1. Informational Text and the Inquiry
Process:
Seeking, Understanding, and Using
Information
Dr. Elizabeth Dobler
Emporia State University
June 12, 2013
2. What are you reading this summer?
What do you want to read?
Add to our workshop list at:
http://tinyurl.com/booksforsummer
3. A bit about me . . .
http://elizabethdobler.weebly.com/
9. • 91% of adults own a cell phone (May 2013)
• 56% of adult cell phone users access the Internet with
their phone
• 74% of teens (12-17) access the Internet using a mobile
device
“In many ways, teens represent the leading
edge of mobile connectivity, and the patterns
of their technology use often signal future
changes in the adult population.”
• Pew Internet Mobile Study
11. Common Core Shifts for English Language Arts
and Literacy
• Building knowledge through content rich
nonfiction
• Reading, writing and speaking grounded in
evidence from text, both literary and
informational
• Regular practice with complex text and its
12. • Read closely to determine what the text says
explicitly and to make logical inferences from it;
cite specific textual evidence when writing or
speaking to support conclusions drawn from the
text.
• Integrate and evaluate content presented in
diverse media and formats, including visually and
quantitatively, as well as in words.
• Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific
13. • Read and comprehend complex literary and
informational texts independently and proficiently.
• Read—both independently and collaboratively—
print, non-print, and multi-modal works
proficiently and critically to be media literate.
14. • Conduct short as well as more sustained research
projects based on focused questions,
demonstrating understanding of the subject under
investigation.
• Gather relevant information from multiple print
and digital sources, assess the credibility and
accuracy of each source, and integrate the
information while avoiding plagiarism.
• Draw evidence from literary or informational texts
15. Who is responsible for teaching
these skills to students?
“Literacy educators no longer ‘own’
the concept of literacy”.
--Hobbs, 2006. p. 16
16. • What are quality and appropriate digital
informational texts?
• What are the elements that influence
comprehension during the inquiry process?
• What are effective ways to teach the inquiry
process?
20. Informational Text Study
• Mean of 3.5 minutes per day for reading
informational text
• 1.4 minutes in low SES classrooms
• Informational text less than 10% of classroom
libraries
• Less than 3% classroom displays
--Duke, 2000
21. Using Informational Texts . . .
• Expands opportunities for home/school
connections (Duke and Purcell Gates, 2003)
• Encourages parent participation when invited
to share informational text in the classroom
(Duke, Bennett-Armistead, & Roberts, 2002, 2003)
• Can motivate students (Caswell & Duke, 1998; Jobe &
Dayton-Sakari, 2002)
22. Limited access to
informational text
can cause long
lasting effects
Research Calls For:
• Increased access
• Increased time
• Explicitly teaching of
strategies
• Creating
opportunities to use
informational text
for authentic
purposes
24. Text Complexity is defined by . . .
• Quantitative measures – readability and other
scores of text complexity often best measured
by computer software.
• Qualitative measures – levels of meaning,
structure, language conventionality and clarity,
and knowledge demands often best measured
by an attentive human reader.
• Reader and Task considerations – background
knowledge of reader, motivation, interests, and
26. What about informational text in
digital form?
• E-book: print text
converted to
electronic, taking on
features from the e-
reader
• Digital Book:
electronic book with
multimedia or
interactive elements
27. Fewer people are
reading, but they are
reading in more formats
than ever.
Digital Book Reading Devices:
ereader, tablet, laptop, desktop, cell phone
Younger American Reading and Library Habits,
Pew Internet & American Life Project, 2012
28. 21% of adults have
read an ebook.
Owners of ereaders read eight
more books a year than those
without (25 - 17).
Younger American Reading and Library
Habits, Pew Internet & American Life
Project, 2012
29. Fiction ebooks at
50% of all book sales.
Nonfiction at 25% of
ebook sales.
