Guided Inquiry conferences and portfolios

One to one student conferences held throughout Guided Inquiry (GI) process are, I feel , an extremely important part of the process. Being able to identify student learning needs and address them in a timely manner is critical.  This also highlights the importance of an instructional team, as in my experience it was difficult to assist the class and give appropriate attention to each student as a single teacher, particularly with classes where students have greater need for teacher support and direction.

Student portfolios which document the learning as it progresses are a useful tool for students and teachers.  Kuhlthau’s book gives clear and practical guidance of kinds of evidence to be included and the kinds of learning displayed by each type of evidence. The self-reflection required for students to determine whether or not a piece of work should be included in the portfolio requires evaluation and indicates a level of metacognitive ability.  As a result deep learning occurs.

The process is able to incorporate both formative and summative assessment.

One challenge with the process is achieving transference across subject and across years within the school.  The teacher librarian is well placed to address this as they are able to work with students from different year groups across the school.  Also if they are can collaborate with various subject areas and begin to build GI projects into successive years.  As students become more familiar with the terminology and practice this should assist with of transference of skills.

The SLIM toolkit included in the book is designed to assist student reflection.  These can be time consuming and students may feel adds additional work, but can be adapted and a shortened version is included.

This is a very useful resource and is clear and easy to read.

My life on a roller coaster

Overall I liken the process to a rollercoaster -

there it is with all its twists and turns and as I look at it, although I know there will be highs and lows I am still surprised as they come along. We travel around bends,

over seemingly insurmountable hills that make me feel like












and then there is the, what I like to call, ‘Friday afternoon feeling’ at the end when it is ready to submit



although this is also followed by the trepidation of finding out the mark. And looking back over the process, it is exciting and invigorating and scary and I ask myself, “Do I want to go through this ever again???”

but am reminded (and remain hopeful) of words I have heard before (I can’t remember where and can’t find these exact words, maybe in my life as an economist), that with great risk comes great reward.

Study feelings

The more I study, the more convinced I become of the importance of recognising feelings throughout the search process, as identified by Kuhlthau and incorporated into Guided Inquiry. As the next assessment looms as well as the results of task 1, many images come to mind to describe my feelings both throughout the course and the research process for the assessments. The study feels like  with such a mountain of paperwork and so little time (where is the 10 hours?!!),

although as I complete a module, this is more me

Then the dreaded assessment begins to approach and I sit at the computer and start to type, (forgetting all the lessons about planning that I drill into my students!

Guided Inquiry teams

In this article, Kuhlthau identifies the 6 stages of Guided Inquiry and outlines its importance in assisting students to navigate through available information to create meaning and achieve deep understanding. One of the elements of the process is to create core and extended guided inquiry teams to lead the process.  Teams should be flexible according to student needs and should take advantage of the range of expertise which exists both within the school and the wider community. The core team should comprise 3 members – the TL, subject teacher and one other, eg. either another teacher, learning support or technology teacher, who work together throughout the entire process from planning to evaluation. The team is joined by experts in relevant fields to create an extended team, who collaborate as required throughout the process. Instructional teams are allocated appropriate tasks, which are clearly charted.

Kuhlthau identifies 5 aspects of learning incorporated in the inquiry process as shown in the following table (see Figure 1)

 

Figure 1 Kuhlthau & Maniotes, 2010, p. 19

It is envisaged that students will learn more than merely content and the learning experience will be enhanced.  Metacognitive skills (learning how to learn) are believed to be transferable. Thoughts and feelings are made explicit and students are taught to recognise them and implement applicable strategies to deal with them. Targeted intervention by teachers also assists when required in this approach.

Kuhlthau recommends a type of SWOT analysis of the school to identify strengths and weaknesses in the available expertise and how weaknesses will be addressed. Similarly the community is to be examined for possible expertise applicable to learning goals.

This reading provides a clear overview of the implementation of the process at each school level and the benefits to student learning are apparent. Challenges appear to be in the gathering of teams, particularly in relation to the 3^rd team member and possibly extended team.  As teachers are time-poor and new demands are introduced, offering time to another teacher may be difficult to achieve and timetable.

Reciprocal activities with interested teachers may be a possibility and where TLs share in marking or team teaching where possible this may also provide an answer.  Putting forward for an action research project and gaining grants or time allocations in this way may also be worth exploring. For many a team approach may bring professional rewards which may also be the answer?

Reference:  Kuhlthau, C. K. & Maniotes, L. K. (2010). Building Guided Inquiry Teams for 21st-Century Learners. School Library Monthly, 26(5), 18-21.

