A+ Education was my next database to explore and by this stage I am now becoming a much more efficient and much less frustrated 'information seeker.' After locating this database through searching educational journals in the QUT Library Homepage, I began my searching in the same way as I did via pro Quest.
I started my advanced searching with the term 'Inquiry Based Learning,' however I set some limits from the beginning, by limiting my searching to Full Text Records Only and Date Range 1990 - 2010. After starting with this search, there were 175 results in comparison to 394 when I did the same search via Pro Quest. So, at this point I can see the benefits of setting limits from the beginning of the searching process in order to become a much speedier searcher.
To refine the searching, I once again added 'not science' and this narrowed the results to 91. I then once again added 'and researching' this narrowed the documents found to six, however none of them were relevant. At this point, I changed the 'and researching' to 'and information literacy' and this gave me 12 documents, three of which were relevant and useful.
After using both Pro Quest and A+ Education, I preferred the layout and navigation of Pro Quest, as well as the marking documents function. When marking documents in A+ Education, they were not as easy to locate, in comparison to having the My Research Folder in Pro Quest. However, A+ Education seemed to refine the documents more explicitly and efficiently and gave you options in how you wanted the documents found displayed. I selected the newest to oldest function, to ensure the data being read was the most up to date and relevant.
When seeking information in the future, both of these databases will become well-used tools in my researching kit!
Saturday, November 13, 2010
A little more 'Information Searching' via Pro Quest
After some much needed feedback from Mandy, it was time to extend my 'Information Searching' via the University Databases. To start this process, I began with Pro Quest - what an amazing collection of resources! A wide, wide world beyond Google and school-based search engines!
To begin this process, I located the Pro Quest Educational Journals and started my advanced searching. I really like the way this database is set up with the advanced search boxes and drop down menus featuring boolean terms to refine your searching.
I began the searching with the broad term 'Inquiry Based Learning' to see where it lead me and I ended up with 763 documents found. This was definately a much lower number than when searching the same term via Google, however there were still too many documents with a science focus and too many to scroll through. To refine this searching I used the 'and not' drop down button and added 'science.'
This quickly refined my results to 394 and after scrolling through the first few pages, I started to mark some documents, adding them to My Research Folder. I really love this function of the Pro Quest databases, as you are able to scan through a number of documents, add the relevant ones into your folder and continue searching, then you can return to your folder and read through the selected documents thoroughly at a later date. This function is similar to the Questia Bookshelf.
It was at this stage of my searching, I found a few of supportive journal articles for my topic, including an article written by Kuhlthau in January this year, which supports her other work, however extends the discussion relating to the importance of Teacher-Librarains. I also located an article by Spronken-Smith entitled 'Can inquiry-based learning strengthen the links between teaching and disciplinary research?' and an article by Savolainen which explores how time is a major factor in the context of information seeking and IBL. All of these articles become important references in my Final Report.
Finally, I added the term 'and' 'researching' to my advanced search and this narrowed my results down to six documents. It was in these six I found the article 'The Problem of Teaching for Transfer: Taking the Low Road or the High Road?' by Jeffrey Wilhelm, this article explores the teacher as a co-reseracher with the students and how to effectively incorporate reflective teaching and learning into the classroom. When I located this article it was like 'Jackpot!'
Pro Quest database definately expanded my understanding of the importance of using University databases and made my researching so much easier! At times throughout this unit I have felt like it was an uphill battle, however knowing where to and how to search and knowing how to refine this searching, can point you in the right direction, so much quicker! Ahhh - thank you Pro Quest!
To begin this process, I located the Pro Quest Educational Journals and started my advanced searching. I really like the way this database is set up with the advanced search boxes and drop down menus featuring boolean terms to refine your searching.
I began the searching with the broad term 'Inquiry Based Learning' to see where it lead me and I ended up with 763 documents found. This was definately a much lower number than when searching the same term via Google, however there were still too many documents with a science focus and too many to scroll through. To refine this searching I used the 'and not' drop down button and added 'science.'
This quickly refined my results to 394 and after scrolling through the first few pages, I started to mark some documents, adding them to My Research Folder. I really love this function of the Pro Quest databases, as you are able to scan through a number of documents, add the relevant ones into your folder and continue searching, then you can return to your folder and read through the selected documents thoroughly at a later date. This function is similar to the Questia Bookshelf.
It was at this stage of my searching, I found a few of supportive journal articles for my topic, including an article written by Kuhlthau in January this year, which supports her other work, however extends the discussion relating to the importance of Teacher-Librarains. I also located an article by Spronken-Smith entitled 'Can inquiry-based learning strengthen the links between teaching and disciplinary research?' and an article by Savolainen which explores how time is a major factor in the context of information seeking and IBL. All of these articles become important references in my Final Report.