--http://www.idealog.com/blog/stats-are-often-hard-to-
interpret-in-our-business/
30. Young Adults and Digital Books
• One third have not read an ebook
• 63% have not read a digital textbook
31. I read on my iPhone. I like it because I always
have my phone with me, therefore, I always had
the book with me! I also enjoyed how you could
change the colors, font size, or the way you
read (scroll or book style). I read a lot more as
an ebook! I usually am not very motivated to
read, but this was different. I LOVE IT! I have
never read an e-book before, but my iBooks
library is quickly filling up; I have read two
ebooks in record time! I think this has
encouraged me to read more.
32. I finished the book faster because I read while
waiting in lines, hanging out with friends, etc. I
am not as against it as I once was. Convenience
is nice, but it is a double-edged sword. It makes
us frustrated when we can get something right
away and dissatisfied with simple joys. Maybe I
am reading too far into it.
33.
34. Scholastic 2012 Kids and Family Reading Report
• Children's e-book sales
climbed from $7 million to
$19.3 million between
March, 2011 and March
2012
35. Scholastic 2012 Kids and Family Reading Report
• The percent of
children who
have read an e-
book almost
doubled since
2010 rising from
25% to 46%
36. How do I find quality and
appropriate digital
informational text?
37. The meaning of the word "book" is
being transformed before our eyes.
Children must learn to read books in
many different formats.
Caring adults must guide
children in their book
selections.
38. In your experience, is the process of
inquiry being taught in school?
Please respond using your cell phone.
Choose the following and put in
your text message:
Yes – 169326
No – 169336
Not sure, maybe a little – 188338
Text the message to: 37607
39.
40. WHAT ARE THE ELEMENTS THAT
INFLUENCE COMPREHENSION DURING
THE INQUIRY PROCESS?
41. What is the difference between a
landfill and a dump?
Go to your favorite search engine
and begin.
42. --Green, S. E. & Dobler, E. (2010)
Instruction
Cognition
Affect
45. The Reader
• Attention
• Memory
• Critical thinking skills
• Ability to analyze
• Motivation
(interest, attitudes, beli
efs)
• Prior knowledge and
experiences
46. Types of Prior Knowledge for
Internet Reading
• Topic
(ideas, vocabulary)
• Genre and text
structure or
organization
• Search engines and the
search process (key
words)
• Website structures and
Coiro & Dobler, 2007
47. The Text
• Similar genre characteristics as found in print
informational text.
• Text features are similar to print informational
text.
• Text features unique to the Internet require
readers to have experience with navigating
the Internet.
• Internet readers must determine the reliability
of information presented on the Internet.
48. Similar genre characteristics as
found in print informational text.
• Chinese Lantern Festival
Text Structures: descriptive, compare/contrast,
sequential, problem/solution, cause/effect
49. Text features are similar to
informational print text.
Organizational
Features
• Table of contents
• Glossary
Text Features
• Bold print
• Highlighted print
• Italics
• Headings
• Captions
• Labels
Graphic
Features
• Diagram
• Table
• Timeline
• Chart
• Map
50. Text features unique to the Internet
require readers to have experience
with navigation.
• Dogo News
51. Internet readers must determine the
reliability of information.
The Web is a vast, open,
and uncatalogued
library, and one in
which reference
librarians are nowhere
to be found.
-Sorapure, Inglesby, &
Yatchisin, 1998, p. 410.
54. Not teaching students to
be savvy Internet users
leaves them to navigate
the information
superhighway without a
map, a tank of gas, and
a spare in the trunk.
-Kajder, 2003, p. 49
57. Questions for Internet Reading
• Where do I want to go next?
• Is this the information I need?
• Do I have enough information?
• What am I going to do with this information?
58. Step 1: Brainstorm 10 or more questions about your topic on 3x5 notecards – one
question per card.
Step 2: Sort the notecards into categories.
Step 3: Create a name that describes each category that would make a good focus area
(not too big or too small). Put the names in these boxes.
Step 4: Choose your two favorite categories and turn them into research questions.
Questioning Activity
59. Project Planning Flowchart
Enter your theme, topic, two focus areas, and two questions into the flowchart.