The importance of the affective aspect

In this reading, Kuhlthau reviews the work of 3 constructivist theorists: John Dewey, George Kelly and Jerome Bruner. She looks at theories relating to the affective impacts of constructing meaning from new information in the constructivist process. When new information is encountered, the learner passes through a range of phases, commencing with confusion and threat. Hypothesis formulation follows as links are made to existing information. Kelly maintains that the learner may test the hypothesis to reconstruct and formulate new understanding or throw out the new ideas if anxiety or boredom are insurmountable. If new meaning is created then the process of understanding is completed.

Kuhlthau’s work indicates that it is important to consider the full range of emotions experienced throughout the constructive process. Looking at my own experience and that of students taught, it is easy to relate these ideas, and see the impact of feeling and emotion on learning and helps to cement my belief in the guided inquiry process as an information literacy model.

Reference: Kuhlthau, C.C. (2004). Learning as a process, in Seeking meaning: A process approach to library and information services, Westport, Conn.: Libraries Unlimited, pp.13-27

Herring study of use of PLUS model in UK school

Herring studied the use of PLUS model by year 8 students in a UK school.  Students, teachers and TL were interviewed and surveyed in group and individual situations. Students were asked about their feelings of confidence at commencement, use of the model booklet for gathering information, usefulness of brainstorming prior to commencement, use of concept maps and notetaking, reading for information, skimming and scanning strategies and preference for print or digital information.

Many students found model useful for assisting organise work and many were able to reflect on their use of information literacy skills, indicating a level of metacognitive ability. Some evidence was found of students’ ability to transfer skills used to other subjects and years.

Teachers were positive about collaboration with TL, noting skills and benefits brought to learning.  TL also positive about collaboration also noted time restrictions would prohibit collaboration with all teachers in the school.

Study pointed out that model was most useful to lower and middle ability students as higher ability already employed many of these strategies. Also noted that, as with other models eg Big 6, this does not suit the learning style of all students.  However, the author intended the model to be able to be modified by TL or teacher to suit students, so as to not be a ‘one size fits all’ approach.

Comprehensive review of existing research and definition of information literacy is included as well.  I like the work of Bruce (1997) which argues for a broad view of information literacy and “focuses on the information literate person and presents a model (7 Faces of Information Literacy) that views information literacy as encompassing the use of information technology, information retrieval and use of sources but also such aspects as how individuals control information, construct and personalize knowledge and view information widely and ethically” (Herring, 2006, para 13.)

Project-Based Learning

Reading the Boss and Krause chapter [Boss, S. and Krauss, J. Reinventing project-based learning. A chapter from the book, providing guide to project-based learning.] I found inspirational stories of teachers applying project-based learning (PBL).  The ideas and strategies in this book are applicable to the work of many educators and this should be read by all teachers not only teacher librarians. This is particularly true with the introduction of the new national curriculum which encompasses inquiry learning as a key aspect in many areas.

The power of technology opens up many avenues for student inquiry and this strategy allows teachers and students to tap into this.  Following this goes further than integrating technology into teaching through the use of powerpoints and web searches. Technology is used to allow real world discoveries eg google earth, looking into library online collections, for learners to collaborate with others both within and outside the school context and to communicate eg through use of wikis, blogs, email, twitter etc.  Teachers and students tap into web 2.0 tools and there are some good links to some of these in this book.

Up front there is a greater workload on the teacher to design tasks, however tasks should be reusable in future years and once the task is handed over to the students, teachers are able to step back and act as facilitator. [I think here is where you would begin to learn so much more about technology as students can sometimes be the best teachers of new things here].

Teachers are also increasingly collaborating with others world-wide through blogs and there is a great list included in this book.

PBL involves authentic tasks – they need to be real- world focussed, with open ended questions and finishing with production of authentic products.  Allowing for student choice helps increase ownership of the task.  Projects need to encompass the learning of the topic, not be an ‘add-on’.  Drawing on ‘big ideas’ as the focus of the task is a good starting point, as well as considering the key skills to be learned and where students may apply this experience in later life.

Students gain throughout the process a range of skills in addition to the learning the content of the task, including communication skills (including the ability to communicate appropriately with people in a range of contexts), inquiry skills, time management skills to meet deadlines and ownership of their learning and the feeling that they are able to make a difference in the world.

This should mean that students achieve deeper understanding of the topic area and are able to transfer these skills to other tasks and other years, as is one of the aims discussed by some of information literacy.

Collaboration again is a key component. For teachers: Collaboration with other teachers, For students: collaborating throughout their learning. 

I am beginning to believe that where for real estate it is all about “location, location, location”, for TLs it is “collaboration, collaboration, collaboration” and yet so little of this has been my experience throughout my teaching career. Why is that????

Whilst I am fully inspired by this reading, as a secondary school teacher with a significant content load (particularly throughout the HSC with an external exam), the classes to apply this to needs to be carefully selected, ensuring the students are able to get the most from the process.