Reflection of Feedback for Context

Assessment: Is an important part of learning. (Kuhlthau, 2007). 

Giving feedback I find is a very difficult task to undertake as you don’t want to make the person feel inadequate or offend them. It is very important to give constructive feedback that will help them improve their Context.  It is also easy to criticize rather than give constructive feedback.  Hopefully I had given constructive feedback It is very important then to include some kind of feedback / evaluation of our Context to see if we are on track.

 First of all we were told that if we were one of the first four people to get our Context up on the discussion board Mandy our lecturer would have a look through it and give us feedback. I quickly finished my context and put it up on discussion board eagerly waiting to see Mandys comments. I was very thankful that Mandy would constructively give us feedback.

What were the benefits of Mandy’s feedback were:

• ·          Mandy constructively gave me feedback in that she told me what I could to do to improve my writing. I found this helpful as it gave me ideas of what I needed to fix in order to develop my context.
• ·          She also gave me feedback by crossing out sentences that were unnecessary in my writing which helped me lower my word count as this was rather along way over the recommended word count.
• ·          There were comments about how I could improve my writing style to make it more academic and ways to reword words and sentences.  This helped to know what kind of standard of writing was needed for the context.
• ·          I didn’t have enough information regarding the analyses of curriculum documents with regards to Inquiry so she mentioned that I should analyse them more with regards to information literacy and inquiry based learning.

      Feedback from Deeana and Tammy:

     

      The next thing I had to do with the feedback Mandy gave me was to fix it up so that  I could improve the quality of my contest.  I put it up so that  Deanna and Tammy could also give me feedback. Like me they were doing their Information Learning Activity in an Early childhood classroom. The feedback that was given to me I found very useful and helpful in making my context more relevant. Having peoples feedback about my blog helped me see if I was on the right track and how I could improve my writing.

·         One of the things I was having trouble doing was getting my word count under 1000. I had difficulty doing this so I thought it would be good to ask the two ladies if they would mind seeing if there were parts in which I had repeated myself or had irrelevant information in the Context. With their help and positive feedback I was able to get it under 1000 words. Having this feedback was very beneficial as it really enabled me to do what I was supposed to do.

·         Another benefit of getting feedback was that I was able to see if I was writing my context correctly and see if my topic sentences were backed up correctly. Both ladies again gave great feedback saying that I could do certain things to improve my linking of topic sentences to the rest of the paragraph. 

·         One of my struggles is to write academically. With the ladies feedback they gave me ideas of what words I could use to make it sound more academic.

·         I had difficulty giving feedback but I gained a lot from receiving it. I hope my feedback was just as rewarding as their feedback was to mine.



Concept Map: Reflections of Search

Concept Map of Reflections

of Search Process

This is a concept map of my reflections of how each database, curriculum document etc. either helped me or did not help me.

Reflecting on the Information Research Process

Reflecting on my Information Search Process

Reflection on Information Search Process: I believe I had all the feelings and more of what Dr. Carol Kuhlthau says we should have experienced during our Information Search Process.

Initiation stage: To begin with I was very unsure and uncertain about what I was supposed to do with the assignment. I didn’t understand it at all.  I felt “apprehensive and uncertain about what is expected of them, depressed and bogged down and overwhelmed by all that was expected of me.

Selection stage: As I chose my general topics of Inquiry based learning, Information Literacy and Guided Inquiry I began to have more of a focus and direction of where I was headed.   However I was still feeling rather apprehensive and over loaded with everything that I had to do.

Exploration stage: As I searched the many different databases and documents and books I had various feelings ranging from confusion to excitement and optimism. It depended on what I was finding and if I could find relevant information. As I found the information about my topics I became focussed and had confidence. However, when I searched for a topic and didn’t find anything I would be confused and lack in confidence.  By then end of this stage I was feeling rather perplexed with all the information I had gathered and overwhelmed.

Formulation and Collection stages:  Once I had gathered all of my information it was time to put it all together and make sense of it all.  Although I became less overwhelmed with what I had to do, I still had feelings of confusion and unsureness as I was not 100% sure if was doing the right thing or not. 

Presentation Stage: I am happy with how I have progressed during all of the stages of the Information Searching Process. However, I am feeling rather anxious about the whole formulation of the Context. Have I done this right? Is this what Mandy is looking for?  Will I pass?

Assessment Stage: I have handed it in now. I am happy with the outcome of my context. One of the problems I faced was cutting down my words as I was 500 words over the word limit and I am still a little over.  I had some trouble finding topic sentences and then backing them up with information. I found I had adequate information to write my context and had use a variety of different sources when looking for the information.

