Inside Out - Question to Query Transcript


Audio Interview with Paula Garrett, Library Director Illinois Math and Science Academy Audio available here
(Music) Dan: Welcome to InsideOut, a brief look at how the tools inside our website are being used out there, in your classrooms and libraries. Paula Garrett, library director at the Illinois Math and Science Academy found our Question to Query Keyword Challenges. She decided to use them with 10th Graders in an American History course. Here she is to tell us what she’s doing with these tools out there. Paula: The way we structured this was we actually had their research question that they were to write a paper on and we had that in a box on one of our handouts. I’ll actually give you that example. Dan: Sure. Paula: It was, “What are the lessons that your generation should learn from the bitter debates about national policy that preceded World Wars I and II? Then we asked them to break that research question down as they had done in a challenge. The one we used was the Great Wall of China Challenge. So they had had some practice with that with sort of a fun search and then they used those same principles of taking their research question and identified key concepts found in that question. Dan: How much time did you give them to actually play with the Keyword Challenge before moving into their own assignment? Paula: I think our goal was to not have them spend anymore than say, 5 minutes on the Great Wall Keyword Challenge before we moved into them turning their research question into a query which took a little bit longer. But the other really good thing about that was that we had the teacher there. Having the teacher there also, of course, engages them too. Dan: And how would you say for yourself, was it more fun for you to do it this way, or… Paula: Absolutely! Totally more fun for me. That interaction with them - I’ve started in the last 6 months or so introducing more and more of that – asking them more questions. But what this gave me was a structured way of grabbing their attention and interacting with them and having them interact with each other too. Because often we don’t have enough laptops for each one of them to have a laptop so they are pairing off and they are used to doing that anyway, working together. But I think that the extra added challenge part of this has given it a good spark. Dan: Now, is that the way you have typically done library instruction in the past? Paula: No, and that’s a really good point. One of the big challenges for us as librarians and presenters of these research skills classes is how to engage the students. That’s very challenging when you get down to a 20 minute, one-time session with a group of students where you have to make some choices. I think that by using the 21CIF Question to Query activities it’s made me rethink, “What is most important?” You know, “What are the skills that are most important?” Do I just need to tell them which databases to go to and quickly do a few searches or is it possibly more powerful and more beneficial to them to actually do some searches and structure some searches that hopefully they can then apply to these other databases? I think the Question to Query and Keyword Challenges are activities that engage them right away because they are kind of competitive and they like that sense of it being a game which they are used to. And then I’ve got their attention and even if it’s like, you know, even if I’ve only got ten more minutes, I’ve at least got their attention and I think that that’s going to go a lot further than me just starting off in a lecture mode. Dan: Well, that sounds like you had a lot of fun doing it and we’ll see if the students – how well they do – but obviously you’ve changed how you are teaching them and you are trying this out and you are using these tools that we have developed as a way of testing it. Paula: Absolutely, and actually taking those tools, you know, and adapting them to an actual research question which has been very valuable. It’s been a great model for me to use. Dan: Now it’s your turn, find something in here that you can use out there! The resources, tools and materials on this site are designed to move us toward fluency with digital information. So use them and then send us an email to tell us what you’re turning Inside Out. (Music)
Copyright © 2006 21st Century Information Fluency Project

Audio Interview with Paula Garrett, Library Director
Illinois Math and Science Academy

Audio available here

(Music)

Dan: Welcome to InsideOut, a brief look at how the tools inside our website are being used out there, in your classrooms and libraries.

Paula Garrett, library director at the Illinois Math and Science Academy found our Question to Query Keyword Challenges. She decided to use them with 10th Graders in an American History course. Here she is to tell us what she’s doing with these tools out there.

Paula: The way we structured this was we actually had their research question that they were to write a paper on and we had that in a box on one of our handouts. I’ll actually give you that example.

Dan: Sure.

Paula: It was, “What are the lessons that your generation should learn from the bitter debates about national policy that preceded World Wars I and II? Then we asked them to break that research question down as they had done in a challenge. The one we used was the Great Wall of China Challenge. So they had had some practice with that with sort of a fun search and then they used those same principles of taking their research question and identified key concepts found in that question.

Dan: How much time did you give them to actually play with the Keyword Challenge before moving into their own assignment?

Paula: I think our goal was to not have them spend anymore than say, 5 minutes on the Great Wall Keyword Challenge before we moved into them turning their research question into a query which took a little bit longer. But the other really good thing about that was that we had the teacher there. Having the teacher there also, of course, engages them too.

Dan: And how would you say for yourself, was it more fun for you to do it this way, or…

Paula: Absolutely! Totally more fun for me. That interaction with them - I’ve started in the last 6 months or so introducing more and more of that – asking them more questions. But what this gave me was a structured way of grabbing their attention and interacting with them and having them interact with each other too. Because often we don’t have enough laptops for each one of them to have a laptop so they are pairing off and they are used to doing that anyway, working together. But I think that the extra added challenge part of this has given it a good spark.

Dan: Now, is that the way you have typically done library instruction in the past?

Paula: No, and that’s a really good point. One of the big challenges for us as librarians and presenters of these research skills classes is how to engage the students. That’s very challenging when you get down to a 20 minute, one-time session with a group of students where you have to make some choices. I think that by using the 21CIF Question to Query activities it’s made me rethink, “What is most important?” You know, “What are the skills that are most important?” Do I just need to tell them which databases to go to and quickly do a few searches or is it possibly more powerful and more beneficial to them to actually do some searches and structure some searches that hopefully they can then apply to these other databases?

I think the Question to Query and Keyword Challenges are activities that engage them right away because they are kind of competitive and they like that sense of it being a game which they are used to. And then I’ve got their attention and even if it’s like, you know, even if I’ve only got ten more minutes, I’ve at least got their attention and I think that that’s going to go a lot further than me just starting off in a lecture mode.

Dan: Well, that sounds like you had a lot of fun doing it and we’ll see if the students – how well they do – but obviously you’ve changed how you are teaching them and you are trying this out and you are using these tools that we have developed as a way of testing it.

Paula: Absolutely, and actually taking those tools, you know, and adapting them to an actual research question which has been very valuable. It’s been a great model for me to use.

Dan: Now it’s your turn, find something in here that you can use out there! The resources, tools and materials on this site are designed to move us toward fluency with digital information. So use them and then send us an email to tell us what you’re turning Inside Out.

(Music)