Questionnaire 3

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

Kuhlthau’s Guided Inquiry model is where the student is given the opportunity to select a topic and focus to research. The students are assisted by the teacher and staff who are guides who steer the student towards accurate research results, to make connections and deeper learning. The guided inquiry model is promoting the authentic higher-order learning that results from students not just locating facts for a task but the freedom to unleash their own innate curiosity and explore and develop new understandings of the world around them. The model includes students completing research but also evaluation, synthesis, reflection and drawing conclusions.

2. How interested are you in this topic?  Check (ü) one box 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?  Check (ü) one box that best matches how much you know.

Nothing ☐     not much ☐    quite a bit ☐    a great deal ☐

4. Thinking back on your research project, what did you find easiest to do? Please mention as many things as you like.

I found it easy to do general searches on the topic, narrowing down the topic to suit the ILA, locating relevant information from search results and in articles, and organising the research so I was able to see which was required for each part of the blog. Lastly I found it easy evaluate the information returned and decide if it was useful and trustworthy.

5. Thinking back on your research project, what did you find most difficult to do? Please mention as many things as you like.

I had found it difficult to use the Boolean operators of some the databases as I did not know all the in’s and out’s of using such a function.

 

6. What did you learn in doing this research project?

I have learnt a great deal about the guided inquiry model and how it is implemented in a classroom. I have also extended my own research skills through completing the searches and receiving feedback on my screencast videos. I have also learnt a lot about using different blog formats such as wordpress as I have only mainly used Google sites – it was a nice change but also surprising in how difficult it is to load a video to wordpress.

7.  How do you now feel about your research? Check (ü) one box that best matches how you feel.

Unhappy  – I don’t feel confident with how it turned out ☐  

Confused – I don’t really know what I was looking for ☐

Confident – I think it turned out OK ☐

Happy – I’m really happy with how it turned out ☐

Questionnaire 2

 

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

At the current moment my understanding of the research process is that it consists of 5 phases which are defining, locating, selecting, organising, presenting and evaluating. This process at the current moment in the ILA is very teacher centered and has little student involvement in the task design. This has then lead me to learn about the inquiry process which has students steering the learning and research in the classroom. The teacher in the inquiry process takes the role described by Kuhlthau as being the guide who supports students in their pursuits.

 

 

 

2. How interested are you in this topic?  Check (ü) one box 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?  Check (ü) one box that best matches how much you know.

Nothing ☐     not much ☐    quite a bit ☐    a great deal ☐

 

 

4. Thinking of your research so far – what did you find easy to do? Please mention as many things as you like.

I found it easy to search the ProQuest database and Google scholar. I also found locating related articles easy as I was able to discern what is relevant and what is not.

 

 

5.  Thinking of your research so far – what did you find difficult to do? Please mention as many things as you like.

I found it difficult to create a search term to use to locate relevant information. It took time and practice but in the end I was able to locate quality articles.

 

 

 

6.  How do you feel about your research so far? Check (ü) one box that best matches how you feel.

Frustrated – I can’t find what I want ☐       

Overwhelmed – I’m finding it hard to sort through the information☐

Confused – I don’t really know what I’m looking for ☐

Confident – I think I know where I’m heading ☐

ERIC database

The ERIC database was similar to the A+ (via informit) database as it had the search engine in-built with the Boolean operators. Even so I found this easier to navigate as there was already more fields to use to search than the A+ database. A mind map below details how the search terms are related to one another.

The information retrieved from the searches were of a higher quality than the A+ database as there seemed to be large collection of resources to search. I was able to retrieve quality articles using the same searches conducted in the A+ database. One article located was one on guided inquiry which detailed what it exactly was, how it was important and how it can be implemented.

 

A+ education search

The A+ education (via informit) was very similar to the ERIC database search. In this search I was looking for further information about guided inquiry and the inquiry process that would assist in deepening my own understanding of the research process. Below is a table detailing the multiple search queries I had entered to retrieve information:

Guided Inquiry:-          Resulted in a large amount of results that were not related to my ILA.

“Guided Inquiry” AND primary classroom:-          Returned no results.

Primary AND inquiry:-          This search returned more related results.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Screen shot of A+ database search result.

This database I found to be limited in what could be searched. The use of quotation marks and brackets did not seem to work as effectively as the ProQuest and Google scholar searches as this was in-built into the search engine itself. Even though the search engine was Boolean specific I still found it to be cumbersome to use and much preferred the Proquest database. The information retrieved was related in the end but it was not retrieving the results I had hoped for.

Google Expert Search

 

The quality of information retrieved during this search was at first low quality but by the end of the search quality information had been found. The Preddy article was one such find that has been used in my annotated bibliography and my mini-essay. This article found has provided a wealth of information around the research process which is knowledge I needed for my information learning activity.

Proquest Expert Search

Week 2 Task 2

Our second task this week was to research about the sand mining occurring on North Stradbroke Island in South-East Queensland. We were to analyse the information of the sand mining from two different perspectives (for and against) and design an information learning activity using this topic.

