Research Skills = Life Skills

Presented by Kristy Nelson

Region III Education Service Center

Partnerships for College and Career Readiness

May 13, 2010

Victoria College Student Center

“If we expect our students to be prepared for the ‘real world’ when they leave our schools, we need to equip them with the information skills they need to make the right decisions.”

- Vent, Laura. “Career Info Quest: Using AASL Standards to Prepare Teens for the Future.” Library Media Connection. January/February 2010

WHY RESEARCH SKILLS?

Today’s Information Environment

We live in an information rich society. Information doubles every 5.5 years (AASL), technical information doubles every two years, and the quantity of electronic information doubles every hour.

- Partnership for 21st Century Learning Skills. “The Intellectual and Policy Foundations of the 21st Century Skills Framework”

Too much information?

Psychologists have identified “Information Overload Syndrome,” which mimics both Generalized Anxiety Disorder and clinical depression. The syndrome occurs when the brain becomes overwhelmed with the quantity of information to be processed and the mind/body is adversely affected.

What are today’s research skills?

• “Traditional” research strategies • Information literacy skills (also called ICT

literacy)• Ability to think critically• Media literacy skills• Visual literacy skills• Comprehension of information-based text

“Traditional” Research Skills

• Includes task definition or questioning strategies

• Library skills, such as using an online card catalog, encyclopedias, TOC, databases, an index, etc.

• Citing sources• Paraphrasing information• Translating information from visual

representation to written and vice versa• Ability to generate search terms

Information Literacy:

The ability to find, evaluate, analyze, integrate, communicate, and use information to solve problems, create new ideas, make informed decisions, and turn data into meaning.

- Rockman, Ilene. “Introduction: The Importance of Information Literacy.” in Integrating Information Literacy into the Higher Education Curriculum: Practical Models for Transformation. 2004

Media Literacy Skills

• Evaluation of a news source based on authority, objectivity, intended audience, and timeliness

• Understand the difference in URLs• Intimate understanding of propaganda

and point of view• Knowledge of how use of language and

images affects the message

Visual Media Literacy Skills

• Understanding the importance of presentation skills

• Tailoring a presentation to fit the audience

• An understanding of space, organization, and arrangement

• Use of color and style to communicate message

In a world in which good design is increasingly used as a means of differentiating objects of mass production, creative design skills are highly desired in the labor force.

- Partnership for the 21st Century Skills. The Intellectual and Policy Foundations of the 21st Century Skills Framework.

Informational Text Comprehension

In a study of the reading achievements of 10-year-old students in 40 nations, the United States had the largest gap between literary reading achievement and information reading achievement of any nation studied.

- Mullis, Ina, et al. PIRLS 2006 International Report: IEA’s Progress in International Reading Literacy Study in Primary Schools in 40 Countries. 2007

The Need for Exposure to Informational Text

The 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Framework calls for 55 percent of all reading in 8th grade to be informational passages, increasing to 70 percent by 12th grade.

- National Assessment Governing Board, 2007

In the recent report, Are They Ready to Work?, employers say that although oral and written communication are among the top four skills they seek in new hires, all graduates are lacking in these areas. High school graduates fare the worst, with 72% of employers citing this group’s deficiency in Writing in English, and 81% citing their deficiency in Written Communication.

Define

Access

Gather

Evaluate

Organize

Integrate

Create Communicate

Synthesize Locate

Process

Interpret

Analyze

ETS Information Literacy Assessment

• Information & Communication Technology Literacy (ICT Literacy) Test created by ETS and unveiled in 2006

• Tests seven areas of information literacy• 6300 students (high school seniors and college

students) took the field test exam. The average score was 50%

• Only 35% could accurately narrow an overly broad search question

• Only 52% could accurately assess the objectivity of a website

• Only 12 % created a presentation that used points directly related to the assigned arguments

RESEARCH SKILLS AS LIFE SKILLS

Creating Lifelong Learners

Why is information literacy important?

Transfer from school to the everyday environment is the ultimate purpose of school-based learning.

- Bransford, J., et al. How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School. 2000

Learning should be a lifelong pursuit.

The most desirable jobs of the future—the ones least likely to be automated—are those that require expert thinking and complex communication, according to economists Frank Levy and Richard Murname (2004).

In research conducted for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, University of Oregon professor David T. Conley finds that “habits of mind” such as analysis, interpretation, precision and accuracy, problem-solving, and reasoning” can be as or more important than content knowledge in determining success in college courses.

- Conley, David. Toward a More Comprehensive Conception of College Readiness. (2007)

WHAT TO WE DO TO CORRECT THIS?

Adopt a Research Method

• Provides a standardized vocabulary for research

• Provides a method that can be followed every time with predictable results

• Reinforces method through sustained teaching over multiple years

• Most effective when adopted as a district initiative

Which Research Method Do We Use?

• Big 6/Super 3• Information Power• Independent Investigative Method (IIM)• ICT Literacy Model

To be successful…

• Research must be cross-disciplinary. While skills may be taught in ELA, they should be implemented in EVERY subject.

• Skills must be taught beginning in Kindergarten.

• Research skills must be modeled.• Research skills CANNOT be taught in

isolation.

“The ability to acquire and handle information is at the core of lifelong learning. But if students lack the information literacy to find and apply the right information for the right purpose while evaluating it effectively, how can we possibly foster lifelong learning?”

- Badke, William. “Ten Reasons to Teach Information Literacy for Credit.” Online. (Nov/Dec 2008)

http://region3libraries.pbworks.com/Research-Skills

Kristy NelsonEducation Specialist for Library Services

and Technology

Career & College Readiness Liaison

Region III Education Service Center

361.573.0731 ext. 277

knelson@esc3.net