2. FOUNDATION KNOWLEDGE [3Doors to InfoLiteracy®]

2. FOUNDATION KNOWLEDGE

Teacher input

Students frequently don't have enough background or 'big pic' knowledge to develop an idea of what they DON'T know. BRAINSTORMING, if you know very little, is often NOT the best place to start because all students are doing is pooling ignorance. 3 Doors to InfoLiteracy® suggests that it may be better, where students know little, to provide some input after some sort of TOPIC mapping activity, and NEVER to let students develop questions without a BIG PIC map.

map

These are the FRAMES for structuring and representing knowledge. Teachers need to map the relationship of the topic – how do you know what you don't know until you've worked out what you know.

Maps need to be checked against curriculum objectives, ie the student asks "If I find information on all these areas, will I know what the curriculum says I need to know?" This will stop student going off and doing heaps of work that may be irrelevant.

input (if needed):

Research without enough background information can be really hard. Students need a foundation of knowledge. Here are examples of how to build this knowledge base:

Pass the parcel: Get a heap of books & periodicals relevant to topic. Students work in pairs. Each pair has 2 min. to scan the resource, and 1 min. to write down a new fact/ piece of information and then 'pass the parcel'. Each team does 5 books then the whole group pools their information and ideas and discusses what seems to be emerging as significant and interesting about the topic.
Surf the sites: This is ideal if you have access to a computer laboratory. It is the same as 'pass the parcel' but using websites. The teacher preselects at least three sites. Each pair 'surfs' the site for 5 min. noting any information that appears to be relevant/ interesting/ previously not known. Swap sites x3 times. Then turn computers OFF and pool information and ideas.
Trailer: The teacher reads one clue, 'fascinating fact', snippet, newspaper clipping a day to seed interest.
Reasons for research: Teacher gives 2 reasons why this is a rewarding topic to research; why it is relevant to students of this age, living in this country, at this time; why it is worth the effort students will have to invest in the research, and asks students to write down one more reason.
Relevance: What is the application of this knowledge in the real world. Can you find a product, an artefact, and example of a person... anything to tie this topic into real world experience or frame of reference, ie showing rather than telling...

Driving ideas:

Why is this topic interesting, important? Why should students of this age want/ need to learn this. What are the key ideas, principles, themes, for example, "what might happen if we don't understand global warming?" Understanding the driving ideas may help to motivate students and let them see the relevance and authenticity of the topic and the purpose of the learning.

Search terms

Students need to be familiar with the terminology of the topic. If they are going to look for information they need to have search terms or a semantic map. These are terms (usually nouns or names) which you could look up in a catalogue, index or using a search engine. Students need coaching to develop synonyms and related terms, to develop more general terms if they are having no success, and more precise terms if they are getting too many 'hits'.

Driving questions

These are questions formed with teacher guidance from the GAPS MAP. Students need a base of knowledge and some kind of structure (such as a topic map) before they can develop adequate questions. Brainstorming and asking questions is almost impossible when students have insufficient prior knowledge.

Pool ideas

Pool Ideas

Small pools of 2 – 4 students share what they know and what interests them about this topic. Scribe writes down key points and
Spokesperson feeds this knowledge into communal pool. Teacher or student writes it up.
Each team feeds in one idea about why this topic is interesting and relevant to them and their lives.