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The Big6™ and the Missouri Assessment Program (MAP)
Missouri students in fourth grade learn the Big6 is an important process. The Big6 helps students know how to approach information problems in math, social studies, and communication arts and much more! Read why the Big6 process approach was very important when Missouri’’s statewide achievement tests changed from assessing content, to assessing process.
TIPS: The Big6™ and TCR/NewsBank: Turning Information into Knowledge
NewsBank is well-known among educators as a company that offers unique collections of domestic and international newspapers. Teachers and librarians know that NewsBank collections provide students with multiple perspectives, opposing viewpoints and firsthand reporting taken from local, regional, national and international sources. During the past 30 years, NewsBank resources have been specifically designed to challenge critical thinking and develop analytical research skills.
But as all Big6-ers know, the Big6 isn’t just about library-research skills. State and local learning standards increasingly integrate information problem-solving with core subject-area knowledge. High-stakes assessments now require students to analyze and respond to primary source documents. And, of course, the information explosion forces everyone to recognize the need to preparestudents to be effective users of information.
In fact, “…teaching students how to find information rather than memorize information” was ranked highest in importance in this year’s Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) Issues Survey (2000, p.8). Eighty-four percent of the more than 4,400 ASCD members who participated in the survey rated the statement 5 or 6 on a six-point scale (with 6 meaning “extremely important”).
Announcing TCR…The Curriculum Resource!
Because we work with educators who share these common concerns, this fall marks the launch of TCR…The Curriculum Resource (http://www.tcrconnections.com). The TCR Connections program represents NewsBank’s vision of using primary source information and information literacy to bring together instruction that is both standards-based and authentic.
Quite simply, TCR/NewsBank’s expanded mission is to harness Internet technology to improve student learning by doing the following:
Connect classroom topics to the real world
Connect information technology with standards and textbooks
Connect technology staff development with instructional staff development
Connect core content with critical thinking, problem-solving and decision-making skills
Connect school learning to home learning.
TCR offers hundreds of online interactive student activities organized by subject and links to more than 3000 primary source materials.
TCR’s Big6™ ToolKit
This fall, TCR/NewsBank proudly introduced a collection of interactive graphic organizers that were refined in consultation with Big6 co-developer Bob Berkowitz. These powerful tools, delivered by the Internet, give students the structures and prompts to analyze, evaluate, organize and synthesize complex information and ideas. Designed as a groupware application, the graphic organizers in TCR’s Big6 ToolKit are perfect applications to help teachers lead discussions, or for students to use in small group projects. Reading teachers treasure the graphic organizers as effective mental models, or schema, upon which to build critical reading comprehension skills.
When students use diagrams such as Fishbone (for cause and effect), Idea Web (for main idea and supporting details), and Venn Diagram (for comparing and contrasting), you’ll likely hear them remark “Now I see what you mean!”
Staff Development
TCR/NewsBank also connects standards-based instruction and authentic instruction with our commitment to staff development. The Big6 problem- solving model is a powerful vehicle for integrating technology skills with subject-area content.
TCR’s on-site and online workshops are based on research that indicates that effective staff development must be active and collaborative. Beyond mere product training, teachers who attend TCR workshops actively develop their own resource-based units that promote information problem-solving.
Instructional Technology in the Era of Accountability
Connecting schools to the Internet requires an enormous public investment. Naturally, such an investment prompts questions like the following:
Is technology being effectively used?
How would we know?
What skills do teachers and students need to harness information technology for learning?
Does information technology use align with required learning standards?
As a charter Big6 Partner, TCR/NewsBank supports the use of the Big6 as a catalyst for linking information skills, technology skills, staff development, and standards toward one simple yet important end…improved teacher effectiveness and student learning.
Bibliography:
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. (January 2000). Issues survey results. Education Update, 42(1), 8.