Questionnare 3

Questionnare 3

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

 There is so much still till learn about Information Litearcy, Guided Inquiry and Inquiry based learning but I believe I am getting my head finally around what all these terms mean and how to incorporate them into teaching.  I have realised that hands on, active learning and questioning - inquiry based learning are essential parts of teaching and the importance of these in all parts of school. I have also realised that there are many models of inquiry based learning and information litearcy models out there not just the Big 6 model that could benefit teaching and the impact of learning. Also Google is not the be all and end all in searching. There are many different databases out there for all students to search. I believe teachers need to realise this to encouarge their students to search in other places rather than Google.

2. How interested are you in this topic?  Check (ü)  one box that best matches your interest.

 a great deal

3. How much do you know about this topic?  Check (ü)  one box that best matches how much you know.

a great deal

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

•  Using the most familiar database which happend to be Google for all my researching.
• Finding reliable articles, sources to use in my assignment.
• Once I understood how to use other databases I found it was easier to find things that I was looking for and gave me more options and a bigger variety of sources.
• Ask for help.

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

• I found it difficult to use some of the databases as they didn't one in particulart didn't turn up anthing that was useful.
• Know how to set my assignment up and what i was going to write in it.
• I found the blog rather difficult as I had never written a blog and find it difficult to reflect on things as well as I was not sure about what to write about how i researched the different databases for information.

6. What did you learn in doing this research project? Please list as many things as you like.



SLIM toolkit

So I had finished my context and I was the first one up on Blackboard with it yipeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

I was happy and grateful I had finished I was relieved that I had finished. What was I to do now? The next thing to do was to explore about the SLIM toolkit and find out what I was supposed to do next. I had handed out Questionnaire one and two to my two classes now what to do with the information gathered. First I decided to look up what this SLIM questionnaire are. I found two fantastic websites. One had a PDF of explaining what the SLIM toolkit was. It gives examples of what SLIM does, how to implement it and when to give the Questionnaires out. It gives overviews of each question, what you could ask students and what they should be writing and how to interpret the data.  It also links the SLIM into the Information Process and gives explanations of each of the different stages of the ILP. I did however, have some regret. I should have looked and viewed this SLIM toolkit before I had given out the Questionnaires as it would have helped me better understand what I was to look for and explains the questions.

Questionnaire 2

 

 

Questionnaire 2

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

  Inquiry based learning is heavily established in the Constructivist approach.  Inquiry based learning is referred to a number of times in the Science curriculum.  Its all about hands on and actively being involved in activities such as hands on activities,  asking questions

Information Literacy leads to students being able to Inquire about certain subjects and use the skills that Information Literacy helps develop. All classrooms should be information literate classrooms exposing students to information and letting them explore, analyse, locate etc information in different ways.

Guided Inquiry is grounded in the constructivist approach to education. Build on the construction of previous knowledge. Guided inquiry is building on feelings and uncertainty.  I had never heard of the Information Search Process so the whole concept was new to me.

2. How interested are you in this topic?  Check (ü) one box that best matches your interest.

 a great deal

3. How much do you know about this topic?  Check (ü) one box that best matches how much you know.

  quite a bit

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

 I found finding information that was relevant to the topics I was searching easy.

I also found building my paragraphs and finding a relevant topic sentence for my paragraphs once I got the hang of it easy.

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

I found it difficult to know if I was actually doing a Literature review correctly and doing what the assignment asked me to do as I did not fully understand what I was supposed to do.

I was unsure of how to write a Literature review as my last assignment on a Literature review I didn't get very good marks.

I found linking the paragraphs rather difficult .

Presentation of Assignment

Presentation Stage -  sixth stage, feelings of relief are common with a sense of satisfaction if the search has gone well or disappointment if it has not.  The task is to complete the search and to prepare to present or otherwise use the findings (Kuhlthau, 2007).

The Presentation of the Context of the Literature Review. Once I had gathered all the information on to different pages for the parts I would be focusing on, I then went through a process of deciding what information  I wanted to include in my assignment and how I should set my assignment up.  

At this stage according to Kuhlthau (2007) I was supposed have feelings of relief, sense of satisfaction, however, on the contrary I was feeling: 

I started of with first an introduction paragraph about what I was going to put into my literature review and then explained the Information Learning Activity and what that was about.  I was feeling happy about that part of this part of the assignment. 

