We’ve all heard the groans, seen the blank stares and listened to “Do we have to?” and “I can’t”. A new project has been assigned and it involves research, more recently referred to as information inquiry. The top students will shine, others will do an adequate job, some will muddle through and a few will completely fail. But why? Blame is cheap in education today. It is directed at anybody and everybody. What we forget sometimes is that blame doesn’t fix anything.
It has long been my opinion that there is a fundamental piece missing in teaching inquiry to children. When we teach content, we start with the basic concepts; numbers for math or letters for reading. Teachers constantly connect learning to prior knowledge and recheck concepts for knowledge gaps. Yet when we teach a learning or thinking method we just say here it is, this is how to think or proceed and we leave students hanging. There is no connection to prior knowledge, existing thinking or familiar methods. We are missing such an amazing connection to what children already know and do in their everyday lives.
All of us are born to inquiry. Watch a newborn baby strain to see and watch and listen. Within days they watch our every move and listen intently when we speak. They start to imitate our faces and noises and react to our moods. Babies grab everything and look at it from all angles and with all their senses. They shake it, smell it and taste it. When he/she can move around, an infant checks everything out. Nothing is safe from their investigation.
Once a toddler can talk the questions begin. Anyone who has spent time with a two year old knows the constant “What’s that? Why? What’s that? What’s that? Why?” Even in their pre-school years, children begin to discriminate who their questions are directed to. They learn to evaluate their sources and ask whoever can best answer their questions.
So when students get to school with all this natural intuition and knowledge, we ignore it for several years, even stifle it. Then magically one day we decide to have them do research and expect them to magically follow our direction and be the masters of their own knowledge.
I believe that there are basic shortcomings in teaching information inquiry to students in our school.
1. Not starting at the lowest possible level (Kindergarten).
2. Lack of consistency – especially in terminology and format.
3. Lack of constancy – from project to project, class to class and grade to grade.
4. Not showing students that inquiry is an extension of natural curiosity and what they have done every day from the time they were born.
5. Failing to stress the concept of plagiarism and the need to acknowledge when information is obtained from another source and documenting that source.
So what do we do?
Our plan over the next year is to structure and implement a school wide inquiry model beginning in Kindergarten. Basic concepts will be used in the Kindergarten classes to link inquiry with what children already do in their everyday lives when they need information. They will also follow basic inquiry steps when in need of information.
Each successive grade level will add little pieces of the inquiry puzzle to what was done in the previous grade. Our hope is that these gradual additions to previous knowledge will make inquiry less daunting and more useful to students and education in our school. (KW5)
In the article, “Using multimedia to enhance problem-based learning in elementary school.” Joerg Zumbach, Daniel Kumpf and Sabine C. Koch ask why Problem Based Learning is not used earlier in education, as early as Kindergarten? “Are children in elementary school not capable of dealing with a self-directed learning environment?” If PBL and all that goes with it, including acknowledging sources, starts at the very beginning of the education journey, the stress caused by students’ discomfort when PBL is used in upper grades, would be much less.
Who will be involved?
Mary Saladyga – Library Media Specialist
Joan Justice – Curriculum Coordinator
Grade level teachers – Positive volunteers from each grade level
Sarah Emerling - Special Education teacher (P7)
Joan Justice is a first year curriculum coordinator who has made many positive changes in our school this year. We have discussed this scenario since she was hired one year ago and we are finally in a position to work through the details.
Involvement from classroom teachers is essential both for their input in how to best approach the research model to best suit students in their grade level, but also to have one teacher in each grade level with ownership in the program to make it work.
This will be our building level team.
The Middle School and High School Media Specialists and ELA teachers will be asked for their input to see what they expect to have our students know and be able to do when they reach their respective schools.
I have already talked to several other Library Media Specialists from our district who are willing to meet at some point next year for their scrutiny of our progress with an eye toward an attempt at a more unified district wide approach to information inquiry. (P10) (KW2)
What will it look like?
Truthfully, we do not know what this will look like in the end, but here are some
points that we would like to see addressed and/or incorporated as an extension
of what children already know.
Design a program that begins in Kindergarten. (KW1)
Determine how much students already know, for teachers' and students' sake.
Ask students a series of questions such as:
You need to call a friend. How can you call them? (Phone book)
You want to make cookies. How do you know what you need? (Cook book)
If you don't understand the directions, what do you do? (Ask)
You want to learn how to jump rope. What is the first thing you do? (Observe someone else jumping rope)
If you still have trouble, now what? (Ask someone to demonstrate.)
How do you find out when a TV show is on? (TV Guide)
What food does a restaurant have? (Menu)
Point out to students that inquiry is just another word for finding out what they
want to know. They already find things out all day every day, Inquiry is just a
fancy name with a little more structure. (KW8)
D
jà vu
Evaluate whether information found is correct or useful.
