Understanding the process: Exploring with ProQuest

The Exploration phase continues and after the Google search, I am feeling a little encouraged.

The task of seeking new information and evaluating its relevance for my Information Learning Activity is quite daunting. I realise that I have always thought of searching for information as a linear process and that each piece of information will just add to what I had learnt previously. However, in line with the Alberta Inquiry Model (Alberta Learning, 2004)  I now see my search process as cyclic, with some steps being revisited from time to time as a result of finding new information. This particular inquiry model fits really well with the stages of Kuhlthau's Information Search Process. A diagram of the model is below:

The centre of the model: "Reflecting on the Process" is an important and integral part of the cyclic model. It is a vital element in understanding how and why inquiry works as a process for learning.  Reflecting on the Process is a critical element in helping students to understand and develop their metacognitive abilities—both “thinking about thinking” (cognitive domain) and “thinking about feelings.” (- the affective domain) (Alberta Learning, 2004)

An example of  the types of questions teachers might use in this Inquiry model to develop students' metacognitive abilities is seen below:

I realise now that by writing entries in this blog I am actually engaging in this part of the Model. Reflecting on the Process at each particlar stage has encouraged me to think about different search strategies and paths to follow. It has allowed me to document the feelings of frustration, enthusiasm (??), and discouragement as I navigate my way through Kuhlthau's Process and to create new learnings as I think and reflect on the information discovered.

It is constant and often discouraging, as I endeavour to scrutinise and analyse (Limberg, 2000) the information I have located in my search process to understand my topic more fully and create new knowledge as regards the context for my Information Learning Activity.

So I begin.....

My first search in Proquest Education yields 719 results:

The search terms were simply: "inquiry based learning"

To narrow the search I added the Boolean Operator AND adding "middle school": This yielded 195 results, and a few more relevant articles upon first glance. 

By adding the term "science" this narrowed the results to 170 but there was not a considerable amount of differences in the articles.

I then added the terms "guided  inquiry" and after noting that Social Science was appearing quite extensively in the abstracts, I used the Boolean operator NOT to exclude this term and the results were narrowed to 18!

From these 18 results, I think that at least four look very relelvant to my context and I am feeling quite relieved that I have had some success in searching in this database.

The GeST windows model (Lupton and Bruce, 2010) posits that my searching skills and the processes I am using to locate and select relevant information would have me looking through the Generic Window. Here, I locate information as it exists in tools and databases ready to be extracted.(Lupton and Bruce, 2010) I can evaluate the content by using checklists that assess its currency and bias and use my context for my ILA to check its relevance for my purposes.

Mandy has taken us through online tutorials that help us to analyse and further question our topics. We have learnt much of about search terms, synonyms, Boolean operators and using ICT skills to conduct screen captures and upload videos. In the Generic window, all these skills are seen as 'functional' and 'basic'(Lupton and Bruce, 2010) to become more information literate....but also necessary!

I now know that I need all these information literacy skills I have acquired in the Generic window, to be able to function in the Situated Window.
As I have now sought, searched, located,  searched some more, and finally began to analyse and define my topic and identify a focus for my context essay, I feel that the learning is now more personal.

As I personalise the information and construction of new knowledge takes place, I am able to get a' leg up' to the Situated window using the skills I have learnt in the Generic. The information I have found through purposeful search strategies  has allowed me to construct meaning that is authentic as regards my ILA.

As I continue to engage in the searches, online tutorials and lectures, and learn the 'discipline' of my community...(Lupton and Bruce, 2010) I can continue to make meaning of and construct knowledge to situate these skills in my learning activity.
As regards the Alberta Inquiry Model, which I have decided to use as a model of inquiry for my Information Learning Activity along with Kuhlthau's Information Search Process, I believe I am now leaving behind the Retrieval Stage. In the cognitive domain, I have thought about what information and sources are relevant and worth pursuing and what searches have been most useful.  In the affective domain, I have sorted out my feelings of doubt, uncertainty, frustration and even anger to move onto the next stage. I will probably revisit the planning stage with my teaching  partner to accomodate the new information.

References:

 

Albert Learning.  (2004). Focus  on inquiry: A teacher’s guide to implementing inquiry-based learning. Edmonton, AB: Author, Learning and Teaching Resources Branch.


  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

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