Are you “In the Zone?” A Model for Inquiry, the School Library, and the VELS Dr Ross J Todd

1. Are you “In the Zone?” A Model for Inquiry, the School Library, and the VELS Dr Ross J Todd Director, Center for International Scholarship in School Libraries Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey cissl.scils.rutgers.edu rtodd@scils.rutgers.edu

3. Stay Focused Pick one Card It is YOUR card Think about YOUR card for 20 seconds Stay focused on YOUR card

4. Ross is now going To remove YOUR Card!

5. YOUR card has been removed

6. Let’s Try Again: Pick Another Card Pick another Card It is YOUR card Think about YOUR card for 20 seconds Stay focused

7. Again, your card has been removed

9. THE CONTEXT FOR THE MODEL OF INQUIRYEVIDENCE-BASED LIBRARIANSHIP • Evidence for Practice: identifying, critically appraising and incorporating research evidence from library science, education, and other disciplines, into daily practice. BUILDING EFFECTIVE PRACTICE • Evidence in Practice: engaging with evidence derived from within daily practice; Teacher-librarians working diagnostically as work-place researchers and reflective practitioners. Maintaining practice. MAINTAINING EFFECTIVE PRACTICE • Evidence of Practice: understanding and using professional practice – local and immediate - as a generator and source of evidence; evidence in terms of achievement of the VELS. DEMONSTRATING EFFECTIVE PRACTICE

10. What Victorian Schools Are About STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT: Learning Outcomes Knowledge-based Outcomes EFFECTIVE READERS AND WRITERS: Literacy STUDENT Learning Literacy Living • PRODUCTIVE MEMBERS OF SOCIETY: • Living VELS: the interdisciplinary capacities needed for effective functioning within and beyond school, grounded in reading, writing and thinking: Interdisciplinary Learning VELS: the branches of learning reflected in the traditional disciplines: Discipline-based learning VELS: the processes of physical, personal and social development and growth : Physical, Personal and Social Learning

11. What Victorian School Libraries Are About • STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT: Learning • School Libraries develop information-to-knowledge competencies so that students develop deep knowledge and deep understanding • Personal competencies • Resource-based competencies • Thinking-based competencies • Knowledge-based competencies • EFFECTIVE READERS AND WRITERS: • Literacy • School libraries develop • motivation, curiosity and passion for reading and writing in all formats • Reading and writing to meet curriculum / content standards • Free voluntary reading and writing • THE KEY TO DEVELOPING DEEP KNOWLEDGE STUDENT Learning Literacy Living • PRODUCTIVE MEMBERS OF SOCIETY: • Living • School libraries develop knowledge, competencies and responsibilities related to personal development and becoming a productive citizen • Self development • Productive citizen

12. THE SCHOOL: Knowledge - Declarative knowledge - Procedural knowledge Knowledge-based Outcomes - deep knowledge - deep understanding Competencies: mastery - content and skills - reading achievement - life skills Inquiry THE SCHOOL LIBRARY: Information Information Process Value-added outcomes: - lifelong learners - information literacy - independent learners “Good Researchers” Misfit or Perfect Match?

13. Are we there yet? • School Libraries: emphasis on the “found”: locating, accessing, finding and evaluating “stuff” • Little attention to doing something with the “found stuff”: the complex cognitive processes required to transform information into deep knowledge • WHAT ARE THE OUTCOMES OF THIS? • School libraries as zones of intellectual conflict, intellectual discontent; intellectual activism? (These are the keys to developing deep knowledge) • Typically treat information literacy as a separate discipline (teacher teaches content and teacher librarian teaches information skills) • Scope and sequence models of Information Literacy (akin to “fixed schedules”) • Students do not go beyond the basic knowledge level of Bloom’s Taxonomy: recalling and recognizing information

14. THE VELS: KNOWLEDGE Investigate, design, make, suggest, create, generate, contribute, propose, draw and explain, plan, test, devise, predict, develop suggestions for improvements, conclude, apply, solve THE SCHOOL LIBRARY: INFORMATION Define, locate, select, organize, present, assess, reflect Misfit or Perfect Match? Time to think out s i d e Xob eht fo

