Editor’s Note – by  Sue Wurster. Carrie Lowe has been a Big6 advocate for many, many years.  Her personal contributions to the Big6 eNewsletter and her national library perspective are keenly in tune with the pulse of librarianship, an ever-evolving intellectual stronghold.  She drew out the best in our Big6 authors and helped fine-tune concepts into informative and practical articles. Thanks Carrie, we will miss your sunny influence, but wish you well in your next projects!

And a big thanks to Carrie from Mike and Bob.  Carrie has played a tremendous role in adding to the depth and quality of the Big6 newsletter for a number of years… from the first print editions to the electronic form and now onto the blog style.  Carrie has lined up content and articles for the newsletter as well as recruited top-notch authors to contribute their work.   She is a prolific author and a leader in library and E-rate advocacy.  We truly wish Carrie the best in all her future projects and thank her again for her huge impact with the Big6 newsletter.

I’m sorry to report that after five years, this is the last issue of the Big6 eNews that I will edit. It’s been said that “nothing endures but change,” (Heraclitus) but still I will miss getting to know our fabulous authors and columnists and learning about what’s going on in the field. Thank you so much to Mike, Bob and Sue for the incredible opportunity.

I am really proud of all of the authors who have submitted articles over the past five years. Here are a few of my favorites.

Using Big6 to Create Plagiarism-Proof Assignments by Julie Diana
Julie Diana, a secondary school library media specialist, tackled one of the stickiest subjects in information literacy: the ethical use of information. In this article, Julie reminds us that one of the great tools Big6 offers us is the focus on process, not just product. She also gives a bit of guidance on the development of an academic integrity policy. It’s a valuable reminder that the best approach to ensuring that students respect intellectual rights isn’t a punitive one, but rather a collaborative one.

Big6 Stage 4 - Use of Information: Where the Rubber Meets the Road by Janet Murray
Janet argues that Big6 #4, Use of Information is an opportunity for students to really prove what they have learned. This article presents some activity ideas to sharpen these skills. Plus, learn what national standards documents have to say.

It’s no secret that Big6 is used all over the world. The eNews has given us a chance to see some of the work going on outside of the U.S.

The International Baccalaureate Program in International Schools and Big6: A Wonderful Partnership by Ellen London
Big6 is a natural fit for the kind of rigorous inquiry-based learning that goes on in International Baccalaureate schools. Ellen discusses her knowledge of what works, informed by years observing schools all over the globe.

The Big6 in Korea by Won-Ju Kim, Sam Oh and Unji Oh
This article recounts the development of a comprehensive Big6 program for the students of South Korea’s schools. Take a look at some of the wonderful curriculum materials this team created!

Just for fun – some creative ideas for using Big6 with all sorts of students.

Big6 and the CIA: Intelligence is Information by Sue Wurster
We spend a lot of time telling students that Big6 is every bit as applicable outside the classroom as it is within it, and Sue proved this with a positively thrilling example – the work of the Central Intelligence Agency. This article includes some really fun activities and ideas, plus some interesting information about the CIA’s Intelligence Cycle approach to investigation.

Sing a Song of Research: Turning the Big6 into a Tune by Enid Davis
Setting concepts to music can be a great way to commit them to memory – for instance, I can to this day name the 50 states in alphabetical order thanks to a song I learned in fifth grade. Enid applies this principle to the Big6 in this entertaining article. Learn these easy-to-remember songs and entertain your students while you reinforce their understanding of Big6.

Plan, Do, Review…What’s Bugging You? (Grades PreK-2): An Information Literacy Lesson Plan for Young Children by Theresa Benson
Creepy, crawly things can make science concepts come alive for very young children. This set of activities – aligned to Washington State standards – uses a lesson about insects as the context for teaching Big6 skills.

Best wishes to all of you as you continue your Big6 adventure!

People who looked at this item also looked at…

• BIG6 and the CIA: Intelligence is Information
• Use a Big6 Approach to Create Plagiarism-Proof Assignments (eNews 9.2, 2)
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• The International Baccalaureate Program in International Schools and Big6: A Wonderful Partnership
• Sing a Song of Research: Turning the Big6 into a Tune

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Discussion lists can be a great resource for learning and professional development, and earlier this year, the Big6 was the topic for one such list Alicia Salaz, Faculty Librarian at Dubai Women’s College, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, wrote that her library was beginning to use the Big6 as their information literacy model of choice.  I learned from Alicia that the library at Dubai Women’s successfully implemented the Big6 model into their information literacy workshops. Alicia’s example shows the kind of success Big6 can create in a short amount of time, even with a unique group of learners.

