Information Literacy
Includes 21st Century Skills
Vital to Students’ Success

What is Information Literacy?

Information literacy is the ability to recognize an information need and then locate, evaluate, and effectively use the needed information.

Students need to learn how to become productive citizens in our information-rich and changing global society. It is not enough for students to graduate with a set knowledge base. Instead, they must be able to access information, solve problems, make decisions, and work as part of a team.

Our World of Information

The amount of information available to us is rapidly increasing due to the constant developments in technology.

"Individuals who not only know how to obtain digital information, but can also analyze, evaluate and apply what they find to solve everyday problems are the lifeblood of the 21st century economy..."
Ray Kelly on iCritical Thinking
President of Certiport
31 July 2009

Did you know -

It is estimated that 1.5 exabytes (1.5 x 10,000,000,000,000,000,000) of unique new information will be generated worldwide this year.

In the Classroom

Information literacy skills should be integrated across the content areas, not taught in isolation.

Numerous models have been developed by educational researchers.

While models will vary, most include these information problem-solving steps:

* Define the Task - Recognize the an information need exists and decide what kind of information resource is needed.
* Select Information Sources - Develop search strategies for locating and accessing appropriate, relevant sources.
* Locate and Record information - Examine the resources for usefulness, currency, and bias. Gathering information involves skimming or listening for key words, reading, finding main ideas, and taking notes.
* Process Information - After recording information, evaluate it in order to use the information retrieved. Categorize, analyze, evaluate, and look for bias, inadequacies, and errors in the information to determine whether to move on to the next step or do additional research.
* Organize Information - Sort, manipulate, and organize the information to use and communicate findings.
* Present findings - Apply and communicate what has been learned (e.g., research report, web page, illustration, wiki, glog, mult-media production dramatization, electronic portfolio, podcast, etc.)
* Evaluate results - Evaluate efforts throughout the information problem-solving process. Self-evaluate the final product to determine the effectiveness of the research process. The teacher person may evaluate the final product.

Today’s students need to learn to:

* Access information efficiently and effectively from a wide range of sources.
* Evaluate information for usefulness and accuracy.
* Use information appropriately and creatively, working individually or collaboratively.
* Understand the ethical and legal issues concerning the use of information.

Web 2.0 Tools

Many Web 2.0 tools can motivate students to exercise the critical thinking skills needed to locate, manage, integrate, evaluate, create and communicate information in our technological society.

Wikipedia
Wikipedia Tutorial


AskKids - A search engine developing information literacy and critical thinking skills

Boolify - Critical Thinking and Advanced Information Searches

PebbleGo - A subscription database promoting research skills for K-2

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