Annotated bibliography

I've found a number of articles, books and websites to  help me think about the inquiry unit that I'm going to be observing. These sites will also be great  to refer back to when I create an inquiry unit of my own.

1. Abilock, D. (2009) Guiding the gifted to honest work. Knowledge Quest, 37, 12-15. 

This article emphasises the need for students to research ethically. To accomplish this, Abilock suggests the use of a combination of enlightened self-interest, academic pride, and social responsibility. She encourages teachers to prepare children to take their places as thoughtful and informed citizens in a democracy.  She advocates assignments that embrace critical thinking and inquiry learnng as an important way to combat academic dishonesty. Abilock also emphasises modelling, coaching, scaffolding and feedback to apprehend students misusing "grabbed digital text". This type of plagiarism iw disguised by students' substitution of words and rearrangement of phrases in order to fool detedtion software employed to detect it. She advocates the use of annotated bibliographies to help students acquire the analytical skills needed for independent academic research. She emphasises that school librarians should be responsible for teaching the skills and dispositions that enable ethical behaviour and that students should receive support in becoming socially responsible members of an academic community. She also provides a number of strategies to foster academic honesty.

For me, emphasising the teacher librarian’s role in the process of scaffolding the correct acknowledgement of sources was paramount. Students need to develop correct research protocols from an early age. This starts with finding out what others have written about one’s topic of interest first. Armed with that knowledge they can go on to develop their own questions, but as part of the research process they need to acknowledge the work of others correctly first. This takes training and scaffolding. It is not enough to give students a handout and tell them to do it a certain way. They need direction and practice. I think that stressing this type of information should constitute a large part of any inquiry unit and therefore I found this content quite inspiring.

2.         Blanchard, M. R., Southerland, S. A., Osborne, J. W., Sampson, V. D., Annetta, L. A., & Granger, E. M. (2010). Is inquiry possible in light of accountability?: A quantitative comparison of the relative effectiveness of guided inquiry and verification laboratory instruction. Science Education, 94(4), 577-616.

In this article Blanchard et al describe and conduct a quasi-experimental research design involving American high school science students during 2006.  They compare the effectiveness of inquiry-based teaching to traditional instruction. They acknowledge the benefits of inquiry teaching and the fact that most teachers see it as a better way of teaching.  They also recognise that failures have been due to differing views on exactly “how to do” inquiry teaching. Different levels of inquiry are described and explained, fro level 1 which is essentially the teacher driven content-delivery style to level 4 which is completely open-ended and more like the type of learning a doctorate student would undertake. They make suggestions about which level to use for different age groups and levels of experience. The authors also stress the importance of delivering the content, saying that an inexpert “inquiry teaching” is worse than using traditional methods for content delivery.

I found this article useful as it pointed out the importance of being trained in the delivery of inquiry. It explained the differing levels of scaffolding inherent in each level of inquiry learning. The authors recommend the use of level 2 inquiry which I refer to as “Guided Inquiry” in these posts.  The pressures of standardised testing often result in teachers “teaching to the test” despite the proven benefits of inquiry teaching. Most teachers understand the benefits of inquiry of inquiry teaching. We see evidence of this at the many, well attended professional development conferences on the topic. The problem seems to lie in its application. This article stressed the importance of the questioning technique for inquiry delivery.

3.         Duffy, T.M & Raymer, P.L. (2010) A practical guide and a constructivist rationale for inquiry based learning.  Educational Technology, 50(4) 3-15.

Duffy and Raymer focus on instructional strategies when implementing inquiry based learning (IBL). They start off by detailing the use of the constructivist framework to inform design. They go on to identify key features of IBL and the reasons they are important to learning. They also provide an instructional example.

I found this article useful as it clearly explains what inquiry learning is and also what it is not. The authors put into plain words the many pitfalls that can be encountered if the inquiry process is incorrectly delivered. They explain the processes that students need to go through during IBL and why they are important. The need for students to realise what they don’t know, and therefore realise that they need to “find out more” in order to “defend their argument”, is vital to the desire to learn and retain knowledge.