15. Kent State University Study 2006 - 2007 • School Librarian – Classroom Teacher Instructional Collaborations • 140 participants (70 instructional teams) • Documenting the collaboration of experience • Part 1: Some background information about you • Part 2: The class details • Part 3: Planning your collaboration • Part 4: Implementing your collaboration • Part 5: The impact and outcomes of your collaboration • Part 6: The future of your collaborations • Lack of mutual intent: - teachers: to enhance student learning outcomes - school librarians: to enhance their position

16. So What? • Need to rethink the instructional foundation and framework of the school library • Work transformatively: Move beyond the traditional base-line of information and information literacy • Information – to – Knowledge mindset • Zone of Intervention: the critical point / need for instruction

17. VELSKnowledge Outcomes Two types of knowledge are meshed together through the VELS and are the essential outcomes of the VELS: • Declarative Knowledge • Procedural knowledge These together represent the interdisciplinary learning of the VELS

18. Declarative Knowledge • Declarative Knowledge refers to the propositional knowledge (concepts and relationships) about a topic. KNOWING ABOUT • These propositions can be factual, explanatory and conclusive / predictive / reflective, structured as a coherent and integrated whole. • They are knowing about properties, manner, reason, outcome, causality, set membership, conclusion implication, prediction, value judgment and reflection. • Deep knowledge and deep understanding; Moving beyond superficial stockpiling of descriptive facts to building and demonstrating complex understandings

19. Procedural Knowledge • Procedural knowledge: refers to both the knowledge of, and application, of cognitive, behavioral and affective processes to build deep knowledge and understanding. - Personal and organizational competencies - Resource-based competencies - Technical / technological-based competencies - Critical thinking/reasoning-based competencies - Knowledge-based competencies - Communication-based competencies - Design and creative-based competencies = Key to Interdisciplinary Learning

20. Procedural Knowledges of the VELS • Knowing how to do authentic research in a discipline – what are the central questions of a discipline; how disciplinary inquiry is undertaken to build deep knowledge and understanding • Locating, accessing, selecting sources of information to build background knowledge • Engaging with multiple viewpoints and dealing with conflicting information encountered in the inquiry process • Selecting, evaluating and interacting with ideas in diverse sources to develop foundations for deep understandings • Recognizing uncertainties, doubts, frustrations and knowing how to use them creatively and positively to build deep knowledge

21. Procedural Knowledges of the VELS • Making choices about directions of inquiry • Formulating focus questions and engaging with complex information sources pertinent to focus questions • Applying critical thinking skills to identify, interrogate and construct ideas so that personal understandings emerge • Verifying new knowledge through arguments, evidence, reflection • Establishing evidence-based points of view and perspectives • Understanding how to build and represent new knowledge in safe, ethical and responsible ways

22. Procedural Knowledges of the VELS • Structuring and organizing and representing new knowledge in meaningful and appropriate ways • Generating meaningful conclusions, imaginative solutions, action plans, predictions and • Reflecting on new knowledge: what have I learned and what opportunities does this open up for further learning? • Understanding of preferred learning styles & learning strengths and weaknesses, learning habits • Understanding ethical frameworks for learning • Using ICT for accessing, evaluating and engaging with ideas • Using ICT for communicating knowledge & problem solving

23. Procedural Knowledges of the VELS Procedural knowledges of the VELS point to the critical / essential role of the school library as a zone of instructional intervention. VELS-BASED SCHOOL LIBRARY MESSION STATEMENT • Learners actively searching for meaning and understanding • learners constructing knowledge rather than passively receiving it • learners directly involved and engaged in the discovery of new knowledge • learners encountering alternative perspectives and conflicting ideas • learners transferring new knowledge and skills to new circumstances • learners taking ownership and responsibility for mastery of curriculum content and skills

24. Inquiry Learning An inquiry approach to learning is one where students actively engage with diverse and often conflicting sources of information and ideas to discovernew ones, to build new understandings, and to develop personal viewpoints and perspectives. KNOWLEDGE OUTCOME -------------------------------------------------------------- It is underpinned by stimulating encounters with information – encounters which capture their interest and attention, and which motivate and direct their ongoing inquiry. INFORMATION FOUDATION

25. Guided Inquiry • Carefully planned, closely supervised, targeted intervention(s) of an instructional team of teacher- librarians and teachers to guide students through curriculum based inquiry units that gradually lead towards deep knowledge and understanding. • Constuctivist approach to learning: staged, guided • Based on understanding of: - How deep knowledge of a discipline is developed - Student information seeking and use • Develops students’ competence with learning from a variety of sources; goal is deep knowledge • Students not abandoned in the research process

