An Interdisciplinary Model for Assessing Learning

During the 1994-95 school year the Kansas Association of School Librarians Research Committee conducted a literature review and held a two-day summer institute to develop an interdisciplinary model for assessing learning across the curriculum. Participating were teachers, administrators, library media specialists, and Kansas State Board of Education curriculum specialists. During the 1995-96 school year the committee presented the model to teachers and library media specialists at professional meetings and workshops for reactions. The model has been revised and is being tested in Kansas schools during the 1996-97 school year. The model is based on the “Big Six” model for information problem-solving by Eisenberg and Berkowitz (1990) and is derived from an analysis of Kansas content standards for language arts, social studies, mathematics, science, reading, and library media. The model divides student assignments in these six subject areas into five parts, using terminology from the standards for each subject. Rubrics have been developed for each of the five parts of an assignment. This paper will recount development of the model, delineate elements of the model, reveal preliminary findings of the current research project which tests the model, and discuss implications for implementing the model.

Revealing Thinking: Teachers Working Together on Information Literacy

Collaboration between library and teaching staff on single projects often goes well, but does not always lead to sustained collaboration or independent teaching in support of information literacy. Where teachers' understanding of information problem solving processes is under-- developed and library media support is not available, multiple approaches to professional development are essential if teachers and children are to be empowered as information problem solvers. This paper presents and discusses two research initiatives in elementary schools in terms of factors influencing the path of professional development and sustained attention to information literacy. One has information problem solving as the primary focus whereas the second centres on teachers as learners and information problem solvers in their own right.

Features of individual cognitive style of qualified badminton players

Aim: to determine of peculiarities of personal cognitive styles in qualified badminton players. Material and methods. The studies were carried out using the hardware-software computer complex "Multipsychometer-05". The modified Stroop test was selected. The indicators of the test "Field dependence" were determined: field independence, left hemispheric dominance, functional asymmetry, and the effectiveness of the test. The obtained results of the study were analyzed for the entire sample of badminton players, as well as separately for men and women. Results. According to the results of scientific research on the field dependence of qualified badminton players, it was found that all athletes in our sample demonstrate a slight bias towards field dependence; dominated by right hemisphere dominance; in functional asymmetry and efficiency, qualified badminton players demonstrate an average level. The analysis of test indicators, taking into account gender dimorphism, showed that among men 72% demonstrate a predominance of right hemispheric dominance of varying degrees, 28% have left hemispheric dominance. As for women, 54% demonstrate a predominance of right hemispheric dominance of varying degrees, and 37% demonstrate left hemispheric dominance of varying degrees. Conclusions. Men show a tendency towards better test performance and have more pronounced functional asymmetry. The cognitive style of skilled badminton players determines the strategy of selection and processing of information, problem solving, learning and other types of cognitive activities. Because human cognitive-activity styles are genetically determined and demonstrate a pronounced stability of cognitive-stylistic characteristics in ontogenesis, they can be used as prognostic and diagnostic criteria.

Assessment of higher education students’ information problem-solving skills in educational sciences

Many of the current tests that evaluate information problem-solving skills suffer from ecological validity weakness and from library-bias. The Procedural Information Problem-Solving Knowledge Evaluation in Education test (PIKE-E) aims to assess information problem-solving skills of college students in relation to an academic literature review task in educational sciences. It entails a confirmatory analysis of the PIKE-P test in which it is based. The PIKE-E was completed by 700 students from three different Spanish-speaking countries. In our research, we do not assume that information problem solving skills at the international and cultural level are equal, but Internet access is practically the same in higher education. Results show the existence of five first-order factors, Defining the research question, Search strategies planning, Searching and locating sources, Selecting and processing information and Organizing and presenting information, and a general single second-order factor, Information problem-solving, which coincide with contemporary theoretical models on information literacy. The PIKE-E can be used to tackle in which specific areas concerning information skills development, students entering education degrees need to improve to succeed in their studies.

Embedded Information Problem-Solving Instruction to Foster Learning from Digital Sources: Longitudinal Effects on Task Performance

This research paper is based on a longitudinal study to find out how long-term embedded whole-task instruction can help students to develop more efficient information problem-solving (IPS) skills that could lead to a better use of internet information for learning and solving digital tasks more effectively. To this end, we designed, implemented and evaluated a three-year instruction programme to promote students’ development of key IPS skills in real-life classroom settings. This research involved sixty-one secondary education students. Forty-two of them received the IPS instruction and their results were analysed longitudinally and subsequently compared to a control group which received the regular courses. The results showed that students who received the IPS instruction improved their performance significantly in tasks in which the use of IPS skills was needed and these students organised and presented the information found on the internet critically and gave personal arguments. The findings also revealed that during the three-year project, the scores of IPS task performance were statistically higher in the instructed students than those obtained in control group students. Our study then provides an insight into how secondary students develop IPS skills throughout long-term instructional support and shows a series of educational implications.

Task Characteristics as Source of Difficulty and Moderators of the Effect of Time-on-Task in Digital Problem-Solving

To be able to solve complex information problems in a digital environment is a key 21st century skill. Technology users usually expect to achieve their goals in a fast and accurate way. However, the actual relationship between time-on-task and task outcome is currently not well understood. We analyzed data from a large-scale international study in which representative samples of adults had to solve more or less complex problems using standard computer applications. Our results indicate that different task characteristics influence the relationship between problem-solving performance and time-on-task in specific ways. Spending more time on a task is more likely to compensate an average problem solver when task complexity can be attributed to intrinsic task and technology drivers than when complexity stems from the cognitive/metacognitive activities belonging to information problem-solving processes per se, especially acquiring and evaluating information. Thus, the interpretation of time-on-task should take the source of difficulty into consideration. Implications for personal and professional development are discussed.

Student Learning through Swedish School Libraries: Analysis, Findings and Recommendations

This exploratory study examines the application of methods used in the United States to evaluate the impact of school library programs and services on student learning to a setting in Uppsala, Sweden. The Student Learning through Ohio School Libraries study of Todd and Kuhlthau served as the model for data collection in Uppsala middle and high schools and subsequent analysis. Modifications to the original study and details of the data collection and analysis are provided. Findings suggest that many students do perceive that the library program provides different categories of help in their learning processes, that students may benefit from direct instruction in all stages of the information problem-solving process, and that the application of methods to school library settings worldwide may enable meaningful comparisons of practice in school libraries. Findings are limited by the amount of time between data collection and analysis, and modifications to the methodology applied in the original study. Still, this effort marks a critical benchmark in international efforts to demonstrate the impact of the school library on student achievement.