Dubai Women’s College
Dubai Women’s College, founded in 1989, is an English as a second language (ESL) institution with more than 2300 students. Dubai Women’s College (DWC) is one of 14 colleges that make up the Higher Colleges of Technology system, a public institution of higher education in the United Arab Emirates.  DWC enrolls female Emirati students in a variety of business, education, health sciences and technical programs, and awards both lower credentials (”diploma” and “higher diploma”) as well as Bachelor degrees in these areas.

A view of the Dubai Women's College

The DWC faculty and librarians believe that using Big6 as a “common semantic/linguistic framework” to teach students will provide them with a background for success. According to Alicia, students at DWC typically have little experience in completing research. Introducing the idea of a common semantic/linguistic framework – and since this is an ESL institution, in a secondary language, no less – means that Big6’s simple terminology is a big advantage. Alicia also appreciated that there are a variety of Big6 curriculum materials, books, and lessons (not to mention this newsletter!) already in existence.
The DWC librarians completed projects using the Big6 during the spring semester, and students and faculty responded with positive feedback and results. One project included researching various aspects of the global economic crisis. Faculty acknowledged that after one workshop session on Task Definition (Big6, Step 1), students were able to locate a wider range of information about the topic.

Results of the Experiment
Even though students used the Big6 to locate a broader range of materials, DWC instructors found that the students still needed to develop a stronger ability to evaluate information. In my experience working with college students, I emphasize Big6 Step 4.2, Extract Relevant Information, to include evaluation of materials for scholarship, reliability, relevancy, accuracy and authority. Our college students need to learn the difference between a scholarly journal and a popular magazine, and understand the distinction and reliability of multiple web sites on the same topic. Adding this evaluative process to Big6 Step 4.2 provides an essential opportunity to include aspects of critical thinking into the curriculum and course requirements.

Alicia reported that the instructors and students also appreciated the uniform terminology used by the Big6. The library trained large groups of students – in one case, the 11 classes of an entire department – and the whole department faculty adopted the Big6 vocabulary. With this continuity, the ESL students had a shared knowledge base. When everyone, faculty and students alike, are on the “same page” with information literacy concepts and research projects it provides continuity in future encounters.

The library at DWC used Big6 with all levels of students. In one project, a group of beginning level English students presented the Big6 to visiting high school students. As described by Alicia, the college students did a “recursive iteration” during their presentation, as they realized they needed additional information. The students went back through the process, added a resource to their presentation, and then continued with Big6 Steps 5 and 6. These college students demonstrated the Big6 process when they realized they needed additional information in order to complete their project. The ability to revise knowledge through a non-linear process is one of the greatest assets of the Big6 in the academic environment.

Alicia has received positive feedback about their Big6 experiment and the students of DWC indicate they’d like additional training and use of the Big6 process. At the Dubai Women’s College, the Big6 has transcended cultural and physical boundaries to provide a knowledge base to help students become information literate.

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Do you struggle to find instructional time to teach science, social studies, and information literacy?  If so, you are not alone. The current emphasis on reading, writing, and math instruction places great demand on already-limited instructional time; as a result, many teachers are struggling to find the time to teach content (e.g. science and social studies) and information literacy skills.

Creating integrated lessons – those that provide students with opportunities to reach learning goals in two or more areas at the same time — could provide a solution to this problem. For example, consider a lesson that requires students to create a presentation identifying the five classes of vertebrate animals. This project – a science project – also reinforces the following multidisciplinary skills:

• Information literacy skills as they access, evaluate, and use the needed information;
• Science as they learn about the classes of vertebrate;
• Reading as they read to access information from print (text or electronic);
• Writing as they take notes and create a final product; and
• Technology skills as the students do research online and present their findings using word processing, presentation or other software.

Lessons such as this one may be co-taught by the subject area teacher and the library media specialist.

In terms of an analogy, think of information literacy as a hand. Two of the four fingers are reading and listening (accessing information), the other two fingers are writing and speaking (using and communicating information), and the thumb is the content (e.g. science, social studies) or the information that needs to be accessed, evaluated, and used.   While each of the fingers and the thumb are important (reading, writing, listening, speaking, content), they become even more important when they function as part of the hand (solving information problems).  While the hand can function without a finger or a thumb, it is most capable when all four fingers & the thumb are functioning well.

Advantages of integrated lessons

Integrated lessons provide a number of benefits to students and teachers. Here are just a few.

First, students can take advantage of higher-level learning.  It is true that an integrated assignment would probably require more time than listening to the teacher share information or reading from text.  However, integrated instruction of this type encourages students to make valid connections to prior learning. This purposeful learning often allows students to reach a higher level of understanding and mastery.