26. THE KNOWLEDGE FOUNDATION

27. Realms of MeaningPhilip Phenix (McGraw Hill, 1964) • Various fields of knowledge exhibit distinctive structures or patterns of meaning • They have different ways of “coming to know”: how knowledge is gained in a subject, and how it is validated • Different methods of inquiry, for creating new knowledge, and for validating claims to new knowledge • How does the inquirer / investigator go about making discoveries on mathematics, biology, history, science? Developing new knowledge

28. What does this mean? • Many different conceptions of the information-to-knowledge process • Each discipline has its own unique conception / model of information literacy • There is no one generic notion of what inquiry is = it is disciplinary specific • There is no one-size-fits-all model of information literacy • Need to rethink our approach to mediation and intervention

29. The Instructional Framework • Based on Kuhlthau’s Information Search Process • The ONLY tested/validated model in our field (evidence for practice) • The pletehora of simplistic models of information skills deny the complexity of the information-to-knowledge experience • The Information Search Process provides a research-based instructional framework for understanding students’ journey of information seeking and knowledge building, and a basis for guiding and intervening to ensure students develop deep knowledge and deep understanding.

30. Information Search Process • Qualitative exploration of search process of high school seniors (1983) • 2. Qualitative study of original sample after 4 years of college (1988) • 3. Longitudinal study (1988) • 4. Qualitative and quantitative study of high, middle and low achieving high school seniors (1989) • 5. Validation Study: 385 academic, public, and school library users in 21 sites (1989) Kuhlthau, C. C. (2004). Seeking meaning: A process approach to library and information services. 2nd edition. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.

31. THE INFORMATON SEARCH PROCESS Information Search Process Tasks Initiation Selection Exploration Formulation Collection Presentation ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------→ Feelings uncertainly optimism confusion clarity sense of satisfaction or (affective) frustration direction/ disappointment doubt confidence Thoughts vague-------------------------------------→focused (cognitive) -----------------------------------------------→ increased interest Actions seeking relevant information----------------------------→seeking pertinent information (physical) exploring documenting

32. Stages of the ISP • Effective information seeking occurs in seven stages. These stages are named for the primary task to be accomplished at each point in the process. • Initiation: when confronted with an information need, students contemplate what they already know, what they want and need to find out • Selection: students identify and select general topics which will guide their information seeking to satisfy their information need. • Exploration: students investigate information on a general topic in order to extend personal understanding and to form a focus

33. Stages of the ISP Stages of the ISP • Formulation: students become aware of the various dimensions, issues, ramifications of the initiating question and begin to form their own focused perspective of the subject under study. • Collection: students gather information that defines, extends and supports the focus that they have formed. Interest and confidence commonly increases as they gain a sense of ownership and expertise in the subject. • Presentation:students prepare to apply / share what they have discovered. • Assessment: students reflect on what they have learned to discover what went well and what might be improved.

34. Mediation and Intervention • Intervention centers on the way in which “mediators become involved in the constructive process of another person … in information seeking and use” (Kuhlthau, 204, p. 127). • Zone of Intervention: That area in which an information user can do with advice and assistance what he or she cannot do alone or can do only with great difficulty. • Intervention vs Independent Learning

35. THE KNOWLEDGE FOUNDATION  THE INFORMATION-TO-KNOWLEDGE EXPERIENCE

36. Building Declarative Knowledge • Goal: Propositional Knowledge: factual, explanatory, conclusive, predictive, reflective (VELS DISCIPLINE-BASED LEARNING) • Existing Knowledge (limited)  • Building background knowledge  • Encountering / investigating multiple viewpoints and perspectives, dealing with conflicting knowledge  • Focused knowledge building and knowledge authentication (quality arguments, use of evidence)  • Structuring new knowledge  • Representation of new, deep knowledge in meaningful structures and formats  • Communicating new knowledge  • Knowledge reflections, knowledge actions, knowledge solutions