4.  Hernandez-Ramos,P., De La Paz, S. (2009) Learning History in Middle School by Designing Multimedia in a Project-Based Learning Experience. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 42(2), 151-173

This article determines the relative benefits of project-based learning compared to traditional forms of instruction.  It describes students in a Grade 8 class who learned to create multimedia mini-documentaries. Results showed significant gains for students using project-based learning over traditional learning. Implications and suggestions for technology-enhanced project-based learning experiences are highlighted. 

I chose this article was because it demonstrated the worth and possibility of using technology to enhance the learning of middle school students. I was particularly interested in using guided inquiry or problem based learning with middle school students and although this article did not deal with teaching environmental issues, it did provide some good teaching ideas which I found quite valuable.  It also provided some useful and creative suggestions for future teaching ideas.  But disappointingly the teaching methods themselves were not detailed enough to replicate. The article was more about proving that the pedagogical practice of PBL produced better learning in students than teaching instruction that was more “traditional”. For this reason I felt reassured that studies have shown the worth of PBL but disappointed that I had not received any specific instructions on “how to do it”. 

5.         Kuhlthau, C. C., & Maniotes, L. K. (2010). Building Guided Inquiry Teams for 21st-Century Learners. School Library Monthly,  26(5) 18-21.  

In this paper Kuhlthau emphasises the need for students to learn to think for themselves, make good decisions, develop expertise, and become lifelong learners in a rapidly changing information environment. She espouses guided inquiry as a practical way of implementing an inquiry approach that addresses 21st-century learning needs for students. Guided inquiry is based on extensive studies of the Information Search Process (ISP) in assigned research projects. Teamwork is required to teach and assess these complex and multi-faceted inquiry learning projects. Kuhlthau recommends a three-member core team to plan and supervise the inquiry; with the added input of other experts as required. This approach is advocated as it takes full advantage of the expertise within the school and community. This article presents examples that illustrate the use of core and extended teams in primary, middle, and high school. After each example, there is a closer look at how the team works together to support the learning and assessment needs through the unit.  

I chose this article as it emphasises that guided inquiry learning is a team effort and that the use of this pedagogy involves the entire school. It allows the whole school to work as a learning organism in which one learning event feeds another and expertise is maximized across the board. Although this paper was more of a theoretical guide, I thought it contained many pertinent points that would assist in the information synthesis of the inquiry process. 

6.         Lattimer, H., Riordan, R.  (2011) Project-based learning engages students in meaningful work. Middle School Journal, 43(2), 18-23 

Using a case study approach, this article describes a PBL on green technology in a middle level school. Research suggests that Project-Based Learning (PBL) may fail if the “project” part of the task is emphasised to the detriment of the “learning” part of the task. The authors describe implementation of PBL in a school. The implementation avoided the many pitfalls of PBL and successfully engaged middle level students in powerful learning through projects. Due to PBL and careful scaffolding techniques the school has seen dramatic student success.  

I found this article particularly suitable as it deals with students that are an equivalent age and conducting an equivalent tasks to the students in my ILA. I found the case study approach very valuable as the as both the teacher’s and students’ comments alerted me as to what to expect from my class. It explained and demonstrated the value of mentors from the local community. Students’ descriptions of the life skills developed from the project were also encouraging and informative. 

7.         Nayler, J. (2005) Inquiry Approaches in Secondary Studies of Society and Environment Key Learning Area. Occassional paper prepared for Queensland School Curriculum Council. 

       Nayler commends the use of effective “student questions” in this article. The author provides a detailed discussion of inquiry methods that can be used in the SOSE classroom. She also shows how the standard curriculum can be put into practise using inquiry methods. Nayler provides a framework for developing student questions in her article. This is very useful in enabling teachers to scaffold the effective use of pertinent questions.

