Seeking, finding and organizing information ... learning that takes place through the school library

In the digital age, the school library and its staff do not become unnecessary. On the contrary, they can play an important role in helping teachers and students to develop their information skills. The Association for the Promotion of School Documentary Services (APSDS) has also just published a continuum for the development of these skills.

“The school library is becoming a learning hub that needs to be valued, especially at this time, when the ability to research effectively and tell right from wrong has never been more necessary,” says Naomi LeBel , the librarian in charge of the project, who is also an elementary school teacher at the Pointe-de l'Île School Service Center (CSSPÎ).

The Continuum is the result of the work of the APSDS School Library Information Skills Committee. These members come from all over Quebec. The approach is in line with the publication of the Reference framework for digital competence. The objective was to present in a concrete way skills to be developed and ideas for activities to be carried out with preschool, primary and secondary students.

Information skills: All the knowledge, skills and know-how that allow to define a need for information, to search efficiently, to analyze the information found and to use it ethically.

The Continuum is based on the 4 stages of the research process: plan, seek, analyze and use information.

When carrying out research, it is a question of developing strategies:

• for plan this (eg choose keywords);

• for search (eg build an efficient query);

• for analyze information found (eg determining the reliability of information sources);

• also for use the latter in a structured way (eg organizing, presenting and citing information).

Gains for students

During a conference given as part of the 2021 AQUOPS conference, Ms. LeBel presented a project aimed at helping 3^e elementary cycle to develop better research skills. “Just because kids are constantly using their electronic devices doesn't mean they know how to search for information. Then, it is not enough to find the information, it is necessary to be able to sort it properly and organize it. And how do you make a bibliography? "

During the project, students were guided to research a topic, select relevant information, rephrase it (to avoid copy / paste), structure and cite it. They were then evaluated on how they handled the information, not on the production of a research-related text.

“Initially, the students had a lot of difficulty selecting the relevant information. They found too many of them and didn't know what to keep at the end of the day. At the end of the project, they had developed tips to limit their sources of information, to choose the most credible. They took less time to search, they were more efficient. "

Diffusion and support to come

The official distribution of the Continumm will be from September 2021 in the school network when a process will be undertaken to support librarians and documentation technicians working in school contexts across Quebec. Finally, the APSDS would like them to be able to develop a tailor-made service offer to support teachers and students in the teaching and learning of information skills. In addition, the national service of RÉCIT, field of languages is currently preparing a self-study on the subject which will be made available on STORY Campus as soon as it is ready.

Photo credit: Photo by Sigmund sure Unsplash

Dimension (s) of digital competence related to this article
4- Develop and mobilize your information culture

To see the Framework.