In an effort to identify key/essential understandings of teaching about information, I decided to experiment by using the prompts in Figure 6.3, “Identifying Essential Questions and Understandings” (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005, p. 137). In the interest of space, I focused on five of the nine questions.
Topics and Big Ideas:
Everyone has to access and use information. There are more effective and less effective ways of doing so. Likewise, there is more valuable and less valuable information when applied to fulfilling a specific need.
Why study about information use? So what?
Anytime we are presented with a problem in life, we will seek out information to solve that
problem. We might as well consider how we will go about getting the information we need, so as to not waste our time, money, energy, etc. repeatedly by ignoring the skills related to accessing and using information well.
problem. We might as well consider how we will go about getting the information we need, so as to not waste our time, money, energy, etc. repeatedly by ignoring the skills related to accessing and using information well.What makes the study of using information universal?
By nature, information use is universal because it will play a role in every aspect of our lives. In education, we learn information from teachers and textbooks, and are expected to find and evaluate information on our own to fulfill our assignments. In our careers, we have specific tasks to accomplish, which will require us to access information. In our personal lives, we will have daily decisions, some requiring substantial thought, research, and evaluation.
What’s the Big Idea implied in the skill or process of information use?
The implied Big Idea is that we are not all inherently good at accessing, evaluating and using information. We have to make a conscience decision to improve in this area and work toward developing pertinent skills.
What larger concept, issue, or problem underlies information use?
One of the main problems of information use is the overwhelming nature of accessing information. There is so much irrelevant information through which one must sift in order
to find what is needed. There are also many different avenues for accessing information (different types of books, different websites on the internet, friends/family, personal experiences, etc.). It can be difficult to decide which avenue to choose for a specific information need.
to find what is needed. There are also many different avenues for accessing information (different types of books, different websites on the internet, friends/family, personal experiences, etc.). It can be difficult to decide which avenue to choose for a specific information need.What couldn’t we do if we didn’t understand how to use information?
If we didn’t understand how to use information, we might make uninformed choices and miss out on opportunities. We might have misunderstandings or misinformation if we get our information from inappropriate sources. We may not be able to solve a problem if we cannot find the information we need on which to base our decision.
Essential Questions:
- How do you know if the information you found is accurate and appropriate to answer your question?
- Are there more efficient and less efficient ways of searching for information?
- How do you determine where you should search for information in order to answer a specific problem?
Understandings:
- The decisions we make daily require us to use information, and our ability to make decisions is improved when we are skilled at finding, evaluating, and putting information to use.
- Some sources of information are unreliable, so we should consider the validity of the information we encounter and the sources providing it.
Reflection: I think I need more practice with this. It was somewhat difficult because the topic was so general. It may have been better to have chosen a particular setting or context for a lesson on information use and then to answer the questions related to that. Nonetheless, I think it was a valuable exercise to try.
As for information literacy, I sometimes get hung up on the idea of how pervasive information use is in society, and yet how foreign the concept of developing information literacy skills is to the general population. On the other hand, is the concept of information literacy foreign, or is it actually so deeply ingrained in daily activities that people don’t consider it to be a topic worth exploring (i.e. because they feel like they find the information they need on a daily basis and get by fine without giving it much thought)? I wonder…
[LIBR250 Prompt: What are the key understandings in teaching about information? Include thoughts on the nature of information and the nature of literacy.]
References
Wiggins, G. & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by design (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