The next thing to do was to organise which section  I was going to write about. I thought because students need to be information literate I would start at looking at this. I went to the section  i had found information on and decided which quote would be a great opening sentence. I found one and used that as an introduction to the first paragraph. Then I wrote about what it meant to be information Literate. As I was writing this paragraph I realised that to be information literate you needed to have information literacy skills.  So this was going to be my next paragraph to write about.

I found another great quote paraphrased it and used it as my opening sentence.  I then backed it up with other information that I had found in my exploration stage and gradually wrote the paragraph on Information Literacy. While writing this paragraph I realised that this was linked to Inquiry based learning. Students use the skills of Information Literacy to Inquire about different topics and find information of various topics that they are doing for their assignments.  With this in mind I started looking at the information that I had gathered and choose various sources to use in my Assignment.

I was going to write a Curriculum paragraph but after searching for information regarding how Science Curriculum relates with Guided Inquiry it ended up repeating what I had written in my assignment already. I decided to put the relevant parts in the sections that related to them and thus mixed the curriculum in with the rest of the assignment. Because I didn't find any relevant information referring to the Curriculum and Year 2 Science I decided to search to see what the Science curriculum said about Inquiry Based learning and found that it discusses about this quite a lot.

 Bibliography:

Kuthlthau, Carol. (2007). Guided Inquiry: Learning  in te 21st Century. Libraries Unlimited. United States of America.

Collection Stage

Collection stage -  when information pertinent to the focused perspective is gathered and uncertainty subsides as interest and involvement deepens

Feelings at the end of the stage:



  

At this point, the task is to gather information related to the focused topic (Kuhlthau, 2007). My job was to go through all the information that I had gathered and find evidence to support each part of the assignment with evidence and support.   I had my information on word documents to the three different areas that I was going to focus on Information Literacy, Guided Inquiry and Information Search Process, mainly focusing on Inquiry Based Learning.   I started to think of a way of writing and gathering the information into a logical format. Once I had gathered all the information on to different pages for the parts I would be focusing on, I then went through a process of deciding which information I wanted to include in my assignment and how I should set my assignment up. At this stage I was not feeling that my uncertainty had no subsided as described in the Collection stage, I was still feeling rather uncertain.   I sent an email of how I wanted to set it out to Mandy so that she could see how I wanted to do it.

As I begun putting all of my information together in a more logical sequence I noticed how all of the below topics were interrelated to one another.  So it was more looking like a circular pattern rather then just vertical.  I began to realize that to be Information Literate you needed to have the skills to help you understand and find what you are reading and that Information Literacy also underpinned what skills you needed to Inquire about topics and therefore you became Information Literate with those skills that helped you to inquire about what you were researching. I also noted that Guided Inquiry is related to Inquiry based learning as it’s a way of doing Inquiry.  I remember reading in Kuhlthau (2007) that Guided Inquiry is grounded in the constructivist approach and the Guided Inquiry is interrelated to the Information Search Process. With all of this in mind I have tried to do a concept map of how they are all related. Once I had an understanding of what underpinned what I feel more adequate in what to do next with my assignment.

.

In my searches I decided to go onto Youtube to get a better understanding of what it means to include Inquiry based learning. I came across a relevant clip that really stood out to me and helped me to understand what Inquiry Based learning is all about.

My reflection on watching this YouTube clip:

After watching this Youtube clip I realized what Inquiry based learning was. It is more than just talk and talk, in fact it shouldn't be teacher focused.  The elements of Inquiry based learning are:

1. It is very much student centred in that it asks students to think of questions, have active participation in activities,
2. Questioning is the central idea for inquiry as when children ask questions they are able to think critically and independently to learn. From asking questions the students are then able to generate information to gain answers from their questions which enables them to learn.
3. Active participation is another element of Inquiry learning as it "According to Jermoe Bruner - 1915 active learners are those which learners construct new ideas and concepts based upon the present and past knowledge and go beyond information" (Yoder, 2011 ) .  
4. Its more on "how we come to know" than about "how we know".

After watching this Youtube clip I feel really encouraged to implement of Inquiry based learning in my teaching at school and also encourage other teachers to use it in their teaching.

At this point of the assignment a light came on inside of my as to what it meant by Inquiry Based Learning. UP to that point I did not exactly fully understand what Inquiry Based learning was or how to implement it. After looking up lots of different resources I was finally able to understand what it was and how to implement it in my teaching.

Formulation stage

Formulation stage - focus research task from the information done all this research what is the central focus.

