Well I can say that this semester has been really crazy so far. I feel a huge sense of accomplishment at finishing off the blog and my first assessment task but feel the weight of the final report and the coding starting to press down on my shoulders. I found it really difficult to keep up with writing useful things in the blog and ended up using a note taking system in word to keep track of all my moments before and after work and on the weekend where I did all of my searching and writing.
I have learnt a lot about my style of searching and have improved my searching skills. I have also learnt a lot about Kuhlthaus ISP model and will have a much clearer understanding of what my students go through during an inquiry learning experience.
I have also learnt from experience what my students feel when I set them a blog task that doesn't go for a very long period of time, It takes a lot of time and energy to create something meaningful but I can really see why we had this task as it does make you think about what you are doing throughout he activity and reflect deeply.
Kuhlthau's ISP
Feelings- Presentation and assessment are upon me so I'm feeling a sense of accomplishment but also still anxious that I I haven't done enough or haven't been able to express my views clearly enough. I pretty much always feel like that until I get the marks back and then I can breath out again.
Thoughts- I definitely have a better understanding of how I work through an inquiry process. Many, many thanks to Mandy who guided me through some of the 'sticky' bit of the course by proving solid examples and support. Expert scaffolding.
Actions- Documented and handed in! (yahoo)
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Friday, September 24, 2010
Questionaire 3
1. Take some time to think about your topic. Now write down what you know about it.
I know that there are a wide range of different inquiry learning models out there. They each seem to start off with having the learner reflect on what they already know and can bring to their research before moving through to raising questions, finding answers, synthesising their knowledge and presenting their work before they finally assess what they have learnt and reflect on the process.
Inquiry learning is all about asking questions and finding out the answers yourself instead on relying on others for answers. Inquiry learning is all about experiential learning, 'learning by doing', the students goes and explores and discovers by experimenting and testing. Inquiry learning needs time, collaboration and careful planning. Teachers need to commit to watching closely so that they can intervene with appropriate scaffolding when the time arises when the process is guided inquiry. Kuhlthau has developed the ISP as a way to structure the inquiry process. The added dimension to her model that the other search process models don't place emphasis on is the emotional nature of the search process. It's normal to go through a wide range of emotions from anxiety and fear to elation throughout an inquiry project. Information literacy goes hand in hand with inquiry learning projects. Students need to know how to find, asses, keep track of and understand a variety of resources.
2. How interested are you in this topic? Circle the answer that best matches your interest. Not at all not much quite a bit a great deal
3. How much do you know about this topic? Circle the answer that best matches how much you know. Nothing not much quite a bit a great deal
4. When you do research, what do you generally find easy to do? Please list as many things as you like.
I have improved across all areas of research since the beginning of this unit of work. I am now better at finding resources as well as narrowing down the search. I am also better at telling if a piece of information is suitable to my needs without having to look too deeply into it and waste time.
5. When you do research, what do you generally find difficult to do? Please list as many things as you like. I find it difficult to know when to 'down tools' and stop the searching and get on with the collating, synthesising and creating. I have difficulty in letting go.
I know that there are a wide range of different inquiry learning models out there. They each seem to start off with having the learner reflect on what they already know and can bring to their research before moving through to raising questions, finding answers, synthesising their knowledge and presenting their work before they finally assess what they have learnt and reflect on the process.
Inquiry learning is all about asking questions and finding out the answers yourself instead on relying on others for answers. Inquiry learning is all about experiential learning, 'learning by doing', the students goes and explores and discovers by experimenting and testing. Inquiry learning needs time, collaboration and careful planning. Teachers need to commit to watching closely so that they can intervene with appropriate scaffolding when the time arises when the process is guided inquiry. Kuhlthau has developed the ISP as a way to structure the inquiry process. The added dimension to her model that the other search process models don't place emphasis on is the emotional nature of the search process. It's normal to go through a wide range of emotions from anxiety and fear to elation throughout an inquiry project. Information literacy goes hand in hand with inquiry learning projects. Students need to know how to find, asses, keep track of and understand a variety of resources.
2. How interested are you in this topic? Circle the answer that best matches your interest. Not at all not much quite a bit a great deal
3. How much do you know about this topic? Circle the answer that best matches how much you know. Nothing not much quite a bit a great deal
4. When you do research, what do you generally find easy to do? Please list as many things as you like.
I have improved across all areas of research since the beginning of this unit of work. I am now better at finding resources as well as narrowing down the search. I am also better at telling if a piece of information is suitable to my needs without having to look too deeply into it and waste time.
