Presentation for Sustaining the Inquiry Cycle: Digital Literacy Reframed presented at the SITE Conference in San Diego on the 2nd of April 2010

1. Sustaining the Inquiry Cycle:
Digital Literacy Reframed
Leo Casey,
National College of Ireland
Bertram Chip Bruce,
University of Illinois, Champaign IL.
1

2. Background
Question: new digital media - rich opportunities for learning - but how do
we translate to instructional practice?
Need a framework that deals with new digital technologies in class room
practice.
Purpose of such a framework:
enable study and evaluation of new media engagement and learning
facilitate planning of instruction - affordances and constraints of digital media
Components of such a framework:
The Inquiry Cycle (a model of learning drawing on Dewey)
Definition of Digital Literacy (appropriate for primary schools)

3. Research*
Goal: to propose a new definition and conceptual framework for digital
literacy in primary schools (DLIPS).
This definition draws on the theoretical work of Dewey and a model of
learning based on the Inquiry Cycle (Bruce & Bishop, 2002).
This definition and framework was developed and validated in a study of
the classroom practices of eight classes in four Irish primary schools.
* The research described in this report was supported by a grant
from the Research & Development Committee of the Department of
Education and Science. The views expressed in this report are
those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or
policy of the Department of Education and Science.
Full report available here

4. Opening Question
How will we know digital literacy in a class
room?

7. Something really useful…..
Nice to eat - even better with
cream
Kids like banana splits
Teacher organises a class
activity: making a banana
split
..can be eaten later!

8. Something else that’s useful…..
Captures the moment
Kids like taking pictures
Teacher organises a class
activity: taking pictures
..can be reviewed later!

11. Digital Literacy -
The camera and the banana are
(just) tools to support inquiry

14. Digital Literacy
the ability to understand and use information in
multiple formats from a wide range of sources
when it is presented via computers. The concept of
literacy goes beyond simply being able to read; it
has always meant the ability to read with meaning,

15. Digital Literacy
Digital Literacy is the awareness, attitude and
ability of individuals to appropriately use digital
tools and facilities to identify, access, manage,
integrate, evaluate, analyse and synthesize digital
resources, construct new knowledge, create media

16. Digital Literacy - orientations
Literacy as skills.... Literacy as social practice.....
individual have or have not associated with communication and situation
specific to technology or software about the process of constructing meaning
measured by tests described in terms of tasks and activities

17. Digital Literacy - orientations
Literacy as social practice.....
associated with communication and situation
about the process of constructing meaning
described in terms of tasks and activities

18. Digital Literacy - orientations
Literacy as social practice.....
associated with communication and situation
about the process of constructing meaning
described in terms of tasks and activities

19. Digital Literacy - orientations
Literacy as social practice.....
A class room literacy
based on what goes on -
the practices. associated with communication and situation
about the process of constructing meaning
described in terms of tasks and activities

20. Digital Literacy - orientations
Literacy as social practice.....
A class room literacy
based on what goes on -
the practices. associated with communication and situation
about the process of constructing meaning
described in terms of tasks and activities

21. Digital Literacy - orientations
Literacy as social practice.....
A class room literacy
based on what goes on -
the practices. associated with communication and situation
Therefore literacy about the process of constructing meaning
described in terms of
learning
described in terms of tasks and activities

22. A Model of Learning
The Inquiry Cycle (Bruce & Bishop, 2002)

23. Dewey
“If we roughly classify the impulses which are available in the school,
we may group them under four heads.
There is the social instinct of the children as shown in conversation,
personal intercourse, and communication.
…. Then there is the instinct of making -- the constructive impulse
. ….the instinct of investigation seems to grow out of the combination
of the constructive impulse with the conversational. There is no
distinction between experimental science for little children and the
work done in the carpenter shop. Children simply like to do things,
and watch to see what will happen….
And so the expressive impulse of the children, the art instinct, grows
also out of the communicating and constructive instincts.”
John Dewey. "The School and the Life of the Child," Chapter 2 in /The School and Society/. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. (1907)

25. A new definition of digital literacy
“Digital literacy in primary schools involves
pupils and teachers using digital
technology to enable, sustain and enrich
all aspects of the inquiry cycle of learning
as: ask, investigate, create, discuss and

26. The definition suggests three ways in which digital media
practices can enhance the Inquiry Cycle.
(i) practices can enable the cycle by offering new entry points such
as taking pictures for investigating or facilitating discussion
through on-line connection.
(ii) practices can sustain the cycle through expansion as in when
new questions arise from reflection facilitated by reviewing
creative outputs such as a photo story or web site.
(iii) digital media practices can enrich the Inquiry Cycle by facilitating
different modes of experience and engagement such as visual
(the fine detail of the flower), aural enrichment (the sound of the
wind), narrative, music, text and symbols.

28. The DLIPS Research
This study investigated digital literacy in four Irish primary schools:
• disadvantaged schools – not schools with a long tradition of
technology practice;
• teachers who were at the early stages of use of digital tools but with
just enough support for such practices to be within grasp.
Investigation focused on the nature of student engagement and
participation, and the connection between digital literacy and print
literacy skills.