At this point I zoned in on a number of focusing areas to explore and discover. After exploring various data such as , journal articles, YouTube clips, websites, recommended readings and books I came to a number of focuses for my topic.  They are it needs to start off with the topic Information Literate, followed by Information Literacy, Constructivism, Guided Inquiry and Information Search Process. I  decided that all of these seem to follow from one another and this would be the best way to do it and to connect the various topics.   Out of all these sub focuses my central focus is Inquiry Based Learning.  My next job was to go and look at all of the information that I had collected and see what I would use and what I would not use. At this stage I was still feeling uncertain about how to structure and write the Literature Review. 

Reflecting on my searches

Overall how did I know once I had all of my information what I was going to keep and what I was going to disregard?

What I found to be helpful:

• Definitions of specific models, activities
• Anything that related to actively participation, questioning, HOT - higher order thinking when it came to Inquiry based learning.
• If it related inquiry based learning to the curriculum and how to incorporate it
• Anything that related to Science, Guided Inquiry and Year 2 there was not that much out there that consisted of all three.

What I learnt about searching on other databases?

• I learnt that Google is not the be all and end all in searching and there are far better databases out there that are more likely to give me more relevant and reliable information than Google does.
• A+ Education, Proquest, Google Scholar and ERIC are not as scary as I once thought they were and therefore now in my next assignments will aim to use them more than I use Google.
• When I searched for Inquiry based learning this was seen as relating to computer or ICTs
• IF it put in Inquiry sometimes it would come up with "enquiry" or "the inquiry of....." I suppose next time I will have to define more what   I am exactly wanting to search for.
• There was not enough articles, information or case studies on Year 2
• Watching what term to use for "Year 2" or "Grade 2".

Search 7: Searching the Curriculum

Curriculum Continuum Reflection:

Because I did not find much information regarding Information Literacy AND Year 2, or Inquiry and Year 2 or Guided Inquiry and Year 2 I decided that  I would now search the curriculum to see what I could find to help me solve my dilemma. I went to GOOGLE and searched Continuum as this came up in an email from OZTL and spoke about how ACARA is trying to rename Information Literacy and not mention it at all. I decided to go to the website to see what I could find out.  This is where I found the General Capabilities in Australian Curriculum. I searched the document for Inquiry learning which turned up nothing so I tried Literacy as they are closely related. This again however turned up nothing. The final place I was going to try to find Inquiry was in "Critical and Creative thinking". There it was. Inquiry was mentioned 5 times. After reading the information on this page I put it aside to see if I would use it later in my Context.

Shape of Australian Curriculum: Science

I came across this document in an unreliable source and found it very interesting so I went to discover it and read about it.   The purpose of The Shape of the Australian Curriculum: Science will guide the writing of the Australian science curriculum K–12 (ACARA, 2009).  One of the areas that drew my attention was under the heading of "The structure of the Science  Curriculum" where it talked about 5.21 Curriculum focus: awareness of self and the local world. Underneath the table it gave 5 areas that unify the students ideas at Year 2.  I notices some similarities between them and the Information Search process by Kuthlhau. 

Carol Kuhlthau’ Information Search Process:	Unifying ideas for students in this age range are:
Initiation: At this point, the task is merely to recognize a need for information.
Selection: task is to identify and select the general topic to be investigated and the approach to be pursued
Exploration:  investigate information on the general topic in order to extend personal understanding.	Exploration: Investigation of objects and things around them as a precursor to more directed inquiry in later years.
Formulation:  The task is to form a focus from the information encountered	Order: Observing similarities and differences and comparing, sorting and classifying to create an order that is more meaningful.
Collection: At this point, the task is to gather information related to the focused topic	Observation: Using the senses to observe and gather information about the environment, looking for what is the same and what is different
Presentation: The task is to complete the search and to prepare to present or otherwise use the findings	Questioning and speculating: Questions and ideas about the world become increasingly purposeful; explanatory ideas are developed and tested through further exploration.
Assessment

I have attempted to put the "unifying ideas" into which area of the "Information Search Process" I believe they relate to. The bold and highlighted words in column one correspond to those in column 2 I believe have the same meaning in both columns as each other.  For example I believe what the students are being asked to do is the same or similar meaning in the other column eg. Investigation information (column 1) similar to: investigation of objects and things around them (column 2). Therefore, we can see the similarities of the "Information Search Process" and the "unifying ideas from Shape of Australian Curriculum: Science".