Kindergarteners raise their hands to tell you what is on their minds, whether
relevant to the topic or not. Use this opportunity to discuss useful information.
Is the fact that they are going to be a witch for Halloween important to the
information being looked up about farm animals? (KW10)
Dé
à vu
Judge the reliability and expertise of sources.
Ask students questions about how they find information.
Would you ask your two year old sister what is for dinner?
Would you ask the person in your class who never does their homework what your homework is?
Would you look in a phone book to see what is on TV?
Would you ask your dog what is for an after school snack?
Young children can already discern who is a reliable source and where basic
information can be found. We just need to point out to them that they already
ask questions and look for information quite successfully. We can build on the
skills that they already possess.
Déj
vu
Admit when more information is needed.
Acknowledge when information is from somewhere else.
Avoid plagiarism. (KW7)
It is enough for Kindergardeners to recognize when they need more
information and to show where they got that information. A simple chart that
they can use to point to a picture of where the information came from
is a good foundation that can be built upon in higher grades.
Notice how it is modified for First Grade
Déjà 
u
Verify the information that is found. Don't settle for information that may be
incorrect. Question things that you know are probably wrong and look
somewhere else or ask someone else.
Give students the following scenarios:
A classmate tells you that the cafeteria is serving jelly beans for lunch.
A friend says that snow is not real, it is only in books.
A student answers in class that eggs grow on trees.
Déjà v
Use the correct terminology from the very beginning so that students are not
confused and do not have to relearn vocabulary. We cannot underestimate our
students. Within this process I believe that we will eventually put together an
agreed upon glossary of terms to distribute to all teachers and staff.
How do we make it work?
éjà vu
Develop a written Inquiry Plan that shows how skills are developed from grade to grade. Include sample Bibliographic Forms for each grade that combine bibliographic citations and places for notes. (KW6)
Define the role of each team member in the inquiry process.
Detail the resources available in the School Media Center and the expertise and willingness of the LMS to contribute to the learning in the school. (P1)
Djà vu
Encourage all students to find their path to knowledge be it through reading, watching, searching, asking or listening. (P6)
Explore all available resources within the Media Center and the school. We have already started a list of resources and manipulatives that teachers have and are willing to share. This also includes teachers’ expertise that might help someone else. The LMS sends e-mails detailing new technology and/or websites found and encourages teachers to do the same. (P9)
Déà vu
Joint planning and teaching time is built into the schedule. The Media Center has been taken out of the Special Area rotation next year. This allows for more planning and collaborative lessons. The South Carolina School Libraries website has a Curriculum Mapping Worksheet that works very well for collaborative efforts in teaching. (KW3)
Déjvu
Access to the Media Center all day for students and teachers is necessary to the success of our students both in reading and inquiry. (P5)
In Curriculum Connections through the Library Barbara Strippling states that students need books that interest them in order for them to continue reading. “Self selection of books is strongly linked to reading motivation; therefore, children also need to have opportunities to choose their own reading materials.” For that to happen properly, the Media Center must have full access at all times.
Alter our thinking about teaching our own little chunk of standards in isolation. The SC School Libraries provides a Scope and Sequence that aligns the Simple Four with information literacy and technology skills. (KW9)
There is also an alignment of Social Studies Academic Standards and Information Literacy as a guideline to follow. (P2)
Déjà u
Vary the types of inquiry from the simple to complex, easy to difficult and comfortable to pushing the students’ limits. Allow for a variety of outputs in various formats. Students can have individual inquiry and paired or group projects. Allow formats and resources that will bring success to all students (P7) (P8)
Information Inquiry states that “Cognitive theory highlights individuality in learning, and the library media program provides a wide range of materials, activities, and services to address the full range of individuals’ learning abilities, styles and needs.” (p 68) We hope to broaden our scope of thinking as we expand that of the students.
Déjà v
Understand where each entity of the school community fits into the education puzzle.
Utilize the Professional Development Taskforce (of which the LMS is co-chair) to foster understanding of the benefits of collaboration and curriculum planning not only with the LMS but with Art, Music and PE as well. (P4)
Existing Professional Literature Circles can be used to explore literature beneficial to both teachers and the LMS. (KW4)
In Inquiry Learning through Librarian-Teacher Partnerships, Harada states that “Teachers benefit from working in close collaboration with other members of the school team. They are invigorated professionally and personally when there is a collegial atmosphere.”
I am not quite sure where this project will take us in the next year but I know that I am excited to finally embark on a process that I believe in, with the help of our Curriculum Coordinator who feels as strongly about this endeavor as I do. It will be an exciting year. I am sure it will also be many other things too, but why look for trouble?