Task 2, Part A:

After completing a google search on sand mining on North Stradbroke, I came across one article that lists 10 reasons why sand mining should be banned from the area, and I also found the website of the mining company who controls all sand mining on the island. The perspective against sand mining clearly stated that sand mining is destroying the natural environment of the island, is against the public’s wishes and went into detail about the unlawful behaviour of the mining company (they removed minerals that there were not licensed for and sold this for a high profit overseas). The mining company’s website  states that they are only removing silica sand and are using sustainable practices to ensure that the island is able to be rehabilitated, but according to the against article they did remove minerals that were meant to be left and used to rehabilitate the island. The against article further detailed that the mining company sells all of it’s products overseas and nearly all the profit is funneled to a family in Belgium.

Both sources choose information to support their own perspective (like the mining company who discusses the benefit of sand mining and leaves out the environmental side-effects of such action) and use this to shape a strong argument in their favour but the against article is more convincing as it included references from other sources (showing that they are just not saying this for fun but have actually researched and analysed information relating to the topic).

Task 2, Part B:

Using this topic, I have thought of a possible information learning activity for upper primary. The activity involves students being separated into two groups and given a term to search; the terms would include the name of the mining company and the other would be about banning sand mining in North Stradbroke Island. The students would retrieve information in their groups,find the key points in their research and display this on butcher’s paper. The students would then be told about the current situation around North Stradbroke Island and asked (in their groups) to describe the perspective of the term they researched. The students would then as a whole class discuss both sides and formulate further questions about the topic.

Week 2 Task 1

Hi everyone!

This week we have been introduced to “Saving Black Mountain” which is about a class in Kentucky, America, who through guided inquiry learning were able to reserve the peak of Black Mountain from strip mining. Task 1 required us to complete searches on “Saving Black Mountain” using google and google scholar, and with quotation marks and without. Below are screenshots of my search results for both google and google scholar, and my analysis the search results.

 

Google (without quotation marks): This search located sources that included one or more of the words in the search. This resulted in some sources being relevant but the majority being unrelated to the intended topic.

Google (without quotation marks) results: These sources demonstrate how google searched and located unrelated sources using one or more of the words in the topic.

 

Google (with quotation marks): Using quotation marks ensures that google finds sources that uses that exact phrase “Saving Black Mountain” and returned more results that relate to the intended topic. This search also included far more education sources (such as the ERIC and EBSCO host databases) than the previous that did not have the quotation marks.

Google (with quotation mark) results: It can be clearly seen that the search results included more precise results and more academic articles (if you look closely you can see that one of the sources was from CLN650).

 

Google Scholar (without quotation marks): Similar to the google search (without quotation marks) this search of course had results from academic sources but a fair few included unrelated articles that had one or more of words present.

 

Google Scholar (with quotation marks): Using quotation marks in the google scholar search clearly shows that it narrows down the sources and retrieves articles directly relating to the topic. While the google search with the quotation marks was similar it is unable to compete with google scholar in retrieving academic articles.

3 questions about Inquiry Learning

1. In an inquiry learning activity how do you differentiate to meet students needs?

2. What are some ways to assess an inquiry learning unit?

3. What are somethings (topics, activities) to avoid when undertaking an inquiry unit?

Week 1 Questionaire

Reflective Questionnaire 1

1. Take some time to think about inquiry learning and information literacy. Now write down what you know about it.

After this question was posed to me, I began to reflect on my past university subjects and what I was taught in regards to inquiry learning and information literacy. In the past I thought that inquiry learning was pedagogy which allowed the students to first pose a question and then set out to seek information to answer the question (they inquire to answer the question), but this understanding was shown to be only partly true after I completed this weeks readings. Kuhlthau (2007) suggests that inquiry learning is where students are given an issue/problem/topic and then use a selection of sources to  increase their understanding and awareness; it is not simply posing a question and answering. As my lecturer explained in the online tutorial, inquiry learning is meant to push students from a low level thinking model (for example parroting back information from a website or book) but to Bloom’s higher order thinking (where students find the information but then are able to synthesise this information with other sources, critically evaluate it’s relevance and authenticity, and then gain a deeper and more rich understanding of the topic). Inquiry learning is an essential pedagogy that allows students to create their own understanding and to also engage with the curriculum on a deeper level.

Information literacy is an essential skill needed for students to be able to inquire, but it is also an important skill that all individuals need to be able to participate in the world around them. Information literacy is the ability to recognise an information need and to then find, create, critically evaluate and apply. It is really the ability to not only find information (such as completing web searches or using an atlas) but also our ability to create (such as blogs, wiki’s, and micro-blogging (eg. twitter)).

2. How interested are you in this topic?  Check (ü) one box 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?  Check (ü) one box 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.

When completing research I find it easy to do:

– To make my research topics more specific (so more relevant sources are located).

– To use search engines (google scholar, QUT library quick search), databases (ERIC, ProQuest, A+ Education).

– To find physical sources such as books, articles, journals.

– To organise my sources into areas that relate to certain areas of my research.

– Critically evaluating my sources and the information itself (if it is authentic and if actually provides relevant information for my research).

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 putting information into my own words; I believe I over-use direct quotes.

– Referencing can be a pain, especially referencing online sources that don’t always supply all the required data needed for APA referencing.