THEME
Topic
Focus
Questions
60. Understanding
People of all ages are
surprisingly
inefficient at finding
information using
the uniquely flexible
resource of the
Internet.Is Google Making Us Stupid? What the Internet is Doing to Our Brain
61. Answer ________________________________________
Search Engine(s): ________________________________
URL: __________________________________________
_______________________________________________
EXTRA: What other tourist spots are here? ____________
_______________________________________________
Substitution Scavenger Hunt (U-13)
Determine your topic and focus, then use them as keywords for searching.
Question 1: Where is the Country Music Hall of Fame?
+
topic focus
62. Evaluating - Healthy Skeptics
The reader
become
responsible for
weighing
information and
determining
quality.
65. Synthesis is . . .
. . a thread linking
separate ideas from
within a text or from
multiple texts. Readers
tie this thread to their
own experiences and
then view these ideas in
a new light.
66. Close reading should suggest close attention to the
text; close attention to the relevant experience,
thought, and memory of the reader; close attention
to the responses and interpretations of other
readers; close attention to the interactions among
those elements.
--Beers & Probst p. 37
67. Close Reading is . . .
• Returning to the
text, each time for a
different authentic
purpose.
• Meant to be
practiced with a
short passage.
• Useful for noticing
text elements that
are
Close Reading is Not . . .
• Simply rereading.
• A strategy to be used
with a long text.
• The idea that a
reader ignore his/her
prior experiences
and attend to the
text only.
68. Transformation
Information is not power in the digital age.
More information than could possibly be
useful in a hundred lifetimes is already
immediately available to us. Power is what
can be done with information.
-Wilhelm & Friedemann, 1998 p. 162.
70. CHoMP Notemaking
STEP 1: Cross out small
words
STEP 2: Highlight important
info
O
STEP 3: Make notes
(shorten, change
words, make lists, use
symbols, draw)
STEP 4: Put into your own
words
71.
72. • Beers, K. & Probst, R. E. (2013). Notice & note: Strategies for close reading. Portsmouth, NH:
Heinemann.
• Caswell, L. J., & Duke, N. K. (1998). Non-narrative as a catalyst for literacy development.
Language Arts, 75, 108–117.
• Coiro, J. & Dobler, E. (2007). Exploring online reading comprehension strategies. Reading
Research Quarterly, 42(2), 214-257.
• Dobler, E. (2007). Reading the web: The merging of literacy and technology. In, S. Hughes-
Hassell & V. G. Harada, School reform and the school library media specialist. Westport, CT:
Libraries Unlimited, pp. 93-110.
• Duke, N. K. (2000). 3.6 minutes per day: The scarcity of informational texts in first grade.
Reading Research Quarterly, 35, 202–224.
• Duke, N. K. (2003). The case for informational text. Educational Leadership, 61(6), 40-44.
• Duke, N. K., & Purcell-Gates, V. (2003). Genres at home and at school: Bridging the known to the
new. The Reading Teacher, 57, 30–37.
• Duke, N. K., Bennett-Armistead, V. S., & Roberts, E. M. (2002). Incorporating informational text
in the primary grades. In C. Roller (Ed.), Comprehensive reading instruction across the grade
levels (pp. 40–54). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
• Duke, N. K., Bennett-Armistead, V. S., & Roberts, E. M. (2003). Bridging the gap between
learning to read and reading to learn. In D. M. Barone & L. M. Morrow (Eds.), Literacy and young
children: Research-based practices (pp. 226–242). New York: Guilford.
• Green, S. E. & Dobler, E. (2010). Cognition, affect, and instruction: A cyclical relationship?
College Reading Association Yearbook, 31, 347-360.
73. • Eagleton, M. & Dobler, E. (2007). Reading the Web: Strategies for Internet Inquiry. New York:
Guildford.
• Hobbs, R. (2006). Multiple visions of multimedia literacy: Emerging areas of synthesis. In,
M.C. McKenna, L. D. Labbo, & R. D. Kieffer, Eds., International handbook of literacy and
technology, pp. 15-28.
• Jobe, R., & Dayton-Sakari, M. (2002). Infokids: How to use nonfiction to turn reluctant readers
into enthusiastic learners. Markham, Ontario, Canada: Pembroke.
