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The Power of Information Literacy: Building Student Success and Critical Thinking Skills

The Power of Information Literacy: Building Student Success and Critical Thinking Skills. WKU Priorities Series Presentation for FaCET Rosemary L. Meszaros March 4, 2010. Literacy. Many different kinds of Literacy: Alphabetic Literacy Computer Literacy Cultural Literacy

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The Power of Information Literacy: Building Student Success and Critical Thinking Skills

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  1. The Power of Information Literacy: Building Student Success and Critical Thinking Skills WKU Priorities Series Presentation for FaCET Rosemary L. Meszaros March 4, 2010

  2. Literacy Many different kinds of Literacy: • Alphabetic Literacy • Computer Literacy • Cultural Literacy Information Literacy fuses • Computer literacy • Library information • Technology • Critical thinking

  3. Information Literacy • What is it? From “Books & ‘Berries” to “University Experience” • Why is it important? Development of skillset to undertake research • Librarian as Partner in the Process

  4. ACRL Competency Standards Association of College & Research Libraries An information literate student: • Determines nature & extent of needed info • Accesses needed info effectively & efficiently • Evaluates info & sources critically; adds to his/her knowledge base • Uses info effectively for a specific purpose • Uses information ethically and legally

  5. Critical Thinking • Just what is it? • Critical thinking: Parsing or Deconstruction • Examining the Elements of Critical Thinking

  6. Elements

  7. Critical Reading Questions • What is its purpose? Why did the author write it? • What is the point of view? • What information is used and what are its sources? Is the information convincing or is more needed? • Were you persuaded?

  8. Critical Thinking • Determining meaning & significance of what is observed or expressed, or, concerning a given inference or argument, determining whether there is adequate justification to accept the conclusion as true • Checking facts and gathering opinions • Evaluation of information through reliability of source, point of view of author, logic, credibility, significance of info and fairness

  9. Students’ Reactions • Intimidated by printed word or web presentation • Unskilled or uncertain of how to check facts • Uncertain how to evaluate sources

  10. Conquer Fears/Build Confidence • Gather facts, statistics by using bona fide databases rather than web or Wikipedia • Find corroborating or debunking articles • Re-evaluate original research in light of new information • Demonstrate how that’s done

  11. Formulating a Search Query • Synonyms; using thesaurus if database has one (PsycINFO, ERIC) • Antonyms • Boolean logic

  12. Examples Do sample critical thinking exercise to show that students may question author’s conclusions, opinions or point of view • Primary vs. secondary sources - Research a topic - using primary sources, and then using secondary sources. Compare the two sets of results • Scholarly and popular sources -Compare two articles on same topic, one scholarly, one popular

  13. Examples (continued) • Statistical fact check - Find a magazine or newspaper article with statistics. Find the original source of the statistics. Compare how the statistics were used in both the original source and in the article, noting differences in viewpoint and interpretation • Same topic across disciplines - Read articles on a topic across multiple disciplines. Compare and contrast

  14. The Power Aspect • Librarians quit making a “laundry list” • Librarians quit focusing on the mechanics of database searching • Librarians and teachers focus on how to think about research • Students’ understanding deepens • Research becomes “doable”

  15. Proposal • Let’s collaborate to weave information literacy into your classes • It’s not just for University Experience any more! Thank you! For questions, comments, observations, please call or email: rosemary.meszaros@wku.edu 745-6441

  16. Further Resources • WKU Information Literacy PowerPoint on WKU Library home page • Asselin, Marlene M. and Lee, Elizabeth A. 2002. I Wish Someone Had Taught Me Information Literacy in a Teacher Education Program. Teacher Librarian, 30 (2), 10-17. • Encouraging Critical Thinking Online: • http://www.intute.ac.uk/criticalthinking.html

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