Getting Scholarly...

I just completed a lengthy post on the above topic only for it to disappear - urgh! Take Two on 'Getting Scholarly...'

After beginning my searching using more basic search terms within Google and Google Wonderwheel, it was time to tackle a more academic approach – with Google Scholar.

I begin this searching with the Boolean terms "guided inquiry" and "research."Unfortunately these search terms proved to be too broad and delivered many results on science inquiry. I then refined this searching with the terms "guided inquiry" and "primary." These terms proved to be much more successful.

Many of the results were either written by Kuhlthau or had links to Kuhlthau's work, however the journals and online books referenced in my results have provided me with an extended understanding of Kuhlthau's perspective. The results also provided me with a wonderful range of information I can draw upon as a comparison to my own ILA. 

Below is a link to one of the resources saved and used as a component of my Part A Draft. This resource is a complete book written by Kuhlthau -

http://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=z4RmUhkg7lAC&oi=fnd&pg=PR13&dq=%22guided+inquiry%22+and+%22primary%22&ots=llFi_NzXWa&sig=IShZ8GR1crxWrXtiHbGyAbnWU0A#v=onepage&q=%22guided%20inquiry%22%20and%20%22primary%22&f=false

One useful tool I located was an extension to the regularly used ‘KWL’ This is something I use with my own students effectively, however I really like the extension to this common practice and I aim to embed this into my own pedagogy, it really provides students with the opportunity to extend their thinking.

I then refined my Boolean search terms even further, by using “guided inquiry” and “information seeking.” Through these terms, I located a great article by Limberg, which discussed at length the important things to consider when designing guided inquiry units and tasks. The article focused on shaping learning tasks, creating complex and real life tasks, ensuring there is opportunity for varying experiences, ensuring information seeking goes beyond fact finding into analysis, scrutiny and the understanding of complex issues, as well as relating information seeking to the learning outcomes.

The Limberg Reading hyperlinked below -

http://informationr.net/ir/12-4/colis28.html

The link below is another associated with Kuhlthau’s work which explores the question – ‘ISP – Is the model still useful? This reading was valuable in assessing the relevance and efficiency of Kuhlthau’s ISP in our current learning settings and provides a great tool for comparison.

http://informationr.net/ir/13-4/paper355.html

Finally, I located a PDF entitled – Grade 4 Student’s Development of Research Skills through Inquiry Based Learning Projects.

Wonderwheel lead me to Webquest

After exploring my mind mapping branches from my Wonderwheel searching on "Inquiry" and "Research Country" I located a whole new range of websites I have never before used with students during library time or within my classroom teaching. These websites are perfect to extend the students' researching and information gathering techniques and I will be able to put together as a webquest for them. 


Many of the students struggle with refining their internet searching, so this will give them an opportunity to go straight to some valuable and reliable sites.


The sites I found to be fantastic for the ILA are -


http://www.kidsnationalgeographic.com


http://www.cyberschoolbus.un.org


http://www.kidinfo.com


http://www.countryreports.com


http://www.kids.yahoo.com/reference/world-factbook


I'm so excited with these findings, as they are great websites to show the teachers at school and add as links on our library home page for our younger students. Many of them have activities, stories, photos, pictures, interviews, videos and games - all linked with the SOSE/Geography content for my ILA.

Time to Reflect - Part 1

1. Take some time to think about your topic. Now write down what you know about it.   

Inquiry-based learning is a form of learning that encourages students to undertake their own journey with levels of facilitation and guidance from the teacher. I think about Inquiry-based learning as starting off with training wheels for the younger students and modeling to them what inquiry is all about and as they develop these skills, the teacher is able to remove these training wheels and move from a guided inquiry approach to a much more independent inquiry approach with the students structuring their own questions to be explored.

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. When you do research, what do you generally find easy to do? Please list as many things as you like.

Reading and highlighting texts - I find I have to highlight and take notes when reading otherwise the information does not sink in, I enjoy reading from a text as opposed to a screen. I enjoy discussing the task with others to gain understanding and develop my interest and I enjoy working with a team on a research project. I find it easy to select the key points from texts and am able to speed read when looking for information.

5.  When you do research, what do you generally find difficult to do? Please list as many things as you like.

I find it difficult to start tasks and I can procrastinate in the beginning until I have a complete/whole understanding of the task at hand. I find it difficult to complete drafts on the computer, I need to hand write my assignments in draft form, before transferring to the computer. It is much easier for me to read on paper than it is on a screen. This often means it takes me longer to complete my tasks.