Hal Loewen (Librarian): RT 3440 Desired Results

What are the big ideas? What specific understandings about the big ideas are desired? What prior knowledge, misconceptions, or misunderstandings might students bring/encounter?

Students will understand:

• Research is iterative and depends on asking increasingly complex or new questions whose answers in turn develop additional questions or lines of inquiry in any field. (Research as Inquiry)
• Searching for information is often nonlinear and iterative, requires evaluation of a range of information, and requires mental flexibility to understand that searching can be complex (Searching as Strategic Exploration)

Student's prior knowledge, misconceptions or misunderstandings may include:

• should understand how to do complex searching, including the ability to search using Boolean logic and how to string together different concepts

• should  understand that knowledge of resources available to them, including databases specific to a specific topic
• should have knowledge of various and complex search strategies
• should know what constitutes "free" information and what is not free
• should understand the level of question needed to answer the range of information required, simple questions for basic knowledge needs to sophisticated questions for deeper inquiry
• may or may not need a reminder on how to find specific articles

On what, if any, Knowledge Practices (knowledge and skills) and Dispositions (values) from the Frame(s) will the instruction focus? What other key knowledge, skills, and values will students acquire as a result of the this lesson/unit?

• determine an appropriate scope of investigation (Research as Inquiry)
• use various research methods, based on need, circumstance, and type of inquiry (Research as Inquiry)
• synthesize ideas gathered from multiple sources (Research as Inquiry)
• identify barriers to entering scholarly conversation via various venues (Scholarship as Conversation)
• critically evaluate contributions made by others in participatory information environments (Scholarship as Conversation)
• identify the contribution that particular articles, books, and other scholarly pieces make to disciplinary knowledge (Scholarship as Conversation)
• summarize the changes in scholarly perspective over time on a particular topic within a specific discipline (Scholarship as Conversation)
• recognize that a given scholarly work may not represent the only or even the majority perspective on the issue (Scholarship as Conversation)
• recognize they are often entering into an ongoing scholarly conversation and not a finished conversation (Scholarship as Conversation)
• seek out conversations taking place in their research area (Scholarship as Conversation)
• see themselves as contributors to scholarship rather than only consumers of it (Scholarship as Conversation)
• recognize that scholarly conversations take place in various venues (Scholarship as Conversation)
• determine the initial scope of the task required to meet their information needs (Searching as Strategic Exploration)
• match information needs and search strategies to appropriate search tools (Searching as Strategic Exploration)
• design and refine needs and search strategies as necessary, based on search results (Searching as Strategic Exploration)
• understand how information systems (i.e., collections of recorded information) are organized in order to access relevant information (Searching as Strategic Exploration)
• use different types of searching language (e.g., controlled vocabulary, keywords, natural language) appropriately (Searching as Strategic Exploration)
• manage searching processes and results effectively (Searching as Strategic Exploration)

What captivating questions will foster inquiry, understanding and transfer of learning

• What is the best resource to use to find specific articles?
• What is required to prepare for a meeting with other professionals?
• What background work needs to be accomplished when investigating a problem?
• What can the student contribute to the scholarly conversation?

Students will know...

• that finding information can be easy and quick when using the appropriate resource and strategy

Students will be able to...

• to prepare for meetings with other professionals to discuss a problem or topic
• define a research problem, create a search strategy, and execute searches to find articles on the research topic

Students will value...

• preparation is essential when meeting with other professionals
• that using the right resource and strategy can make finding the information needed easy and fast