5. When you do research, what do you generally find difficult to do? Please list as many things as you like. I find it difficult to know when to 'down tools' and stop the searching and get on with the collating, synthesising and creating. I have difficulty in letting go.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Just for fun
I thought that I would see what results I would get by typing in 'guided inquiry' and doing an image search on Google. I got 113,000 results and found a whole range of images. The second image on the list was a fantastic image showing the different levels of inquiry learning. The funny thing is that it came from one of my fellow students blog here http://anniewhi.wordpress.com/category/uncategorized/, it’s under Sunday 17th of August.
Unfortunately most of the images were of book covers or advertising for Syba signs. I’m going to try and narrow the search.
Unfortunately most of the images were of book covers or advertising for Syba signs. I’m going to try and narrow the search.
'Inquiry based learning model' received 585,000 hits and have many more appropriate images. Most of them were very simplistic and seemed to be focused on primary school. I did really like this one though.
http://www.loc.gov/teachers/tps/quarterly/0907/article.html the library of congress had some wonderful information about inquiry learning. The Stripling Model was the model that they used to frame their inquiry work.
Typing inquiry based learning into you tube received 467 hits.
Inquiry based teaching received 153 hits.
This video was interesting in that it highlighted was I discovered whilst searching for inquiry based learning, different educators have their own understanding about what it means. This has reinforced to me the importance of having a school wide model that everyone works from so you know that the teachers that you will be working with have the same understanding and base from which to work.
This video was interesting in that it highlighted was I discovered whilst searching for inquiry based learning, different educators have their own understanding about what it means. This has reinforced to me the importance of having a school wide model that everyone works from so you know that the teachers that you will be working with have the same understanding and base from which to work.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Academic journal searching with Proquest
I tend to use Proquest a lot for researching so I know that I will get something of value here.
Inquiry based learning and middle school and history- returned 1 result which I already had from my google scholar search. Hmm, not a good start.
For the next search I didn’t put in middle school and returned 26 results- there were only about 2 articles that could be of use, as per a lot of my other searches a lot of science related articles were included. For the next search I added ‘not science’. Adding ‘not science’ narrowed my hits down to 13.
Next I tried using the simple term ‘guided inquiry’ to try and find articles to broaden my understanding of this type of inquiry. I got 56 hits, very heavy on the emphasis of science. I will try the ‘and not science’ search again.
This technique only returned 17 articles, there were a few that could be used.
Next I tried a different approach of searching for the name of an author but not in the author field. I am hoping that I will get results of papers where people have included that author in their paper or base their research on their models.
I will search for both Kuhlthau, and Callison.
Kuhlthau- 29 documents- Bingo! Almost all of these are valuable, now let’s try Callison.
Callison returned 14 documents, a couple of them look like they could be useful.
I was also curious to see what would happen if I used the ‘quick find’ function on the QUT library page. I put in ‘Inquiry based learning’ and got 124,002 results.
I then used the Advanced search function and put in a date range and ticked peer reviewed and full text and narrowed it down to 93,087 hits.
Next I used the –science command and returned 30,925 hits. There seems to be some wonderful articles here, although there are still way to many to go through I had a bit of fun browsing and found some great stuff.
I added +”middle school” to the last command and narrowed my search to 1,513 results, much more manageable.
There wasn't really a great deal of difference with how many articles were returned between A+ Education and Proquest. They both had some articles of interest. I will definitely be using some of the ones found today in my essay.
It really is beginning to look like there isn't much in the way of history specific articles. I'm very jealous of my peers that are working with the Science department. On second thoughts, they would have even more to try and sift through than me.
I have realised that this is a real weakness of mine when it comes to searching for things. I collect to many things then spend too long reading through them all before synthesising my knowledge. I feel really stressed at that point I have to let go and get writing. Often when I start writing my essay I feel the compulsion to go back through the literature that I've already read again and again to make sure I'm not missing anything and I'm doing it justice. I'll work on gaining confidence and therefore speed in the future.
Kuhlthau's ISP
Feelings- I have a clear sense of direction but wish that I could hurry myself up and stop the collection process so I'm still a bit anxious.
Thoughts-I know exactly what I'm looking for in a 'good' resource.
Actions- Pretty much at the end of the exploration process now onto the collection and documentation of my k nowledge
Kuhlthau's ISP
Feelings- I have a clear sense of direction but wish that I could hurry myself up and stop the collection process so I'm still a bit anxious.
Thoughts-I know exactly what I'm looking for in a 'good' resource.