Second, integrated learning makes effective use of limited time, addressing several learner goals at once. When integrated lessons are well designed, they may actually lead to using less time to reach objectives. For instance, instead of 2 ½ hours of in seriatim instruction (30 minutes each of reading, writing, science, information literacy skills, and computer instruction) students may be able to spend 1 ½ or 2 hours on an integrated activity that incorporates all of these skills.

Third, integrated lessons create opportunities for practice.  By integrating reading, writing, and information literacy skills into every lesson, students are given multiple opportunities to practice and improve these important skills.

Fourth, integrated learning is brain-friendly learning.  Integrated lessons are often presented in the context of solving a problem; this creates authentic and in-context learning experiences for students. As students go through the process of problem solving, natural connections to both process and content are made.  Active problem solving demands a higher level of engagement on the part of students, leading to increased learning.  In addition posing problems tends to stimulate student interest and the perceived importance of the instruction.

Fifth, integrated learning and teaching stimulates collegiality and can lead to excellent instruction.  Teachers who collaborate to plan and teach integrated lessons benefit from having the support and expertise of their colleagues.

Using Big6 to Design Integrated Instruction

The Big6 problem solving process is a natural fit for integrated instruction. First, it is an efficient and effective way to ensure students are taught information literacy skills.  Any and all information literacy skills can be taught within the framework of this powerful process.  Students who learn and use the Big6 are information literate.

Big6 is also a natural fit with teaching content.  In order to practice a problem solving process there must be a problem to solve; science and social studies content presents plenty of excellent examples.
As students go about solving instructional problems they must use information (Big6 #4). Using information requires students to engage (get information from source into the brain, Big6 #3, Location and Access).  When the information is in a print form, it must be accessed in one of two ways, either reading or listening as someone reads it to you.  This reading for a purpose (not just for the sake of reading) can be highly motivational for students.  The importance of reading skills becomes obvious to students thus encouraging them to improve their individual reading skills. As students solve their problem and communicate their solution, they use Big6 #5, Synthesis.  Communicating or presenting the finished product often requires students to do some writing, e.g. report, journal, poster, or presentation.

Planning an Integrated Lesson
1.    Begin by identifying the content area objectives to be addressed. What do you want students to know or do as a result of this knowledge?
2.    Create a problem for students to solve and determine what the final product might look like.
3.    Big6 the problem.  Go through each of the six steps of Big6 and identify information literacy skills to be addressed. For instance:

• Do you want students to learn to use a print encyclopedia or a search engine on the Internet?
• Do you want students to work on identifying essential questions?
• Do you want students to focus upon creating a word document? A web site? An electronic presentation?

4.    At this point, if you are collaborating with another teacher, determine responsibilities and timeline for the instruction.
5.    You are now ready to gather materials and begin to teach.

Conclusion

Reading, writing, and math skills are important, however information literacy or problem solving skills and content (e.g. science, social studies) are equally as important. Integrated instruction provides a proven method to meet all of these needs. Use the Big6 skills to design integrated instruction for an efficient and effective method to insure our students gain all the skills necessary to become life long learners and critical thinkers.

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Is Big6 too complicated or difficult for younger students? Eisenberg and Berkowitz are often heard to say, “Big6 is so simple and yet it is so complex.” I propose, if teachers ‘keep it simple,’ Big6 can be a powerful learning tool for elementary level students.

Learn about some helpful tools to determine copyright requirements.

Write and send articles about Big6 activities at your school.

This fall, I had the opportunity to attend and present at the Georgia Conference on Information Literacy, an annual conference held in Savannah, Georgia. The conference is jointly hosted by the Georgia Southern University Zach S. Henderson Library, The Department of Writing and Linguistics, The College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, The College of Education, and the Continuing Education Center. As one might imagine from this diverse list of hosts, the goals of the conference are broad; it is designed for all disciplines and academic levels, with the main goal of promoting information literacy in an educational setting. The more than 200 attendees at the 2008 conference included K12 educators, academic librarians, professors, public librarians, and school media center specialists. Read more….

When working with the Big6™ research process, I have found that it is beneficial for my students and me to insert an evaluation stage in between Big6 3.1, Locate sources and Big6 3.2, Find information within the sources.

Here are four organizers developed for four different classroom assignments:

If you have spent any time working with K-12 students on information problem solving, you know that one of the most challenging and important steps to teach is Task Definition (Big6 #1). Students often get so excited about starting a project that they are ready to dive right into research without carefully considering what it is they need to do.