Annette Lamb: Information Fluency

Whew.....Annette is such a whirlwind....and provides excellent resources and clear strategies for improving how we teach and what we teach. I really enjoyed her session today....more work to do over the summer catching up with Annette's latest writings. great!

Here we go...moblogging again...

Annette is talking about Information Fluency!

• Critical and creative thinking
• technology literacy
• content literacy
• information literacy

Are your students information fluent? To be able to apply skills
Explore Enquiry and Process Models e.g. 8W, iSearch, Super3, Big6
Students to always have the process in the mind
Thinking in terms of not just accessing information but thinking about thinking

Metacognition! Think about your thinking

As adults look at our own enquiry process

• e.g. what movies have you watched lately? Did you have questions?
• Annette saw "Good Night and Good Luck" recently and questioned its accuracy etc
• Go to 'comfort sources' to find the answer: Internet movie database
• Also Wikipedia Explore and help students understand this resource. Can also be a launching place into other very relvant resources
  

Message: Use the most appropriate resource....don't alwasy go straight to Google!

Process: Ask questions and explore, assimilate and infer........

I assimilate, I infer, I question, I discover, I reflect

Real-World Inquiry

• Select relevant, meaningful information topics
• Identify timely resources
• Manouver competing data sources
• Evaluate accuracy of sources
• Synthesise information
• Draw conclusions with changing information

Resource: Snopes.com tracks the accuracy of urban myths
Be a metacognitive Explorer
Students spending more time thinking about how not to do the assignment (essays online, changing them for non-detection via turnitin.com) rather than doing it

Tools to trace enquiry:

• Inspiration Map
• Blog weblog
• Word journal

Questioning exploring.....Divergent thinking

• Cycle of questioning and exploring
• Knowledge is flexible, changing, growing, emergent, expanding
• Answers change with questions

Questions of....

• Accuracy
• precision
• Consistency
• Logic
• interpretation
• Assumption
• Implication
• lots more.....

Types of questions....see Jamie McKenzie at questioning.org

Deductive inquiry (general to specific): Apply general theory to instances, Infer based on rules and facts. Start with a theory/position, collect evidence
Inductive Inquiry (specific to general): Different arguments, solutions, Not about right/wrong

Conduct an inquiry:

• Information resources
• Tools
• Learning spaces
• Student productions

Note: Annette advocates portable learning resources e.g. laptops, and giving access to students

Interdisciplinary approach
e.g. PBS Teacher Source

Generate a culture of inquiry e.g. The Philosophers Club book and website
Snapshots of student projects (see Annette's website)
Book: Project Mulberry

What support do students need? A good instructional technology specialist, good teacher-librarian
Project-based approaches
Telementors: interesting study where teachers responded to the use of telementors showed increase in writing and critical thinking skills
Construction and reflection: tools and resources for these (do not think in terms of technology) e.g. wikis, blogs, digital camers, electronic portfolios (sharing understanding of what they are learning)
Culminating Projects (state department legislation?) = looking at alternative assessment
eScrapbooking free teacher resources

Understanding Learners (and the learning process)

• Meta-cognition
• Motivation
• Self-regulation (self-observation, self-judgement)
  

Collaborating: do inquiries at the same time as the students
Controlled, Guided, modeled, free

It 'feels right'.........see article "A Decade of WebQuests" re WebQuests and Bernie Dodge, see info on WebQuest Creation page

Constructivist + WebQuests
Situated Learnign e.g. WikiJunior

alamb@eduscapes.com

Promote a passion for learning and a passion for asking questions!

http://virtualinquiry.com
has links to Annette's resources etc .....

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