The first of three presentations on the use of the PLUS information search process.

1. Welcome!
Nerine Chalmers BA, Grad CE, M of Ed.(TL)

2. Blurb for this PD:
Helping students improve their research
skills: good questioning skills; using the
PLUS search process; students searching
on the internet.
We have 3 sessions in which to cover this.
How are we going to do it?

3. First session:
Introduction and overview.
Development through the school – Where do
we start? What is the next step for our
Grade 5s? How relevant is this discussion
for MYP/Diploma?
How does this tie in with 21st century learning?
How does this tie in with Units of Inquiry?
The P of PLUS – preparation/planning.
Discussion of specific units/scenarios –
sharing experiences.

4. Second Session (March 4):
Go through all stages of PLUS – include
scaffolding for students.
How the research would be organized;
what lessons it would involve; what the
students would do; how the TL could
help; what the teacher would do.
Hands-on session, using current planners,
work on specific examples.

5. Third Session (18 March):
Research on the WWW.
Pre-selected sites.
Searching the net. How can we help
students search – which search engines to
use.
Acknowledging sources

6. First session:
Introduction and overview.
It’s all about the learning
Why the library?
Where do we start?

7. Dr. Ross Todd
Associate Professor
Department of Library and
Information science
Rutgers, The State University
of New Jersey

8. Educational Change
1708
“Students today can’t prepare bark to
calculate their problems. They depend on
their slates which are more expensive. What
will they do when the slate is dropped and
breaks? They will be unable to write.”
(Teachers’ Conference, 1708)

9. Educational Change
1815
“Students depend on paper too much. They
can’t clean a slate properly. What will they do
when they run out of paper?”
(Principal’s publication, 1815)

10. Educational Change
1907
“Students today depend too much on ink.
They don’t know how to use a pen knife to
sharpen a pencil. Pen and ink will never
replace the pencil.”
(National Association of Teachers Journal)

11. Educational Change
1928
“Students today depend upon store-bought
ink. They don’t know how to make their
own. This is a sad commentary on modern
education.”
(Rural American Teacher, 1928)

12. Educational Change
1941
“Students today depend upon these expensive
fountain pens. They can no longer write with
a straight pen and nib. We parents must not
allow them to wallow in such luxury to the
detriment of learning. ”
(PTA Gazette, 1941)

13. Educational Change
1950
“Ball-point pens will be the ruin of education
in this country. Students use devices and then
throw them away. Businesses and banks will
never allow such expensive luxuries.”
(Federal Teachers Journal, 1950)

14. Educational Change
1976
“I can never imagine that anyone would ever
need more than 64K”
(Bill Gates, once a school boy library monitor)

15. Rates of Change
Rate of producing information:
Ancient times (tablets) :
1 character/second
1500 AD (printing press):
3000 characters/second
Today (laser printers)
20,000 characters/second

16. Rates of Change
Rate of storage:
Ancient times (tablets):
1 character/cubic inch
1500 AD (books):
500 characters/cubic inch
Today (chips):
millions characters/cubic inch

17. Rates of Change
Speed of transporting 250 words
over 3,000 miles
Ancient runners: 18 days
Telegraph: 4 minutes
Fibre optic : thousandths of a second

18. Rates of Change
Human comprehension
Ancient times : 300 words per minute
1500 AD: 300 words per minute
Today: 300 words per minute

19. Rates of Change
The recording and transmission of
information has increased exponentially but
the human capacity to process and
understand it is still about where we were in
prehistoric times.

20. Today
21 st
century education
The rate at which information is
produced, stored and
transported.
Human comprehension

21. Information Literacy Standards for
the Digital Learners of New York
1. Inquire, think critically, and gain knowledge.
2. Draw conclusions, make informed decisions, apply
knowledge to new situations, and create new knowledge.
3. Share knowledge and participate ethically and
productively.
4. Develop an appreciation for ideas and information in
pursuit of personal growth.
Digital learners transfer current knowledge to the use of
new information technologies.

22. PLUS
Preparation/Planning
Location
Use
Self-evaluation

23. What is research?

24. Transportation of Text
CONSTRUCTING NEW UNDERSTANDINGS
Information Literacy
Interventions
Presentation
Final version
Rewriting
Printout Ross Todd presenting in UK
Interaction
FINDING, ACCESSING AND EVLAUATING INFORMATION

26. P
P
P
L
S
S U

27. P - Preparation/Planning
For the teacher:
Doug Johnson’s 4A’s of Great Research:
Assignments that matter
Activities that Involve
Assessments that Help
Attitude is Everything

28. P - Preparation/Planning
For the student:
Brainstorming - What exactly is my topic
about? What do I already know about this
topic?
Identifying an information need.
Learning to frame realistic research questions.
Planning a piece of research using diagrams or
headings.
Identifying keywords.

29. PLUS in the Primary School
Simple Language
Teacher reference
Student support and scaffolding
Skill mastery at each grade level

30. Discussion of specific units/
scenarios – sharing experiences.
Planners for units of enquiry to work
on for the next session.

31. Questioning
http://questioning.org/Q6/question.html
http://www.fno.org/nov97/toolkit.html
http://www.fno.org/dec99/scaffold.html
http://www.fno.org/toolbox.html