• Kajder, S. B. (2003). The tech-savvy English classroom. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.
• RAND Reading Study Group [RRSG]. (2002). Reading for understanding: Towards an R & D
Program in Reading Comprehension. Santa Monica, CA: RAND.
http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/monograph_reports/2005/MR1465.pdf
• Sorapure, M., Inglesby, P. & Yatchisin, G. (1998). Web literacy: Challenges and opportunities
for research in a new medium. Computers and Composition, 15, 409-424.
• Wilhelm, J. D., & Friedemann, P. D., (1998). Hyperlearning: Where projects, inquiry, and
technology meet. York, ME: Stenhouse
Editor's Notes
What is inquiry? – Created a wordle, with the help of Webster’s dictionary and thesaurus. We are going to take a close look at the inquiry process this morning, exploring the ways we seek information, identifying quality informational texts, strategies for making sense of information, and teaching students ways to evaluate the quality of information they encounter in print and online. Our time together this morning will center around this term inquiry, because it’s at the heart of learning. Consider the last time you wanted or needed to learn about something new. Typically your wondering started with a question. Recently my husband and I celebrated our 10th anniversary, and for years we discussed celebrating this and our last child graduating from high school with a trip to the beach. We were tired and just wanted to relaxed. So we started to learn about beach resorts. Because we were going for total relaxation, we wanted a peaceful place, where the loudest noise was the crash of the waves. So my husband searched Google for the most secluded beach in Florida. After reading, comparing and evaluating, we settled on Boca Grande, Florida. This is just a small example, as adults, we are constantly seeking information.
Recently my husband and I celebrated our 10th anniversary, and for years we discussed celebrating this and our last child graduating from high school with a trip to the beach. We were tired and just wanted to relaxed. So we started to learn about beach resorts. Because we were going for total relaxation, we wanted a peaceful place, where the loudest noise was the crash of the waves. So my husband searched Google for the most secluded beach in Florida. After reading, comparing and evaluating, we settled on Boca Grande, Florida. This is just a small example, as adults, we are constantly seeking information. The Internet, mobile devices, and reader-friendly search engines have made the inquiry process fast and easy, or so it seems. Let me explain how I become interested in this process
My own inquiry journey – cleaning, Eric, observation, research studies, dissertation, article, book, presentations, continued desire to know more, embarking on a new project. This question has literally driven my career for the past 15 years. Now not all inquiry projects are so involved, as I shared about our search for a vacation spot. Maybe you are here today because you have a driving question, or maybe you will go home today and pursue your own personal inquiry project. Whatever it is, inquiry is motivated by a desire to know, a feeling that guides humans. What do you want to learn more about? Take a minute and jot down a couple of your own personal inquiry questions.
A model for teaching students what they need to be efficient and effective Internet readers is QUEST.
Why is inquiry receiving attention now? Perfect storm, three giant forces coming together. First, the Internet, and with it mobile devices put access to information in the palm of our hands. Think of the times, either you, or someone you are with, raises a question, and all turn to the cell phone for instantly finding the answer. We have a no cell phone rule at the dinner table or in a restaurant for our family. But, the expection to this rule is if we are having a discussion, and someone wants to know the answer to a question, the cell phone can be out if used to enhance our discussion.
First, the Internet, and with it mobile devices put access to information in the palm of our hands. Think of the times, either you, or someone you are with, raises a question, and all turn to the cell phone for instantly finding the answer. We have a no cell phone rule at the dinner table or in a restaurant for our family. But, the expection to this rule is if we are having a discussion, and someone wants to know the answer to a question, the cell phone can be out if used to enhance our discussion.
At the same time, those both in education and in the world of work recognize the importance of employees being able to solve work related questions by accessing information, whether through a manual, a report, a research study, or a memo. Information literacy entails the skills needed to locate, understand, evaluate and use information. Some still consider information literacy to be a part of the work by Don Leu and others, who, in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s promoted the term “new literacies” to refer to the “new” skills students need to be successful in a technology filled world. These skills are no longer new, and many people recognize the crucial need to prepare students for future jobs that may not even exist today.