Biographical information:
Chris Cook, Ph. D., has championed the use of technology to improve teaching/learning as a teacher in Chicago and Mexico, technology director, staff development specialist, and web-based curriculum developer. Today he serves as the Executive Vice President of Curriculum Planning and Development for TCR–The Curriculum Resource, a subsidiary of NewsBank, Inc.
E-mail: ccook@tcrconnections.com
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TIPS: Quick and Easy Big6™ Reinforcements
The library media specialist at North Elementary School in Ozark, Missouri, uses issues of Zoobooks, the children’s magazine, as a tool to introduce Big6 #3, (Location & Access) to third graders. To prepare for the lesson, the library media specialist placed several issues of Zoobooks, a sheet of notebook paper, and a pencil for each student on the tables in the library. The library media specialist explained to students that they would be doing research, and the task was to “find five surprising facts” about an animal and record those facts in their own words to share with their classmates. Students were asked to investigate the animal on the cover of the Zoobook issue in front of them.
Students were told that they would not need to read the articles in the magazine, but simply skim for details, a skill they had practiced the previous week. To be sure the students understood what they were to do, a student volunteer was called on to define the task (Big6 #1, Task Definition). Another student reinforced Big6 #2, (Information Seeking Strategies) by answering “How will you begin?”. The student suggested that they could look at the pictures and skim the writing under them.
The children began to locate and record their findings. After only a couple of minutes, the library media specialist asked how many students had written one surprising fact. Hands were raised and most students were busy writing the second note. After giving the students 13 minutes to complete the task, the library media specialist called on volunteers to share one unusual or surprising fact from their list (Big6 #4, Use of Information). The students were pleased to make announcements such as “Koalas can spend their whole life in a tree,” and “Ostriches can run 40 miles an hour.”
The lesson was simple, easy, and enjoyable. Several information skills were reinforced using the Big6 model. The students gained experience they could apply to a number of related activities and they exhibited new confidence in their ability to locate and access information. Zoobooks is a monthly publication for children ages five to fourteen and is available at Zoobooks, P. O. Box 85384 , San Diego, CA or call: 800-992-5034.
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TIPS: Provide a Sympathetic Ear
How can we help students who experience information anxiety? Akin notes that we need to monitor students’ levels of anxiety to help them develop strategies for coping with information overload (In Cooper, 2000). One of the ways that we can all do this is to listen to our students. Here’s an example from my own experience:
A couple of years ago when our school had limited access to the Internet, the following conversation took place:
Student: “I need to use the Internet.”
KLS: “What do you want to look for?”
Student, showing scrap of paper with an Internet site written on it: “I need to go to this Web site on child abuse.”
KLS: “Ok, let’s go check it out.”
While waiting for the computer to connect, the student continued talking: “This is the last thing I need to do before I start writing my senior English research paper. I have so much research, though.”
KLS: “There’s a lot of stuff out there on that topic.”
Student: “There sure is. I’ve got a bunch of magazine articles and books. I interviewed someone who had been abused and I taped that 20/20 episode that was on last week. I have so much information that I don’t know where to start.”
KLS: “The amount of information on that topic is overwhelming. But it sounds like you’ve done a good job gathering information from a variety of sources. I’m really impressed that you were able to interview someone about child abuse. I know that looking at all those sources can get discouraging. That feeling is actually very normal. Research shows that our level of anxiety can go up after we’ve gathered all of our information. Then, once we find a focus again, the level of anxiety will go down. You could begin the whole project by organizing your information into piles or try to come up with another organizational scheme. Once you develop some ideas for organization, you’ll probably feel better.”
Student: “You know, I am feeling a bit snowed under by all this. Maybe I’ll try to sort things out a bit first and then come back if I really need more. Thanks!”
When I talked to the student about “feelings,” I was referring to research by Carol Kuhlthau, who has conducted numerous studies about the progression of one’s emotions as one proceeds through a research task. Tell students that their feelings of being overwhelmed are normal. Sometimes knowing this can help students work through their problems. Students who receive a sympathetic ear will likely seek help again. What a wonderful gift to our students!
