Entry 12: Information-Learning Journey Wordle

Entry 11: Final Reflection Questionnaire

Entry 10: Great Inquiry and Information Literacy Glogs

By DC Library

Entry 9: Reflection Reflection Reflection

My experience in this inquiry project has made me realise the importance and centrality of reflection in inquiry learning.  I have found myself engaging in continual reflection at all stages of this task - whether it be reflecting on my prior knowledge at the beginning of the unit, to reflecting on the relevance and reliability of source materials.  I found reflective practice to be particularly important when writing my literature review as it enabled me to develop the complexity of my arguments and improve my lines of reasoning through revising and extending concepts and ideas and drafting, re-drafting and re-working to come up with a polished and comprehensive assignment.

Reflection has been central in enabling me to make complex connections and develop deep knowledge and understanding.  Without reflecting on information, processes and my own learning, I think my knowledge and understanding of the topic would have been more superficial or of surface value.  Reflection enabled me to draw connections and assimilate new meanings and understandings with my prior knowledge - I think it was instrumental in bringing about those ‘a-ha’ moments.  Reflection and metacognition was also vital in ensuring my learning remained ‘on track’ and in this way, it enabled me to experience deeper learning and further extend my knowledge and understanding.

I like the following inquiry model for the way in which it places reflection at the centre of inquiry learning.  It acknowledges that reflection occurs at all stages/phases throughout the inquiry - the planning, retrieving, processing, creating, sharing and evaluating.

(Alberta Learning 2004)
http://jcomfort.typepad.com/dr_charles_best_library/files/focusoninquiry.pdf

Callison’s model also acknowledges the importance of reflection and Callison distinguishes between formative reflection (to assess exploration, assimilation and inference) and summative reflection (of connected decisions across a major assignment or research unit).  The importance that effective reflection plays in fostering independent, lifelong learners is emphasised in this way.

Entry 8: Second Reflection

Entry 7: Inquiry and Empowerment

As I have been reading and writing about inquiry in the visual arts, I have been inspired by the potential for the arts to generate powerful social and cultural change.  This has been encapsulated in Dewey’s vision of art and democracy (in Goldblatt 2006), in Chanda’s (2007) critique of art historical inquiry and in Lupton’s (2010) view of transformative literacy.  It has emphasised, for me, the importance of inquiry in encouraging questioning and critical thinking dispositions and in promoting empowerment.

After reading about Lupton’s (2010) GeST model of information literacy and pondering over the generic, situated and transformative windows, a day of regular supply teaching drove home the importance of embracing the situated and transformative windows and reinforced the value of authentic, contextualised inquiry learning for student engagement.

This realisation occurred as I went to my first supply lesson for the day - an English class - and prescribed the grammar worksheets that had been left for the students to complete.  The lesson consisted more of students’ whining ... “Why do we have to do this?”  “It’s so boring!”  This is just a waste of time!”  It was a battle trying to get them to complete the worksheets and I doubt they learnt anything that was meaningful or relevant.  Though I didn’t admit it to the students, I found that I was just as bored and unmotivated as they were!  This generic learning context was so uninspiring and disconnected!

My next class, senior physics, was the total opposite!  Students were continuing with developing, planning, writing up and safely carrying out their own “experiments”.  This enabled students to choose an area of interest to them and engaged them in questioning, formulating, devising and testing.  It was situated/transformative information literacy at its best and like the students, I was instantly engaged and intrigued in the learning process.

One student was testing the cleaning power/effectiveness of different brands of washing powder, another working on a recipe for an antibacterial hand-rub.  All were engaged and busy at work using a wide variety of resources and sources of information.  When I was questioning them about their work, one of the students commented that they may have to notify “A Current Affair” about some of the false claims made by the products they were testing.  Though all said in good fun, the realisation of the transformative power of their inquiry made their learning so powerful and empowering!