Add to the mix, the Common Core State Standards. Certainly, we could spend most of the morning debating the merits of the Common Core Standards, which might be loads of fun, but not get us very far. Since the Common Core Standards are what we have in place at this moment, we will use them as our guide. If it isn’t these standards, it would be others. And whatever the format the standards take, there is still a need to prepare our students for the types of reading and learning they are encountering in their everyday lives. As identified on the Kansas ELA website, the ELA Common Core Standards promote the following shifts in what we teach about reading and texts. 1. CCSS call for a 50/50 balance between literary and informational text used during the school day, including historical/social studies, science, and the arts. The 6-12 standards call for students to “independently build knowledge” in the content areas through reading and writing. 2. The Standards expect students to answer questions that depend on their having read the text or texts with care, which is where we get the term “close reading”. Students are expected to be able to summarize what is read and to support their summary with details from the text. 3. The CCSS also encourage what they call a “staircase of text complexity” with students encountering increasingly complex texts, and the academic vocabulary, in order to prepare them for the texts they will likely encounter in their work outside of school.
No matter your view on the Common Core Standards themselves, few could argue against the importance of these skills, specifically from the reading and writing standards.
Hopefully I have presented a case for the topic of our time together this morning. I have attempted to identify the valuable role inquiry plays in our everyday lives, the forces that are working in parallel to increase the need to teach the inquiry process to students, and the standards that should guide this teaching. Now I would like to pose a question. Is it the classroom teacher? Reading specialist? Instructional Technology specialist? Library media specialist? It definitely takes a team approach, because there is so much for our students to learn that we cannot put all of this responsibility onto one set of educators. However, the library media specialist is on the front lines of teaching students to seek, understand, and use information, thus the reason for our time together this morning. I believe that each one of you can make an impact on students and their knowledge of the inquiry process. I actually believe this point so strongly that I am starting to work on my masters in library science in August
Begin with a definition of informational text and it’s role in the classroom. I am a book lover! We have many guides for locating quality print informational text – awards, reviews, etc. No so with digital informational text!
Let’s first begin with a definition. Certainly as library media specialists, you all have a working knowledge of various genres. I pose this question solely because there seems to be some controversy and confusion about what is meant by the term informational text. For those of you around for the last iteration of the Kansas standards, you will be familiar with the terms expository and technical texts, which basically covered informational and how-to types of texts. The CCSS define informational texts in this way, combining what I would typically describe as informational and explanatory for K-5 and adding argumentative for 6-12. This definition represents a wide variety of texts, and to meet the expectation of including digital sources, can include lots of different formats of texts, includi
This definition represents a wide variety of texts, and to meet the expectation of including digital sources, can include lots of different formats of texts, including print books, magazines, newspapers, brochures, websites, ebooks, blogs, digital multimedia books.
20 first grade classrooms10 low in SES districts10 in high SES districts
Fourth grade slump, current call for increased expectations of reading skills in order for students to progress to the next grade. Movement across the country for state retention policies based on student performance on reading assessments, which usually include informational text.
Share story about my digital book huntMarch of the DinosaursChildren of the WorldJonah’s Baby Teeth VisitCaterpillars Don’t Check EmailSpaceThe Incredible Life of a Sea Turtle – Mark Smith has 18 books in the Amazon store.
Press F5 or enter presentation mode to view the poll\r\nIn an emergency during your presentation, if the poll isn't showing, navigate to this link in your web browser:\r\nhttp://www.polleverywhere.com/multiple_choice_polls/fvfyHnxCFis89QwIf you like, you can use this slide as a template for your own voting slides. You might use a slide like this if you feel your audience would benefit from the picture showing a text message on a phone.
Before talking about the strategies students need, let’s consider what we do as readers. In 2007 Julie Coiro and I published a study in which we asked sixth graders to use the Internet to search for answers to specific questions, then we observed and listened as the students explained their thinking throughout this process. To get us started in this area, please try the same task.
