All activities in this unit are centered on the inquiry research project. Science, language arts, and information literacy are integrated in a way that serves the purpose of effectively conducting the inquiry and communicating the results. In this way, students are not simply learning to take notes or write short report because they must, but because it serves a purpose in finding information about a personal interest and sharing it with others.
This unit is typical of inquiry learning in that it is question driven. Working as a class, the students determine essential questions to be researched. The unit is also very process oriented, with the process being evaluated as much as the product. Peer interaction and team learning are important parts of the curriculum and the end product reaches an audience beyond the classroom. [1]
This level of inquiry would best be described as "controlled inquiry." The students choose the animal they wish to study (from a suggested list), but all students are studying the same general topic, adaptation. Formulating research questions and extracting facts from informational texts are just being introduced into the students' repertoire. The teacher states specific requirements for half of the final product. [2] However, the group product is open to choice, allowing the groups to decide for themselves which method of creative expression works best for them.
Daniel Callison's definition of information fluency incorporates information literacy, computer literacy, and critical thinking to go beyond the scope of any one of these things alone. [3] Callison proposes that one characteristic of information fluency is the "ability to move among several models for the information search and use processes." [4] In that way, this unit does not reach the level of information fluency, as it is confined to only one model, the Super3. However, I believe that because it does ask students to access, use, and think critically about information to construct new understandings and apply them creatively, this unit gives learners a first step in the direction of information fluency.
Individual Differences
The unit includes a variety of source materials and incorporates activities that support the diverse learning styles of students [5].
- Verbal/Linguistic learners will enjoy the class discussions, reading for information, and presenting information in both written and oral formats.
- Logical/Mathematical learners may appreciate the KWL chart as a way to collect and represent data. Encouraging students with this learning style to graphically represent physical data such as height, weight, life expectancy of their animal compared to humans or another animal would be a good adjustment.
- Visual/Spatial learners will appreciate the use of concept webs during class discussions and the use of a video and photographs. They will enjoy working on the visual layout and design components of the final group product.
- A good choice of end product for Bodily/Kinesthetic learners would be a skit or other active format. The addition of a some of the suggested optional activities, such as being able to care for a salamander or other small animal, participate in dramatic play with puppets or costumes, or take a field trip, would enhance the experience for students with this learning style.
- Musical/Rhythmic learners could find their niche in an end product by creating a jingle for an advertisement or creating an original song to accompany a skit.
- Students who prefer intrapersonal work will probably enjoy doing the independent research before coming back to their group. These students would probably prefer a final product such as creative writing or illustrating a visual display.
- Interpersonal learners will appreciate the group work and class discussions that take place throughout this unit.
Collaboration
This unit of lessons has been designed with the intention of a collaborative teaching partnership between the classroom teacher and the library media specialist. Outside of this course, this unit would most likely have been developed within that partnership, not by the media specialist alone. This assumes that several of the possible impediments to collaboration, such as the traditional role of the librarian and teacher reluctance toward collaboration or inquiry teaching styles, have already been overcome.
If I were collaboratively implementing this unit with a classroom teacher, it would be important that we both have a clear understanding of how the teaching responsibilities would be distributed. Ideally, our styles of teaching and communication would complement one another. My goal would be to demonstrate how beneficial collaboration can be for the classroom teacher and, most importantly, for the students.
The classroom teacher and media specialist share, almost equally, the teaching responsibilities for this unit, including the assessment of learning success. In some cases, each teacher assesses the units that were taught independently, and in others, both teachers cooperatively complete rubrics and observation.