Finally, I added the term 'and' 'researching' to my advanced search and this narrowed my results down to six documents. It was in these six I found the article 'The Problem of Teaching for Transfer: Taking the Low Road or the High Road?' by Jeffrey Wilhelm, this article explores the teacher as a co-reseracher with the students and how to effectively incorporate reflective teaching and learning into the classroom. When I located this article it was like 'Jackpot!'
Pro Quest database definately expanded my understanding of the importance of using University databases and made my researching so much easier! At times throughout this unit I have felt like it was an uphill battle, however knowing where to and how to search and knowing how to refine this searching, can point you in the right direction, so much quicker! Ahhh - thank you Pro Quest!
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Final Reflection...
1. Take some time to think about your topic. Now write down what you know about it.
My knowledge of Inquiry Based Learning started off at ‘quite a bit’, however I feel as though it has grown to ‘a great deal.’ At the beginning of this learning I was very familiar with and competent at using the Information Model by Capra and Ryan. This is a model I have been referring to since the beginning of my teaching career and I have used across all year levels from Year 3 - Year 10.
I then became familiar with Kuhlthau’s ISP earlier this year during the Learning Hubs subject and have started to incorporate this model into my teaching and learning. Reflection plays a huge role in my current teaching pedagogy, however after researching this unit and ILA, I can really see it’s importance and have found a range of new ways to incorporate it more effectively. Reflection, feelings and thoughts are such a vital role within the inquiry process, no matter what model you are basing your teaching pedagogy on.
What is Inquiry Based Learning to me?
- Students undertaken their own journey
- Levels of facilitation and guidance
- Posing questions
- Collaborating with others
- Interviewing others
- Independence
- Scaffolding
- Gaining new information
- Gaining new skills
- Seeking
- Real life learning - authentic
- Making connections
- Reflection
- Feelings and attitudes
- Active learning
- Analysing - data analysis
- Synthesising
- Lifelong learning
- Critical thinking
2. How interested are you in this topic? Circle the answer that best matches your interest.
Not at all not much quite a bit a great deal
3. How much do you know about this topic? Circle the answer that best matches how much you know.
Nothing not much quite a bit a great deal
4. Thinking back on your project, what did you find find easy to do? Please list as many things as you like.
The easiest part of this task was working with the students and classroom teacher on the ILA. The students started off slowly and found the task of researching quite difficult, however the longer the students participated in learning experience, the more excited they were about the individual projects. The students were not use to having so much freedom and making decisions on their own, so watching them grow through the inquiry process was very rewarding.
Towards the end of creating the blog, I really started to enjoy creating and reflecting via this presentation method. In the beginning, I found the blod to be quite daunting and I viewed it as an extra, however the longer it went on, the more I started to enjoy it and I was keen to explore the multiple functions of blogging. After viewing my finished project, I can see that I started to embrace it after my first couple of entries. I also really enjoyed reading through other people’s blogs and I can now see how blogging is such an effective learning tool for all learners - children and adults.
5. Thinking back on your project, what did you find most difficult to do? Please list as many things as you like.
- Starting the task
- Time management - with full time work
- Breaking down the information
- Synthesising the information - I had an information overload!
- Defining Part A - I did not synthesis enough in this part of the task, I did more of a basic literature review
- The Blog - in the beginning
6. What did you learn in doing this research project? Please list as many things as you like.
- A greater understanding of Kuhlthau’s ISP
- A greater understanding and knowledge of ‘inquiry’
- How to create a Blog
- How to screen dump on a Mac
- How to attach You Tube clips to a Blog
- The vital role of incorporating reflection into students learning
- How to use the questionaire results to guide future learning
- How to use the SLIM toolkit
- How to narrow boolean search terms
- How to use Google Scholar and Boolify
- How to use the topic sentence structure at the beginning of writing
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Let's get Graphic!
This diagram displays the importance of the balance between lecturing the learners versus them teaching each other and practicing their learning by actually doing. It gives a clear visual to teachers about the retention rate of learners and therefore we are required to adapt out teaching and learning methods to accommodate this. Love this visual!
How 'COOL' is 'BOOL'IFY?