Notice what you do, what you are thinking, which links you choose, how you pick out important information, how you put details together in your mind. Now talk with someone you are sitting by about what you noticed about your reading.
The first step to teaching children about making meaning is to be aware of your own strategy use. When you learn about strategy instruction, as you are today, and you are aware of your own thinking, then you become more confident in your teaching of reading, which often leads to wanting to learn more and becoming more aware.
Begin with what we know about the process of making meaning with print text. These three elements are influenced by the sociocultural context. In other words. Who the reader is, what the reader is reading, and the process the reader, and their reason or purpose for reading all work together to influence how much we understand.
Consider these elements for yourself, when you were searching for information about landfills and dumps. You, as the reader, influence how well you understand what you read. All elements work together, but prior knowledge seems to be critical to developing an understanding.
Pegboard or schema provides a system for organizing information so that it can be recalled as needed. Our brain hangs new information on our mental pegboard, sorting it into categories and creating connections between ideas.Activate students’ prior knowledge through real experiences, discussions, simulations, hands-on activities, videos, magazines, books, websites. Think aloud when you read informational texts, modeling the thought process used by the most skilled reader in the classroom, as CrisTovani would say.
Genre characteristics: descriptions, compare/contrast, sequential order, problem/solution, ??Text features: headings, bold, color, Text features unique to the Internet: locate of information changes, rolling banners,
Text features unique to the Internet: locate of information changes, rolling banners, embedded text link, icon link stand-alone text link, links to multimedia, bread crumb trail, links to advertisements
Many web sites have features to specifically contribute to the credibility of the information presented. These features may include a statement of reliability, privacy or legal notice statements, copyright information, a link with information about the site host, or a way to contact the site host directly. Internet readers must understand how to use and analyze these text features in order to determine the reliability of the information. Sometimes these features are hard to find.
Begin with what we know about the process of making meaning with print text. These three elements are influenced by the sociocultural context. In other words. Who the reader is, what the reader is reading, and the process the reader, and their reason or purpose for reading all work together to influence how much we understand.
The skills needed for Internet Inquiry must be explicitly taught, we can’t make assumptions about what our students know. They may be able to find Google and search for something, but are they efficiently and effectively using their time. What happened when we just search willy-nilly? We get tired, our choices get sloppy, we may not find the right information for what we need, or it may take too long.
A model for teaching students what they need to be efficient and effective Internet readers is QUEST.
Humans want to feel important. The questions we ask represent a part of ourselves and our thinking. Questions for inquiry should be authentic, and important to the students. Practice questions from the teacher can be used for mini-lessons or modeling, but when in comes down to the nitty gritty work in inquiry, students must be asking their own guiding questions that drive the search process.
Additionally, there are questions along the way that guide the search process. In fact, the reader is constantly asking him/herself questions, unless becoming bored, and this is a sign that learning is running dry.
Visit one of these sites and do a little online reading. Notice what you do, what you are thinking, which links you choose. Read and article, then draw a diagram with or without words to show what the article was about.
Sift the wheat from the chaff, until you have a kernel of an idea, then explain in your own way.
Read a recipe to see if your family would enjoy it. Return to see what ingredients you need to get at the store. Read it again when you are cooking, and again, and again!Select high-quality texts that make reading worthwhile, then plan for a multi-day commitment to a text, with a focus each day on a specific reading mission to be accomplished.To prepare for instruction, a teacher must first read the text and identify aspects of the text that could require special effort for a particular group of students. These aspects may include key vocabulary, unfamiliar concepts, or gaps in information. Then through purposeful reading and rereading, the teacher guides students to peel away the layers of meaning within a text, like layers of an onion, while also tackling the challenging aspects of the text.
In fourth grade, Gabe was not on the Internet once during the school year. In fifth grade, he could watch his teacher read on the Internet as she displayed the computer on the screen. Gabe leaves elementary school without having any opportunity to ask his own questions, search for information, and use the information. Yet, soon, in Gabe’s future, he will be expected to do these things, and not too long after that, he will be expected to do this expertly. When will this teaching begin?