This article is particularly pertinent to my ILA as it is written from a Queensland perspective. This was one of the reasons I chose the article. Questions are the mainstay of any well conducted inquiry unit and having a generic framework to use to generate those questions is invaluable.

Books

1.         Bruce, C.S. (2008) Informed learning. American Library Association. USA.

This book was written for everyone interested in how people learn and interact with their information environment. It provides a unique perspective on helping students become successful learners in an information rich environment. It shows educators how to help students engage with the information practices of their discipline and gives ideas on how to invigorate and refresh the curriculum. The author provides many examples of how people experience information use as they go about learning in different contexts. It helps educators to be more aware of how students experience those aspects of the world about which they are learning.

This book helped me to understand the different viewpoints on information and information literacy. Until reading this book I had not given the topic a great deal of thought, regarding information as content that is read or viewed and information literacy as being able to read and understand text.

2.    Coffman, T. (2009). Engaging Students through Inquiry-Oriented Learning and Technology. Maryland: R&L Education.

Educators can help to make their instruction better by asking more questions and helping their students to ask more of the “right kind” of questions. This book is designed for anyone interested in integrating both inquiry and technology as a tool into a teaching and learning environment. It provides a synopsis of inquiry learning and its benefits and assists with the creation of activities and lessons using the internet and computer software. The book concludes with a section on assessment practices and advice.  

I found the work of Coffman very useful as it is aimed at teachers that are very new to the idea of inquiry based activities and therefore provides many step by step instructions and summarising tables. This book gave me a number of good ideas for inquiry activities using technology and the internet. Many valuable “how to’s” for WebQuests, Web Inquiry Activities and Telecollaborative activities conveniently summarised in easy to follow tables make for easy reading.

3.         Harrington, L. (2006). Guided Research in Middle School: Mystery in the Media Centre. Santa Barbara: Linworth.

Harrington clearly describes steps for motivating and guiding middle school students through the use of drama and intrigue. She spent many years collaborating with teachers to produce inquiry units using mystery and role-playing to help guide students through their research. The book provides the tools and strategies teachers and librarians need to help students think and rethink methods of gathering and organizing information to solve complex research problems. Twelve detailed lessons help lead teachers that are new to inquiry through an entertaining manner of guiding any inquiry unit. I loved the creative, entertaining and dramatic way the lessons in this book are set out. Harrington makes great use of visuals, drawings, tables, dramatic skits and cartoons to clarify her message. This makes the book fun to look at and read at any time. I often found myself randomly picking out a page to read and finding new and fascinating ideas every time.

4.         Kuhlthau, C.C. , Maniotes, L.K. & Caspari, A.K. (2007). Guided Inquiry: Learning in the 21^st century. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.

Kuhlthau and her daughters collaborated on the writing of this book as all three are involved in different fields utilising the inquiry learning process. They were therefore able to describe inquiry learning and its benefits from a number of different viewpoints. The book is based on Carol Kuhlthau’s six stage “Information Search Process” and clarifies inquiry based learning as a self-motivating and inventive way to develop information literacy. The book is written in two parts. The first part details the theories and reasons to use the Guided Inquiry approach. The authors explain the part that all members of the instructional team need to play in order to make the learning experience a success. The second part explains each of the components of inquiry learning for all school age level.

This is the recommended book for the unit on inquiry learning. I have found it to be an excellent reference source for all aspects of inquiry learning and find myself returning to it again and again to check my understanding of this instructional tool that constantly surprises me with its elegant simplicity.

Websites.

1.       www.youthlearn.org   

 I found dozens of activities, teaching tips, guides, examples and stories about past successes on this site. They list numerous projects and have very detailed information on each of the facets of inquiry learning. The authors explain exactly how to get started and continue to engender enthusiasm in learners through a range of ages. This site has some great resources for developing ideas.

2.      http://www.qsa.qld.edu.au/574.html      

This is the site used by Queensland educators to ascertain the content, the teaching methods and the assessment methods to be used in each year level when teaching the SOSE curriculum.