My own inquiry into this topic has had a similar transformational affect on my views and philosophy of learning and education.  While re-igniting my enthusiasm for teaching and my passion for the visual arts, this project has certainly inspired me to embrace inquiry learning wholeheartedly in my own teaching practice!  I do not think this project would have had such an impact on me and my own practice had it not been for the guided inquiry approach.

Entry 6: Reflecting on the Inquiry Models

Callison's Five Elements of Information Inquiry

I have found that my information searching and use has definitely reflected Callison's Five Elements of Information Inquiry.

Callison's Five Elements of Information Inquiry

Throughout the research process I moved from preliminary browsing (by exploring broad information related to general inquiry) to more focused search and use (critical thinking and information literacy in the visual arts).
Through assimilation and inference (and continual questioning and reflection), I built on my understanding of the topic by critically considering a range of information and viewpoints.  This promoted higher order thinking and deep knowledge and understanding.  As I made deeper connections, I was also able to narrow and refine my argument.  This focus enabled me to engage with and target the more specific research/resources that I needed to round off my literature review.

Callison's model acknowledges that the five elements continually interact throughout the learning experience.

McKenzie's Research Cycle

I think my researching experience is also reflected well through McKenzie’s Research Cycle (below), where questioning, exploring, gathering, understanding, sorting, synthesising and evaluating occurs as a repetitive and continuous cycle, culminating in the reporting phase.

McKenzie, J.  Research Cycle. http://www.fno.org/dec99/rcycle.html

McKenzie’s Research Cycle and Callison’s 5 Elements of Information Inquiry, capture the dynamic process of inquiry.  The models point out that inquiry is not just a static and linear process, but that deep knowledge and understanding occurs through a sustained and continual cycle of information discovery and use.


Kuhlthau's ISP Model

This has made me more critical of Khulthau’s ISP model, as it does not really capture the rich, continuous, interconnected nature of inquiry.  The model is represented to be more static and linear and does not adequately account for the complex, evolving and metacognitive processes that should (I think) be characteristic of inquiry learning.

Kuhlthau, C.  Model of the Information Search Process

While I certainly related to the feelings, thoughts and actions documented in the initiation, selection and exploration stages of Khulthau’s ISP (see Blog Entry 1 and Blog Entry 2), I do not think my experiences in this inquiry project have been accurately reflected throughout the last stages of the model.  I acknowledge that my thoughts and actions did become more focused as I progressed, however, I still felt mixed emotions throughout the collection and (working towards) the presentation phase as I was continually analysing, synthesising and re-working concepts and ideas in an effort to further refine and improve my literature review.  In this way, I did not experience complete clarity, as the ISP model appears to suggest.


As previously mentioned, I find Callison’s interconnected elements of questioning, exploration, assimilation, inference and reflection much more valuable.  I think the assimilation and inference elements, in particular, account for the lack of clarity I sometimes felt during the collection and presentation stages as I tried to create more complex links between information and ideas.  Callison’s 5 elements acknowledge the progressive acceptance, rejection or altering of knowledge in the learning process.


This experience has, however, made me realise the importance of acknowledging the emotions that students experience in learning and it has reinforced the value that guidance and what Khulthau (2007) refers to as the ‘zone of intervention’ (p.26-27) plays in effective inquiry.  As I have been identifying and working through my own frustrations and doubts, I have come to more deeply consider the need to intervene at those ‘critical’ moments in the classroom and to guide students through those points in the learning process where they need assistance and advice.  The consideration given to learners’ feelings and emotions is one of the strengths of the ISP model.


References:


Callison, D.  (2006).  Chapter 1: Information Inquiry: Concepts and Elements.  In Callison, D. and Preddy, L. The blue book on information age inquiry, instruction and literacy.  Westport, Conn: Libraries Unlimited, pp.3-16.


Kuhlthau et al. (2007).  Guided Inquiry: Learning in the 21st Century. CT: Libraries Unlimited.


McKenzie, J. (1999).  The Research Cycle.  In From Now On: The Educational Technology Journal; 9 (4).  Available at:  http://www.fno.org/dec99/rcycle.html.