For many people the go-to place for information is Google or
Wikipedia. Students often see this as the single source of information when
doing assignments (Kuntz, 2004). A pathfinder is a ‘map’ of alternative
information resources, offering a variety of media formats and sources
(Thibault, 1997-2013). My pathfinder’s
target audience was grade 6; students aged 11-12, studying a geology unit. The pathfinder
helped me to consider the younger students’ learning needs and was a practical
item I could use with my class rather than just a theoretical piece of
assessment. Throughout the process I have developed my understanding of resource
evaluation tools, enhancing information literacy skills and the role of a
teacher librarian (TL).
The curriculum context for the unit was taken from the year
6 science curriculum; the focus was the ‘Science Understanding: Earth and Space
Science’ content descriptor (ACARA, 2013a). This pathfinder will be used to
support a research assignment carried out by the students. The information
gained from the pathfinder should help students investigate geological events,
recognise patterns, and consider possible prevention or management strategies. The general capabilities addressed were
literacy, critical and creative thinking, and ICT capabilities. The purpose of
pathfinders is to teach ICT skills, promote and guide reading of different
types of media and to provide access to information resources and services
(Kuntz, 2003). My major focus was on investigating with ICT
at level 4. By the end of the unit with the scaffolding of the pathfinder students
should have developed their ability to plan information searches, locate, select
and use suitable information (ACARA, 2013b). I was also able to introduce the
cross-curriculum priority of Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia by
linking recent earthquake and tsunami disasters.
Selection of
Resources
To find a suitable search engine I used Noodle
Tools linked to in module 4 (CSU, 2013). This provided quick explanations
of a variety of search engines and I explored the ones which had been suggested
for kids. This list was compared against the table provided by Lindberg which suggested
that KidsClick! and Ask Jeeves Kids both suited my target age. AJ Kids used
natural language searches while KidsClick use subject categories maintained by
TLs, I chose the latter (Lindberg, 2006).
Digital resources were found using: the search engines suggested
by Noodle, the key words I had identified for my students and my prior use of
website for related topics. Initially I
had more than the required number of digital resources and spent time culling
ones which did not have the same quality of information or were text heavy. I
considered for each site the purpose, authority, workability, and currency. I
wanted the sites to be searchable and interactive so that students would want
to use them.
For the print material I went to our school library catalogue
to search for relevant books. I was disheartened to find a scarcity of books on
my topic. Books found were ten to twenty
years old, visibly wearing and should be weeded to improve the collection
(Dillon, 2001). If I did not want to use them why would my students? I settled
on items that covered the content well, were the most recent and well
maintained.
Creation of
Pathfinder
While I agree with the ease of creation and collaboration
case for using a wiki as a pathfinder explained by Valenza, I have chosen to
use Weebly rather than Wikispaces (Valenza, 2013). I have previously created
and used wikis so wanted to extend myself by using a new tool. The design of
the pathfinder and the information included on it has been based on the
principals described by Herring (2011) and ideas suggested by Lamb &
Johnson (2006-2012). I have tried to ensure that my information has been
presented in a logical way. I have embedded short videos as how to guides to
improve students’ navigation and use of these items. Information literacy
questions based on the Big 6 were included based on recommendations made in my
ELT401 assignment.
The readability of my pathfinder varies depending on which
tab you are in, my target audience was grade 6 students heading into year 7. The
average page is between grade 6 and 7 according to read-able.com and readability-score.com. The home page
is inevitably much higher due to the inclusion of the Australian curriculum
outcomes.
Role of TL
I am currently working within a school that doesn’t have a
TL. Creating this pathfinder has helped me to consider what I would want from a
TL to support my current needs as a teacher. Since taking on this subject and
the development of the pathfinder I have had discussions with teachers and principals
about the role of the TL in implementing the Australian curriculum in our
school. We recently had focused PDs relating to cross-curriculum capabilities and
found teachers were struggling to understand how to implement these. The
prospect of using a collaborative pathfinder was presented as a way to address
some of these issues. The role of the teacher librarian in making pathfinders
is as a cross-curriculum expert, researcher, administrator, and collaborator.
This course and assignment have taught me to look beyond the
resources I regularly rely on. I have tested and presented to students and
teachers many digital tools that prior to this semester I did not know existed.
References
Australian
Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) (2013a). Science
Curriculum. From Australian Curriculum v5.1 Retrieved September 30, 2013
from http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/Science/Curriculum/F-10#level6
Australian
Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) (2013b). Information
and Communication Technology (ICT) capability. From Australian Curriculum
v5.1 Retrieved September 30, 2013 from http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/GeneralCapabilities/Information-and-Communication-Technology-capability/Continuum#page=6
Charles Sturt University (CSU). (2013). Module 4: Effective search strategies. ETL501 Retrieved October 9, 2013, from Charles Sturt University website: http://interact.csu.edu.au/portal/site/ETL501_201360_W_D/page/576a3d7b-1d65-4491-80aa-7df0522fea51
Dillon, K. (2001).
Maintaining collection viability. In K. Dillon, J. Henri & J. McGregor
(Eds.), Providing more with less:
Collection management for school libraries (2nd ed.)
(pp.241-254). Wagga Wagga, NSW: Centre for Information Studies, Charles Sturt
University
Herring, J. (2011). Improving students’ web use and information literacy.
London: Facet Publishing
Kuntz, K. (2004). Pathfinders: Helping students find paths to information. The
Online educator. Retrieved October 4, 2013 from http://www.infotoday.com/mmschools/may03/kuntz.shtml
Lamb, A, & Johnson,
L. (2006-2011). Pathfinders: Pathfinders creation and collections. Electronic
Materials for Children and Young Adults. Retrieved October 2,
2013 from http://eduscapes.com/earth/informational/path3.html
Lindberg, G. (2006). Comparison chart.
Evaluating search engines for and with K-12 students. Retrieved
October 9, 2013 from http://plaza.ufl.edu/ginger71/chart.html
Valenza, J. (2013). Ten reasons why your next pathfinder should be
a wiki. Retrieved October 9, 2013 from http://informationfluency.wikispaces.com/Ten+reasons+why+your+next+pathfinder+should+be+a+wiki
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