There I noticed that the General capabilities were the same as those in the Curriculum continuum and in particular the Critical and Creative thinking General Capability.  I scrolled down the document to the standard that I was mostly interested in “Science Inquiry Skills”.  The skills that the students will be learning in Year 2 are: Questioning and predicting, planning and conduction, processes in and analysing data and information, evaluation and communication.  These are also similar with the Information search process.  I believe they have adapted them from the document “The Shape of Australian curriculum”: Science that had Exploration, Order, Observation and then Questioning.

Australian National Curriculum: Science

From this I payed more attention to the table  hoping that maybe the National Curriculum will also have these standards for Science Inquiry Skills. This is when I went in search of the curriculum.  As I had never been to the website of the National curriculum I was eagerly waiting for what lay in store for me.

In the Australian National Curriculum: Science I noticed the General capabilities were the same as those in the Curriculum continuum in particular Critical and Creative thinking.  I scrolled down the document to the standard that I was mostly interested in “Science Inquiry Skills”.  The skills that the students will be learning in Year 2 are: Questioning and predicting, planning and conduction, processes in and analysing data and information, evaluation and communication.  These are also similar with the Information Search Process stages stated by Kuhlthau (2007).  I believe they have adapted them from the document “The Shape of Australian curriculum”: Science that had Exploration, Order, Observation and then Questioning . Below is a table summary of how I believe the “Science Inquiry Skills” relate to the “Information Search Process”.

Carol Kuhlthau’ Information Search Process:	Science Inquiry Skills:
Initiation: At this point, the task is merely to recognize a need for information.	Questioning and Predicting:
Selection: task is to identify and select the general topic to be investigated and the approach to be pursued
Exploration:  investigate information on the general topic in order to extend personal understanding.	Planning and Conducting: Participate in different types to explore and answer questions, such as manipulating materials, testing ideas and accessing information sources (ACISIS038)
Formulation:  The task is to form a focus from the information encountered	Processing and Analysing data and information: Using a range of methods to sort information including drawings and provided tables (ACSIS214)
Collection: At this point, the task is to gather information related to the focused topic	Planning and Conducting: Use informal measurements in the collection and recording of observations, with the assistances of digital technologies as appropriate (ACISIS039)
Presentation: The task is to complete the search and to prepare to present or otherwise use the findings	Communicating: Represent and communicate observations and ideas in a variety of ways such as oral and written language, drawing and role play (ACSIS042)
Assessment:	Evaluating: Compare observations with those of others (ACSIS214)

From this I payed more attention to the table  hoping that maybe the National Curriculum will also have these standards for Science Inquiry Skills. This is when I went in search of the curriculum.  As I had never been to the website of the National curriculum I was eagerly waiting for what lay in store for me.

Again I have attempted to put the “Science Inquiry Skills” into which area of the “Information Search Process” I believe they fit with. The bold and highlighted words in column one correspond to those in column 2 I believe have the same meaning in both columns as each other.  I believe the “Science Inquiry Skills” are more closely related to that of the “Information Search Process” developed by Carol Kuhlthau because they seem to depict exactly what the IFS is trying to convey in each stage.

I also noted that Questioning is mentioned a number of times such as in the “Science Inquiry skills” where students are given opportunities to “Respond to and pose questions, and make predictions about familiar objects and events” I recalled that this is extremely important and one of the elements of Inquiry based leaning as “Asking questions is at the heart of inquiry-based learning” (Education Development Center Inc., 2001).  Therefore it is imperative that it be included in the “Science Inquiry skills” as it Inquiry is driven by the asking of questions from students” Development Center Inc., 2001).  When students ask questions they are building on he blocks of previous knowledge which allows them to explore the answers to their questions. This enables them to have active participation in their own learning.

ACARA. (2011). Curriculum Continum Reflection. Authority Curriculum, Assessment and reporting Authority, Australia.  http://consultation.australiancurriculum.edu.au/Login?ReturnUrl=%2fGeneralCapabilities%2fCritical-and+-+creative-thinking%2fConceptualStatement -

ACARA. (2011). Shape of Australian Curriculum: Science.Authority Curriculum, Assessment and reporting Authority, Australia. http://www.acara.edu.au/verve/_resources/Australian_Curriculum_-_Science.pdf 

Education Development Center Inc.  (2001).  A guide to Inquiry Based Learning. Youth Learn Initiative. Agora Journal; v.44 n.1 p. 4-11

ACARA. (2011). National Australian Curriculum: Science .Authority Curriculum, Assessment and reporting Authority, Australia. http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/Science/Curriculum/F-10?page=3&layout=3 

 Kuhlthau, Carol. (2007). Guided Inquiry: Learning in the 21st Century. Libraries Unlimited. United States of America.