29. Target Group
• The schools were supported as part of a learning initiative
whereby schools in the vicinity of Dublin’s Digital Hub
were given additional support with the integration of ICT -
such as professional development workshops for teachers
and visits by experts in the use of ICT and teaching.
• The investigation focused on class projects rather than
wider school contexts.

30. Approach
• We asked teachers to select an appropriate project-based activity for
researchers to observe during the two school visits – the choice of
project was left entirely up to the teacher.
• Data collected:
• classroom observation using the Component Checklist,
• interviews with school principals and teachers,
• examination of student project outcomes and class photos, audio
recordings and contemporaneous notes

31. Approach
• Six investigators worked in pairs as observers.
• Devised and used a Component Checklist (next slide) to
rate observations
• The Component Checklist was based on the Inquiry Cycle
and other variables
• Much attention was given to naming and characterizing
each of the components and the levels within each
component.
For full component checklists see Casey et al (2009).

32. Elements of the Component Checklist

33. Scale for the Component “Ask”
Rating 1 Significant questions e.g. recognizing both the affordances and the constraints
and/or the nature of the mediation of the topic
Rating 2 Inquiries tend to be more purposeful
Rating 3 Inquiries tend to be somewhat limited in scope
Rating 4 Some inquiry but questions are disconnected from one another and from other
aspects of learning and from lived experience
Rating 5 Little evidence of questioning or inquiry

34. Each project was classified as a ‘case’:
Bills New Frock,
Vikings,
The Digital Dog,
How to Make a Banana Split,
The Three Little Pigs,
Fractions,
Memories

36. Data Gathering and Analysis
Investigators collated data and posted to a protected web site – this facilitated
independent data input by each observer and subsequent comparisons of
individual component ratings.
----------X1------- O1 ------------class---project------------------ O2----X2-------
X1 first teacher interview X2 second teacher interview
(optional)
O1 first class observation O2 second class observation
Researchers observed in pairs independently classifying the activities.

39. Outcomes
(i) development and evaluation of the new definition and
framework for digital literacy
(ii) findings on the practices of primary teachers and pupils
using digital media in classroom activities and
(iii) observations on the relationship between digital media
and the use of print media.

40. (i) Framework - Inquiry Cycle Activity Summary
Ask
Investigate
Create
Communicate
Reflect
How is…
facilitated by activity centered on:
Teacher?
Group work?
Print media?
Digital media?
Other materials?

41. (i) Framework - Inquiry Cycle Activity Summary
example How to Make a Banana Split - component “Create”
Cre a t e
Activity centered on… Description
Teacher Directs the groups in the desert creation and assists
pupils with Photo Story movie
Group work Groups make banana splits, take photos and then make
Photo Story movies, with support form resource teacher
Print media Use of the printed recipe
Digital media Pupils use Photo Story software to create movies about
making banana splits
Other materials Recipe ingredients

42. (i) Framework - Digital Literacy Classification
Digital Literacy
Digital media practices transform the inquiry cycle of learning
Digital media practices act toward enabling and sustaining the inquiry cycle of learning
Digital media practices act toward usage skills
Digital media practices act toward learning technical skills
Digital media practices not used

43. (ii) Findings on classroom practices
• Use of digital technology was generally observed as embedded within
structured learning activities directed at curriculum outcomes.
• Tools such as the digital camera, audio devices facilitated pupils in
different roles and group work.
• Digital outputs such as photo-stories, podcasts and video served as
project goals - usually the culmination of a broad range of preparation
and production activities

46. (iii) Observations digital literacy and print
literacy
• Evidence that digital literacy and print literacy could be mutually
supportive – for example, text was used for narrative and dialogue in
storyboards, pupils wrote accounts of their activities and many of the
projects were derived from books that were being read in class.
• Teachers embedded print literacy tasks into pupil activities as they
planned and carried out their digital projects.
• This research did not extend to measure any uplift in reading scores
over time.

47. References
Bruce, B. C., & Bishop, A. P. (2002). Using the web to support inquiry-based
literacy development. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 45(8),
706-714.
Casey, L., Bruce, B. C., Martin, A., Shiel, G., Brown, C., Hallissy, M., et al.
(2009). Digital literacy: New approaches to participation and inquiry
learning to foster literacy skills among primary school children. Retrieved
19th of October 2009 from http://hdl.handle.net/2142/9765.
Dewey, J. (1938). Experience and education (60th Anniversary ed.).
Indianapolis: Kappa Delta Pi.
Dewey, J. (1991/1938). Experience and education (original work published
1938). In J. A. Boydston (Ed.), John dewey: The latter works, 1938-1939
(Vol. 13). Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press
Gilster, P. (1997). Digital literacy. New York: Wiley Computer Publishing.
Martin, A. (2006). Literacies for the Digital Age. In A. Martin & D. Madigan
(Eds.), Digital Literacies for Learning (pp. 3-25). London: Facet
Publications.

48. Q&A