Information literacy skills for preservice teachers: do they transfer to K-12 classrooms?

This study surveyed current education majors (n=70) in two Kansas universities to gain a perspective on their understanding of Information Literacy (IL) concepts and skills and to learn whether they anticipated teaching such concepts to their future K‐12 students. School Media Specialists in the state were also surveyed (n=85) and asked to share their observations of teachers new to the profession as to their understanding and practice of IL. Results indicate many education students were not familiar with IL concept terminology and at least some new teachers in the state do not have a clear understanding or priority for teaching such skills in K‐12 classrooms

Transforming educational experience for children, parents and teachers practitioner research from the CDI/NUIM Masters Programme 2013

The purpose of this action research thesis was to implement an evidence based initiative that could help better engage students in school. This research investigated factors that affected students' choice of Leaving Certificate Science subjects and devised actions that would enable and inform this choice. The factors affecting student choice were investigated using qualitative and quantitative methods of enquiry. The research was set against a drop in the numbers of students choosing science subjects for Leaving Certificate (Smyth and Hannan, 2006). The research took place in a community school in the south west area of Dublin.

Responsible research and innovation in science education: insights from evaluating the impact of using digital media and arts-based methods on RRI values

The European Commission policy approach of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) is gaining momentum in European research planning and development as a strategy to align scientific and technological progress with socially desirable and acceptable ends. One of the RRI agendas is science education, aiming to foster future generations' acquisition of skills and values needed to engage in society responsibly. To this end, it is argued that RRI-based science education can benefit from more interdisciplinary methods such as those based on arts and digital technologies. However, the evidence existing on the impact of science education activities using digital media and arts-based methods on RRI values remains underexplored. This article comparatively reviews previous evidence on the evaluation of these activities, from primary to higher education, to examine whether and how RRI-related learning outcomes are evaluated and how these activities impact on students' learning. Forty academic publications were selected and its content analysed according to five RRI values: creative and critical thinking, engagement, inclusiveness, gender equality and integration of ethical issues. When evaluating the impact of digital and arts-based methods in science education activities, creative and critical thinking, engagement and partly inclusiveness are the RRI values mainly addressed. In contrast, gender equality and ethics integration are neglected. Digital-based methods seem to be more focused on students' questioning and inquiry skills, whereas those using arts often examine imagination, curiosity and autonomy. Differences in the evaluation focus between studies on digital media and those on arts partly explain differences in their impact on RRI values, but also result in non-documented outcomes and undermine their potential. Further developments in interdisciplinary approaches to science education following the RRI policy agenda should reinforce the design of the activities as well as procedural aspects of the evaluation research

Interaction Effects of Socioeconomic Status on Emerging Literacy and Literacy Skills among Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten Children: A Comparison Study

Socioeconomic differences in children’s reading and educational outcomes have been thoroughly documented throughout literature. Bobalik, Scarber, and Toon (2017) examined the link between socioeconomic status (SES) and classroom instruction on emerging literacy skills in pre-kindergarten children. The results supported the theory that children identified as belonging to a low socioeconomic status enter school with lower emerging literacy skills and benefit most from academic instruction; these children’s literacy skills substantially increased throughout the academic year, growing closer to those of their peers who were identified with a high socioeconomic status. The aim of the present study was to expand our understanding of the interaction effects of socioeconomic status and curriculum on emerging literacy and literacy skills by continuing the research into kindergarten. This study examined whether 1) differences in groups continued to grow closer to the mean or 2) the differences in groups became greater with the introduction of reading skills in kindergarten. Children (N=33) were recruited from a private school and a public school. The children from the public school who qualified for the Federal Poverty Guidelines for free/reduced lunch were assigned as having a low socioeconomic status, and children from the private school were assigned as having a high socioeconomic status. The Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening – K (PALS-K) was used to measure the literacy skills in the kindergarten children. Results of the study indicated that literacy scores between the socioeconomic groups were not significantly different at the kindergarten level, however differences between the mean scores of the pre-kindergarten and kindergarten groups were found to be significant

Should We Flip the Script?: A Literature Review of Deficit-Based Perspectives on First-Year Undergraduate Students’ Information Literacy

This mixed method systematic review considers recent literature on the information literacy (IL) skills of first-year undergraduate students. The review uncovers the following themes: faculty and librarians perceive first-year students as lacking IL skills; students have varying perceptions of their IL skills; assessment studies yield conflicting findings on first-year students\u27 IL; communication between high school and college librarians is challenging; and some IL researchers emphasise and leverage first-year students\u27 prior knowledge and experience in IL instruction. These themes emerge from extensive searches in four research databases for scholarly and professional articles written in English within the past ten years. With the exception of a few articles, studies reviewed consistently express their findings in terms of students’ gaps or deficits. We question whether this is the most productive basis for developing effective IL programs. Instead, we call for further investigation of students’ existing knowledge and skills as a basis for implementing constructivist and strengths-based pedagogies

Using assignment data to analyse a blended information literacy intervention: a quantitative approach

This research sought to determine whether a blended information literacy learning and teaching intervention could statistically significantly enhance undergraduates’ information discernment compared to standard face-to-face delivery. A mixture of face-to-face and online activities, including online social media learning, was used. Three interventions were designed to develop the information literacies of first-year undergraduates studying Sport and Exercise at Staffordshire University and focused on one aspect of information literacy: the ability to evaluate source material effectively. An analysis was devised where written evaluations of found information for an assessment were converted into numerical scores and then measured statistically. This helped to evaluate the efficacy of the interventions and provided data for further analysis. An insight into how the information literacy pedagogical intervention and the cognitive processes involved in enabling participants to interact critically with information is provided. The intervention which incorporated social media learning proved to be the most successful learning and teaching approach. The data indicated that undergraduate students’ information literacy can be developed. However, additional long-term data is required to establish whether this intervention would have a lasting impact