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The Big Six Information Skills As a Metacognitive Scaffold: A Case Study | American Ass... - 1 views

  • authentic tasks often require an increased amount of metacognitive attention on the part of the students, as they are generally not addressed in the kindergarten through twelfth-grade curricula. Through the use of a specific information skills model like Big6 these skills can be developed in students of all ages (Eisenberg and Berkowitz 1990).
  • Stripling and Pitts describe their model as a "thinking frame" (Stripling and Pitts 1988, 19) for research. This ten-step process emphasizes a thinking framework that can be adapted for any age level and any curricular subject. The authors maintain that, unless they are instructed to do so, most students do not automatically think about research in an explicit manner. Therefore, by prescribing the method in which to write research papers, the authors hope to improve student thought about the research process. The ten steps of the search process model (Stripling and Pitts 1988) are organized around the major activities performed in writing a coherent research paper: topic selection, planning the information search, locating and accessing materials, and creating a final product. Throughout the model, students have several reflection points that allow them to make judgments about their progress.
  • Big6 (Eisenberg and Berkowitz 1990) is a six-step process that provides support in the activities required to solve information-based problems: task definition, information seeking strategies, location and access, use of information, synthesis, and evaluation (see  figure 1).
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  • Teachers can provide specific support and scaffolding for desired metacognitive skills by labeling student behaviors as metacognitive behaviors, modeling specific metacognitive activities (e.g. self-questioning, reflection, strategy revision), providing opportunities for feedback to the students, and by adopting a specific learning or studying model for use within the classroom (Bondy 1984; Costa 1984).
  • Palinscar's (1986) definition of metacognition as the ability to plan, implement, and evaluate strategic approaches to learning and problem solving is supported by the six steps of Big6. Students who engage in task definition and information-seeking strategies are formulating a plan in order to complete an assignment or solve a problem. Engaging in location and access, use of information, and synthesis is the implementation of that plan. Evaluating the process and product resulting from the synthesis activity is the final step.
  • ig6 as a general, nonsubject-specific, metacognitive scaffold for students to use when solving information-based problems.
  • First, when students are provided metacognitive support during information problem-solving activities, they may be able manage complex tasks and subject matter content.
  • Second, the students relied heavily on the model in order to make decisions about current and future activities.
  • The researchers found that Big6 provided a focus to student research and writing activities that appeared to enhance the level of engagement the students had with both the content and their writing activities.
  • Results suggest that Big6 might act as a metacognitive scaffold for students who are asked to complete unfamiliar tasks involving complex content.
  • Scaffolding, when implemented according to the principles presented by Vygotsky (1978) is gradually withdrawn from the learner as performance approaches an expert level. The time period of the study was too brief to gradually remove the scaffolded support for students.
  • Big6 and other models that provide a systematic guide for information problem solving seem to provide the elements for mental modeling so necessary in helping the novice construct a method to meet the information use tasks placed before him or her. These models appear to help students visualize the series of tasks that at first are not understood or seemingly connected. Such models may be powerful in construction of mental images to manage tasks that at first did not seem possible to accomplish.
  • The Big6 may act as a metacognitive scaffold that supports students while they become more adept at monitoring their own thought processes during the problem-solving process.
  • Additionally, it provides a structured vocabulary that students and teachers can use while discussing the problem-solving strategies being employed in a particular learning situation. The structured vocabulary allows teachers and students to label behaviors and clarify terminology, two activities that are recommended to enhance metacognitive ability in students (Costa 1984). Consequently, an unobservable process is able to be monitored and tracked through a set of prescribed steps and described using a standardized vocabulary.
  • Big6 may also provide an overarching process that students can employ in a variety of learning situations
  • "encourage a deliberate and systematic approach to learning and problem solving" (236).
  • As Bondy (1984) stated, We cannot possibly provide school children with enough information to ensure their lifelong success in an ever-changing world. Preparing children to meet the demands of an uncertain future, however, may require a shift in educational focus from the content to the process of learning. Not only do children need to be able to think, but they need to exercise control over their own thinking. They need to know when they understand, when they need to know more, and how to direct efficiently their personal questions for knowledge. (238)
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    Research into Big6
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