Actions- Pretty much at the end of the exploration process now onto the collection and documentation of my k nowledge
Sunday, August 29, 2010
The answer to my Diigo searching...
Well I'm still not convinced that it is a good tactic for me to use Diigo to try and keep track of my searching. I have found that because most of my 'good' resources are from subscription databases I can't use Diigo to track these (as I suspected). Also the notes don't pop up easily, you have to click through the entries to find what you need.
My low tech, new approach is to open a word document and write myself a short list of notes that has the number of hits, the search terms used, where I was searching and whether or not I thought the search was successful or not.
I will post the results of this research in the coming couple of weeks.
Kuhlthau's ISP
I'm starting to form some clarity now that I have found some good journal articles as well websites to enhance my learning. I still feel a bit anxious with the amount of information and also about the lack of good History specific resources. With a bit more searching i think I will be ready to start collating my information and forming my key arguments.
Feelings- Anxious still but also starting to see my knowledge grow.
Thoughts- Getting more focused
Actions- Still exploring but documenting the whole process along the way.
My low tech, new approach is to open a word document and write myself a short list of notes that has the number of hits, the search terms used, where I was searching and whether or not I thought the search was successful or not.
I will post the results of this research in the coming couple of weeks.
Kuhlthau's ISP
I'm starting to form some clarity now that I have found some good journal articles as well websites to enhance my learning. I still feel a bit anxious with the amount of information and also about the lack of good History specific resources. With a bit more searching i think I will be ready to start collating my information and forming my key arguments.
Feelings- Anxious still but also starting to see my knowledge grow.
Thoughts- Getting more focused
Actions- Still exploring but documenting the whole process along the way.
Questionnaire 2
1. Take some time to think about your topic. Now write down what you know about it.
I have a deeper understanding of the variety of different Information models out there. My understanding of inquiry based learning is also greater, particularly since I have had the opportunity to put it into practice.
2. How interested are you in this topic? Circle the answer that best matches your interest. Not at all not much quite a bit a great deal
3. How much do you know about this topic? Circle the answer that best matches how much you know.Nothing not much quite a bit a great deal
4. When you do research, what do you generally find easy to do? Please list as many things as you like.
I find it easy to find lots of general resources, I still find it harder to find specific topic related materials. I am better now at knowing which journals will provide the best education material.
5. When you do research, what do you generally find difficult to do? Please list as many things as you like.I find it difficult to have successful 'hits' immediately it is still very time consuming for me to go through the many avenue's available. It is still very much about perseverance. I also find it difficult to record my findings in a consistent easy to sift through manner.
I have a deeper understanding of the variety of different Information models out there. My understanding of inquiry based learning is also greater, particularly since I have had the opportunity to put it into practice.
2. How interested are you in this topic? Circle the answer that best matches your interest. Not at all not much quite a bit a great deal
3. How much do you know about this topic? Circle the answer that best matches how much you know.Nothing not much quite a bit a great deal
4. When you do research, what do you generally find easy to do? Please list as many things as you like.
I find it easy to find lots of general resources, I still find it harder to find specific topic related materials. I am better now at knowing which journals will provide the best education material.
5. When you do research, what do you generally find difficult to do? Please list as many things as you like.I find it difficult to have successful 'hits' immediately it is still very time consuming for me to go through the many avenue's available. It is still very much about perseverance. I also find it difficult to record my findings in a consistent easy to sift through manner.
Academic Journal searching A+ Education
My first search string looked like this. As always I tick the boxes that will allow me to search through a specific date range so I don't get really old hit. I also only want full text records and where applicable peer reviewed academic articles only.
I thought I would attack this by starting narrow and then widening out the search if need be. I got 237 hits but the only term that seems to appear is ‘social science’ so I will try another plan of attack. Hmm okay I know what I did wrong, the ‘or’ applied to all the search functions not just the history or social science.
The next search where I took out the subject specific terms and just left in information inquiry learning and middle school got No hits.
Try again... this time I just tried ‘inquiry’ instead of the whole term ‘inquiry based learning’ . Returned 2 results. Neither of them are very useful.
This time, no middle school and just inquiry and history- many more hits this time. I got 98 and found one good article specific to history.
I think that by adding in my specific area I am limiting some good resources that will develop my knowledge of inquiry based learning. This time I just put in inquiry based learning but left the full text ticked and also the date range of 1990 – 2010. I got 69 hits but there are a few good articles in this bunch.
Now off to read them all and see if they can be used.
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