposite of this is, the print Culture Grams we have available are probably from the late nineties and we all know the changes that have occurred in nations and borders over the last ten to twelve years, making most of this information outdated. Even though the student’s research is supplemented by some newer books and internet based searching, do I make this purchase of several hundred dollars a year a budget focus, or do I leave it as is.

Looking at Tina’s advantages and disadvantages I am beginning to rethink my focus of print and really look carefully at acquiring certain electronic resources which can be updated regularly such as our encyclopedias, atlases and almanacs. They also come with multimedia advantages which appeal to many students. We must have a few print copies of these resources for use, as I don’t think all of us are totally drawn to electronic resources, especially when technology doesn’t work properly or some students are frustrated when using the electronic version. We also have to acknowledge, some of the students can’t always read and understand the electronic information. Continuing to use both, allows the TL to find materials at a variety of levels to meet the needs of all the students we work with on a daily basis.

Information Literacy Process

I was really interested in Karen’s remarks to Paul in the discussion about research models. Karen mentioned Ken’s Haycock’s statement that he “feels teachers often move children into the topic selection and info gathering stages much too quickly and that children often do not have the broad base of general knowledge that is needed to select a clear research topic or query.” This really made me think about my own teaching of the research process with older students. With younger students I model the process and we work through it together as a class before beginning their own topic. However with older students I've felt that students have been through the process in previous years and even if it may not be the exact same process they used in the classroom, it’s probably very similar. My thinking has been, I will address the steps with them and review what needs to done, answer any questions they have before letting the students begin their own inquiry, rather than doing the modeling and guiding I do with younger students.

I been thinking about Haycock’s statement quite a lot over the past weeks and wonder if perhaps this is why I feel I don’t always get the quality product I want from many of the the students. In rethinking the approach I use, I’ve decided that I need to spend at least a lesson modeling how to take a broad topic and narrowing it so they can formulate a question which they find interesting and want to learn about. This lesson would also discuss the importance of finding the major ideas they may choose to investigate as they work through their information sources. I’ve seen students make up their focus areas before they’ve fully explored the topic. Often students are not fully aware of where their topic can lead them until they have started to read a few of their resources. Using a class question we have formulated, modeling this process from topic choice to using key words for their note taking and taking it to presentation form can’t help but give confidence to students who aren’t comfortable with the process. As for the very capable students it can elevate their work to a higher quality product as they have been through a process which has provided them with new skills or knowledge they can apply to their own work.

I know we often are very conscience of time and feel we have to move the students into their projects quickly. However, I know taking the time to front load some of the skills discussed, the modeling and working together on a question a number of times, does help solidify student understanding, becoming a concrete experience they can use competently throughout their lives

Reference and The School Library

"The purpose of reference and information Library services is to align information to flow efficiently from information sources to those who need it" declares Kenneth Whittaker in Riedling opening about reference services. When faced with this statement the burden of responsibility seems absolutely daunting.

Working at two schools and with a very small amount of time in each library makes this task very difficult, as I am not readily available to students when they are seeking reference material, other than over two afternoons a week.

As well, teachers at both schools do not follow a specific model at either later primary or intermediate grades. Teachers use parts of models they feel work well for their grade and the students they have that year.

The Whittaker statement forces me to re-examine my duties and speak to teachers about their library time with me and how we can incorporate a more flexible schedule when classes are working on a research project. My time is very useful if I can be used to help students access reference material as I have a more thorough knowledge of the collection than teachers and students. I can also approach teachers at intermediate and primary team meetings to talk to them about looking at a couple of research models they think might help streamline the research process for their students and build upon their skills and become more critical information seekers as they go through the grades.

Hi from Irene on the Sunshine Coast. As you can see I get to look at the mountains on a daily basis.

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