Welcome to the 21st century filled with books in electronic formats, children who are digital natives, and fast changing technology. This book study is very ambitious, as it tackles two books that go hand-in-hand. The Big6 provides us a process through which we can teach our students and teachers how to become problem-solvers in a world laden with problems to solve. Fortunately, Web 2.0 has great technology tools that can easily be integrated into the Big6 process.
As information specialists we have to reflect on our current practices and be willing to transform ourselves to meet the challenges set before us. How do we meld the Big6 and Web 2.0 together? Consider the resemblance of the Big 6 to the Stripling Inquiry Model (Berger, p. 12-13). The bottom line is, both models contain skills essential to 21st century learners. Eisenberg, Johnson and Berkowitz address the need for technology integration into the Big6 in the ICT Big6 Curriculum attachment on the website (Big6 Toolbox).
So how do we move forward? Lets start by blogging about these two questions:
(1) How do we ensure that students understand the importance of developing problem-solving skills?
(2) Discuss ways to collaborate with teaches that will help students solve problems while learning content.
I am not sure what this is supposed to look like… so, I will begin with observations… The Web 2.0 book has caused an information revolution at the DiBlasi household. We have always been proponents of discovery learning… But to watch my own children play with such joy in the information pool offered by the different search engines. I just I have been in the Dark Ages on many levels. I did not realize there was a Google for scholars, or an ask for kids (which would be very user friendly for our English Challenged students). My gifted-ld son loved www.search-cube.com... So visual, global, and interactive… almost like kinesthetic learning in the cyber dimension. But I digress. I think we are standing at the threshold of a new information age. We are no longer collectors of information or guardians of knowledge. We need to help our learners harness the collective intelligence. Research has expanded beyond the big six to include collaborating, managing/organizing information, and in the case of glogs and blogs… editing a living document.
ReplyDeleteI am just rambling… but does anyone else feel that this expansion of websites (1994/10,000 to 1998/3.5 million) make you feel wholly informationally inadequate? If 87% of 12-17 year olds use the internet (21 million youth), can we afford to thrust books at them as the best resource? How can we make them want to come to use for relevant information when our print materials can’t dry fast enough to be as current as the information at their fingertips?
You make very valid points about the challenge of harnessing this information in a manner that makes sense to today's learners. I'm not sure there is a clear answer as for the print resources. Print resources may not always be as current, but are often said to be more accurate. As gatekeepers of our collections we do need to make sure our selections reflect the accuracy and therefore relevancy to our students.
ReplyDeleteHow do we ensure that students understand the importance of developing problem-solving skills? As we have stated many times --we need to use the process when we assist students at point of need. Refering to the process and using the Big 6 vocabulary needs to be a habit.
ReplyDeleteDiscuss ways to collaborate with teaches that will help students solve problems while learning content. We have to seek out GLES and objectives that we support in the LMC lessons and then present our ideas to teachers. Having teachers include us in their newsletter distribution is a good way to learn classroom topics for library support. Teaches all not always aware of how we can help.
Sorry I did not get this done this weekend. Jack's Aunt died and we needed to be with his almost 93 year old mother. This is the 3rd family member in a little over a month and she is understandably depressed....so I will be out of town this Thursday, Friday and Monday as we are driving. Anyway enough already.
ReplyDeleteFrom observing my own children I think they are natural born problem solvers--when the motivation is there. Otherwise I would not have found my 18 month old son on top of the refrigerator (where I kept the cookie jar). Many times I watched them and now my grandchildren try first one thing then the other until they achieved success. But with my students they seem to want the answer, any answer as fast as they can get it. I agree with what Barb said about the information overload--our job is now to help them find the best resources.
With teachers I still feel the pressure of "how fast can we get this done--to get on to the next thing". Although I was not in the Library when we had flex scheduling I still find myself wishing for more than 30 minutes at a time to work with students on research. I like Helen's suggestion about having the teachers include us on their distribution list.
My 4 year old Ella knows how to use my iPhone to look at pictures, to take pictures, to call Grandma or Pops, and to play games. I can only imagine what she will be capable of doing when she is a teen. It is almost a little scary because I kinda thought I was technology savy but I am discovering I really don't know that much about a lot of things. One of the things I am working really hard on this year is showing online resources for any book that we talk about. That way the students can see whats out there, I also try to tie in locating reliable site and resources.
ReplyDeleteHow do we ensure that students understand the importance of developing problem-solving skills?
ReplyDeleteWe provide relevent, authentic problem-solving opportunities and then we model, model, model problem-solving strategies. I think we have the tendency to assume students "get-it" long before they are truly ready to fly solo. By teaching students how to think through the process of problem-solving we are giving them a life-long learning tool.
Discuss ways to collaborate with teachers that will help students solve problems while learning content.
I really like how Vicki has taken blogging to her faculty. She has exposed them to other online sources by providing links within her blog content and given them new teaching strategies to consider. Of course we have to consider that not everyone is as excited about cyberspace as we have become so ... I really think the key is to show teachers how to take advantage of a student's natural curiosity and istead of simply providing answers to some of their questions encourage them to seek out the answers through a variety of resources using the framework that the Big6 provides.