I have heard some many great reports about Boolify, however I had not used it until starting my research for the ILA - it is now going to be a regular tool in my library lessons with the students and teachers, as well as in my own learning! It is such a fantastic resource for those who are visual learners, and a wonderful way for younger students to build their boolean search terms.
http://www.boolify.org
In my own Boolify searching, I built the terms - "Researching" and "Countries" and "Primary school" and "Inquiry Based Learning" and "Geography"
As I began the searching, I received hundreds of thousands of results, however with each new search term added, I could see the results narrowing into a much more user-friendly amount. I love this feature within Boolify, as it would allow the students to also see their searches narrowing and therefore becoming more managable. I ended up with 191 results and from here I was able to sift through and bookmark sites that looked relevant.
One site I found through this searching was http://www.primaryschool.com.au.
It provides free sites, lesson plans, software, text, videos and teacher reference materials for all key learning areas, housed in the appropriate year levels.
http://www.boolify.org
In my own Boolify searching, I built the terms - "Researching" and "Countries" and "Primary school" and "Inquiry Based Learning" and "Geography"
As I began the searching, I received hundreds of thousands of results, however with each new search term added, I could see the results narrowing into a much more user-friendly amount. I love this feature within Boolify, as it would allow the students to also see their searches narrowing and therefore becoming more managable. I ended up with 191 results and from here I was able to sift through and bookmark sites that looked relevant.
One site I found through this searching was http://www.primaryschool.com.au.
It provides free sites, lesson plans, software, text, videos and teacher reference materials for all key learning areas, housed in the appropriate year levels.
The Quest on Questia
Questia is (apparently) the world's largest online library, which provides access to academic resources including books, encyclopedias, articles and journals. It was purchased by our College at the beginning of this year for all Year 6 - 12 students as a subscription, so all students had access to a more 'academic' bank of resources.
This extensive database certainly meets the demand of academic materials required for our Senior Years students, however it is most certainly not useful for the younger years. After almost completing my research for the ILA, I thought Questia may provide some resources to aid my own learning at tertiary level.
http://www.questiaschool.com
The school subscription for this database gives all staff their own logon and password and hosts such features as searching the library, creating bookshelves to store resources for personal use and student access, housing lessons plans and assessments, managing and checking student access, using lexiles and creating citations.
Questia is searched through in much the same manner as Google and Google Scholar, using Boolean search terms in quotation marks.
I began my searching with the broad term - "Guided Inquiry"- This search led me to over 35,000 resources - eeek!
I then moved onto the search terms - "Inquiry in education" - This once again led me to far too many results to sift through (48,876)
From here I narrowed my boolean search terms to "Inquiry Learning" and "Primary Education" - This result gave me 144 results (books, articles and journals), however the when reading through these resources they tended to still remain quite broad, general and philosophical.
Finally, I used the terms "Inquiry Learning" and "Primary Teaching" - This gave me 17 results, three of which I added to my Learning Nexus Bookshelf, to be read through in more detail, in preparation for Part B of the ILA Task.
I would highly recommended a subscription to this database for Teacher-Librarians in a secondary or tertiary setting. The resources available provide the users with a broad academic range of resources to access in their full text (as opposed to snippets) whilst not having to physically visit a public/state library. It is a wonderful resource for schools and universities in remote areas or with limited funding.
This extensive database certainly meets the demand of academic materials required for our Senior Years students, however it is most certainly not useful for the younger years. After almost completing my research for the ILA, I thought Questia may provide some resources to aid my own learning at tertiary level.
http://www.questiaschool.com
The school subscription for this database gives all staff their own logon and password and hosts such features as searching the library, creating bookshelves to store resources for personal use and student access, housing lessons plans and assessments, managing and checking student access, using lexiles and creating citations.
Questia is searched through in much the same manner as Google and Google Scholar, using Boolean search terms in quotation marks.
I began my searching with the broad term - "Guided Inquiry"- This search led me to over 35,000 resources - eeek!
I then moved onto the search terms - "Inquiry in education" - This once again led me to far too many results to sift through (48,876)
From here I narrowed my boolean search terms to "Inquiry Learning" and "Primary Education" - This result gave me 144 results (books, articles and journals), however the when reading through these resources they tended to still remain quite broad, general and philosophical.
Finally, I used the terms "Inquiry Learning" and "Primary Teaching" - This gave me 17 results, three of which I added to my Learning Nexus Bookshelf, to be read through in more detail, in preparation for Part B of the ILA Task.
I would highly recommended a subscription to this database for Teacher-Librarians in a secondary or tertiary setting. The resources available provide the users with a broad academic range of resources to access in their full text (as opposed to snippets) whilst not having to physically visit a public/state library. It is a wonderful resource for schools and universities in remote areas or with limited funding.
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