37. The Zones of Intervention • The stages of the Information Search Process are potential zones of instructional intervention in the school library to develop deep knowledge and understanding through the school library. • The instructional interventions are KNOWLEDGE_BASED interventions to provide students with the necessary procedural knowledge to construct deep knowledge and understanding of their topics. • Specific instructional interventions are determined by the curriculum outcomes to be achieved, and the cognitive, affective, and behavioral needs of the learners to help them achieve these outcomes. • The starting point for the interventions is NOT information literacy skills, nor some predefined scope-and-sequence IL framework • The instructional interventions guide students in their inquiry and support them in their process of developing deep knowledge and understanding of their topics

38. THE INFORMATON SEARCH PROCESS Information Search Process Tasks Initiation Selection Exploration Formulation Collection Presentation ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------→ Feelings uncertainly optimism confusion clarity sense of satisfaction or (affective) frustration direction/ disappointment doubt confidence Thoughts vague---------------------------------------→focused (cognitive) -----------------------------------------------→ increased interest Actions seeking relevant information----------------------------→seeking pertinent information (physical) exploring documenting Information-to-knowledge experience Stages of the Information Search Process represent critical Zones of Intervention

39. INTERVENTIONSISP : INITIATION • Understanding how a discipline builds knowledge • Understanding knowledge requirements of task: task analysis rubrics • Establishing existing / prior knowledge: novice knowledge (what I know about) • Mapping existing knowledge: Central concepts and relationships: concept mapping, mind mapping, Venn diagrams • Building engagement; Developing curiosity and motivation • Understand real world relevance and importance of the enquiry • Dealing with the affective dimensions: doubt, uncertainty • Task organization, time, process and effort management; Know when, where, and how to get help and guidance

40. Initiation (unit, research task, learning activity) • The starting point for inquiry is not: - “let’s do Dewey” - “Here are some good web sites” - Defining your needs - The library’s research / information process • The starting point is - understanding the knowledge outcomes - understanding the disciplinary-based knowledge building process - building interest, engagement, ownership - managing cognitive, behavioral and affective requirements

41. INTERVENTIONS Students see that collecting facts is the beginning of meaningful inquiry, not the end point Basis for personal choice The Jazz JigSaw

42. INTERVENTIONSISP : INITIATION

43. Developing Background Knowledge, Interest, Motivation Questions I have??? I didn’t know that!  Read View Listen Connect   I agree / disagree I wonder …. 

44. INTERVENTIONSISP : INITIATION CONCEPT MAP

45. INTERVENTIONSISP : SELECTION • Sources to build background knowledge: appropriateness & quality of sources - the are likely to be different sources to building deep knowledge • use of technology tools to seek, access & evaluate sources • Read with understanding the major concepts and relationships in topics • Selecting content based on reading ability and content requirements: how do I know what is important? • Constructing a richer mental map of the knowledge terrain: systematic recording, organizing and evaluating initial ideas – not just random stockpiling of facts – graphical organizers • Developing openness to new ideas, diverse perspectives • Engaging in inquiry through reflection: I didn’t know that; I agree / disagree; I wonder that; Questions I have • Framing questions appropriate to the discipline of study to guide the further investigation

46. INTERVENTIONSISP : EXPLORATION • Building a bigger picture, establishing interconnections • Encountering multiple viewpoints and perspectives; • dealing with conflicting knowledge; • Respecting and appreciating diverse cultural knowledges • Verifying and clarifying existing ideas • Develop self-discipline to work alone or in teams as needed

47. Dealing With Conflicting Information to Develop Knowledge

48. INTERVENTIONSISP : FORMULATION • Focusing the knowledge building task • Developing the focus question(s) and formulating personal knowledge outcomes • Develop real world justifications for research choices • Constructing the abstract / knowledge plan of the inquiry • Planning the structure of the inquiry

49. INTERVENTIONSISP : COLLECTION ************Knowledge building interventions************* • Selection of sources: pertinent, complex information rather than superficial information matched to specific focus; • Collecting data from disciplinary specific modes of inquiry: interviews, surveys, experiments, observation, journaling • Identification of central ideas and mapping relationships: complex relational note taking not fact gathering • Use of a variety of analytical methods: cause/effect; pro/con; error analysis; compare/contrast to sort, organize and structure ideas • Identification of arguments and evidences, counter arguments and counter evidences • Develop conclusions & positions; posit actions, implications and solutions; reflect on these in terms of original knowing

50. Forming An Opinion